Old Bend High School - Structure

Structure

The old Bend High School is a neoclassical Beaux Arts style building designed by Hugh A. Thompson, Bend's first resident architect. Ed Brosterhous was the general contractor who supervised the school's construction. It was built at the south end of a 3.17-acre (12,800 m2) parcel in downtown Bend. The site is bordered by Wall Street on the northwest, Louisiana Avenue on the northeast, Bond Street on the southeast, and the Bend Amateur Athletic Club property on the southwest. The main entrance faces Louisiana Avenue, with concrete walkways leading across the front lawn to the school’s main entrance. There are a number of large Ponderosa pine trees that shade the grounds. Play ground equipment for the children attending kindergarten in the building, give the area a park-like atmosphere.

The old high school is a two-story structure with a high basement. The building has a U-shaped footprint measuring 120 feet (37 m) by 247 feet (75 m). The walls are brick, built over a foundation course of stone masonry above a concrete basement. The front facade is well balanced with high windows from end to end and a wide stairway leading to the main portico entrance on the first floor. The main entrance is dominated by three round-head archways supported by wide brick columns resting on a cut stone foundation. The main wall of the building behind the portico is embellished with sculptured cut-stone and Doric-style stone caps.

The building has four other entrances, one on the east and west sides and two on the building's south side. The east and west sides match the building’s front façade with brick parapet walls and two stories of high windows plus a row of smaller window along the foundation to allow light into the basement rooms. The back side of the building has much less stone work and very little architectural decoration. However, the high windows continue around the entire building.