Greeley Junior High School - Greeley, CO, USA
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 40° 24.946 W 104° 41.494
13T E 526167 N 4473951
This Art Deco former public school now provides housing for students of the nearby University of Northern Colorado (UNC). This is the only known Art Deco building in Greeley
Waymark Code: WM17FB1
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 02/11/2023
Views: 0
The Art Deco Style 1938 Greeley Junior High School is situated at the northwest comer of 15th Street and 8th Avenue in Greeley, Colorado. The facade faces 15th Street. A lawn with mature landscaping borders the south and east sides of the building. There is a surface parking lot to the west and private driveway to the north.
The school is a flat-roofed, rectilinear three-story building of steel and concrete with blonde brick and terra cotta masonry. The north and south elevations are each divided into nine bays defined by vertical courses of simple decorative brickwork. The projecting central bays contain the entrances to the building - the primary entrance on the south elevation and the secondary entrance on the north elevation facing the driveway. Both entrances are defined by a series of masonry setbacks that rise above the roofline. A central window opening above the entrance doors contains glass block masonry, a historic feature that was re-created during a 2002 rehabilitation. A pair of historic entrance doors and a pair of associated light fixtures were lost during a previous renovation in 1965. During the recent rehabilitation, new pairs of doors and light fixtures were custom fabricated to visually resemble the original features as documented by historic photographs. Flanking the entrances are four slightly recessed bays with large window openings on each of three floors. The current aluminum windows replaced historic steel multi-pane windows. The upper third of each window opening is infilled with stucco to accommodate the difference between the historic window size and the size of the existing replacement windows.
The east and west elevations are each composed of three bays. Both have metal fire escapes installed in 1969. The central bay was originally composed of three vertical glass block windows rising the height of the building. They are now infilled with stucco with fire exit doors in the center window opening at the first and second floors. On the west elevation, an ADA accessible entrance was established at the garden level in the northern-most former window opening. The two side bays on the east and west elevations each have windows at the second floor and garden levels. Terra cotta forms a flush comice at the parapet line with fluted blocks above each vertical bay. A miming band of low-relief terra cotta in an Art Deco Style floral design appears above the second story windows. Terra cotta also forms window sills, caps the masonry setbacks at the entrances and outlines and surrounds the entrance doors. A terra cotta fiieze panel of terra cotta over the south entrance reads “Greeley Junior High School.”
The interiors of the building were heavily altered in the ca 1970 renovation that coincided with the replacement of the windows. A few interior features survive, largely in the entrance vestibules and the main stair hall. These include historic grilles over the vestibule radiators, a dedication plaque, terrazzo floors with integral baseboards, and a historic staircase with plastered masonry walls and original wood hand rails.
In 2002 and 2003, a successful federal tax credit rehabilitation was undertaken. The building was converted to small studio and one-bedroom rental apartments to serve the housing needs of students at the nearby University of Northern Colorado. The conversion to housing was designed by Architecture One Architects/Planners P.C., a Loveland, Colorado, firm formed in 1984 by principals John Freeman and Alan Hauser. As a result, the building is in excellent maintenance and repair.
The NRHP listing may be found at (
visit link) .