I read with some alarm the Denver Post story (September 23: North High’s future at issue) about a controversy developing around Denver Public Schools’ proposed $454 million bond issue, which includes a large chunk of money to remodel the 1911 North High School building and mothball the connecting 1913 building.
My concern stems from the fact that apparently some people in the historic Highland neighborhood, of all people, think the present high school buildings should be torn down and replaced with a new structure. Honestly, Highland neighborhood folks who are so into historic preservation, have you no concern about historic public buildings in your midst?
Can you not see the huge hole in the fabric of that neighborhood that would be left if the North High buildings go? I was astonished to see that Walter Keller – who himself labored for years restoring a wonderful mansion in the neighborhood and turning it into a bed-and-breakfast – is one of the tear-it-down advocates.
Well yes, there may be “nothing out there and no body of evidence that shows going to school in a historic building benefits students,” as Keller stated.
However, I’d like to remind him and others, who see demolition of an important landmark as the expedient thing to do, that public schools not only serve the role of educating our children – they are also very significant parts of our cultural and historical heritage.
To lose North High would leave a void in the neighborhood that no multi-million dollar new structure could ever replace in the hearts and memories of its many graduates, teachers, and long-time residents of the neighborhood, as well as the rest of us who value our historic neighborhood schools.
Among other notables, Golda Meir attended North when she was a young woman living with relatives in Denver. The duplex she lived in at that time almost disappeared several years ago, but was finally rescued and restored, and now sits proudly on the Auraria campus. And there are also generations of ordinary folks who were educated at North High or taught there who would hate to see it disappear.
Schools are not just for educating young people; they also often have evening classes for adults, newcomers studying to become U.S. citizens, they serve as community centers, meeting places for citizen groups, polling places in election years in short, anchors for the communities they serve. While such activities could certainly be duplicated in a new building, it could never replace almost 100 years of Highland history.
And even if the “community has lost confidence in North High,” as Keller stated, that is no reason to tear down a landmark. The Highland neighborhood seems again to be attracting young people with children, who will need a good high school and North can once again be that school. The buildings are worth saving and restoring, and will no doubt stand for another hundred years.
I have some first-hand experience in trying to ward off destruction of a landmark school, my old high school in Arlington, Texas.
When it was built in 1922, it was the biggest school building between Dallas and Ft. Worth, and served as the city’s only high school until 1957, when it became a junior high. Later the school board made a very bad decision to sell the property to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).
While the main building still stands, housing classrooms and offices, the red bricks have been painted over, the original windows replaced with inappropriate substitutes, the interior mostly gutted and “modernized,” and the street in front of it widened to the point that there is no lawn.
During the Christmas holidays in 2005, UTA pulled a stealth attack and tore down the historic Art Deco home economics building on the same campus – because, they said, it obstructed traffic.
In the wake of uncontrolled growth in Arlington, Texas, over the past 50 years, so much of the original architecture in the city has been destroyed that the old high school buildings (academic building and gym) are the only remaining pre-1950’s public buildings left.
In early 2006, a high school classmate and I launched an effort to save the remaining buildings – because we know that sooner or later, the University of Texas will tear them down – in the name of progress” (and getting the most money for their land).
My friend and I succeeded in getting the structures placed on the Texas list of “Most Endangered Properties” in 2007, but that does not guarantee that they will survive.
As to the DPS bond issue, I would add that I have attended many meetings over the last few years in Denver high schools and am always disturbed at the physical condition of these buildings.
They look, frankly, shabby; some of them are not too clean (yes, the bathrooms smell), seats in the auditoriums are broken, stage curtains are threadbare, floors need to be refinished, etc.
Therefore, although it sort of snuck up on me, I’m going to vote for the DPS bond issue. Our school buildings desperately need to be rehabilitated and refurbished. Shame on us for allowing them to get into this condition; is this what we think of our children?
I hope we don’t have to place North High on Colorado Preservation Inc.’s “Most Endangered Places” list. Let’s pass the bond issue – for all the children of Denver, and let’s save North High.
Linda Hargrave lives in Denver.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
