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New
Building Opens |
The
main building re-opened on January 7 for student use. Architects Anschen and Allen re-designed the main building
and watch over the work of contractor C.W. Driver.
The main building was built in 1927 and was in need of major
repairs, therefore, it was shut down a little over a year ago.
A little less than nine million dollars has been put into the refurbishment of the main building. Roughly two million of the nine were spent for earthquake safety features and over one million was spent in water, heat, and air conditioning. In 1933, there was an earthquake in Long Beach that caused the foundation of the building to be improved. These reinforcements were updated and improved. A total of about 90 trucks of concrete were used in thickening walls, making walkways, and reinforcing the foundation. Steel was also used to thicken and support the walls.
Last summer, the tiles were taken off the roof and construction workers began to cross brace the roof so that in case of an earthquake, the roof would not sway away from the rest of the building or cave in. There is one minor problem with the new building. The bell tower is not technically connected to the rest of the structure. There are metal brackets that are screwed into both the main building and the bell tower so that the tower doesn’t swing apart from it. An artist was called to the school in order to repair the cracks in the brick and concrete in the front of the school. The cracks were filled with a cement and plastic mixture that expands and contracts when needed so that cracks don’t occur again. This technique isn’t used by many, so an artist was called in to do the job.
The school is almost finished with phase one of a three-phase process. After the library building is completed, the school will then begin the second phase. The second phase consists of building a new two-story building dedicated to science, music and drama. This new building will take the place of what now is the photo lab. The girl’s gymnasium will also be redone in the second phase. Phase three will fix up the old science building so that the language classes can move in and students won’t have to walk to the district. The boy’s gymnasium and both wood and auto shop will be fixed up in the third and final phase. The funding for these three phases will come from the $25 million bond that was passed last November by the El Segundo voters.