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 Las
Vegas High School was built in 1931 on the corner of Seventh and Bridger
in Las Vegas. Its location caused considerable controversy at the time,
it was too far out of town. Today, it's in the heart of the city and it
retains its considerable charm.
The original
complex consisted of three buildings: the main academic building, the
gymnasium, and a third building that has since been destroyed. The stucco
walls are accented with cast concrete friezes surrounding the doors and
across the top of the building.
Polychromatic
medallions also embellish the building. Although the interior of the building
has been substantially modified, the exterior retains its original integrity.
More
about the Las Vegas High School:
 Designed
by the architectural firm of George A. Ferris and son of Reno.- The
main building is a two-story concrete building.
- The
high school was originally a 3 building educational complex consisting
of the academic building, the gymnasium and the third building, which
was destroyed in 1950.
- The
original exterior is preserved but interior has been substantially altered.
- Cast
concrete friezes of repetitive animals and vegetal forms surround the
doors.
- The
main entrance is reached by way of an open granite stair. The entry
has double, raised panel, wooden doors with a simple wood surround which
is enhanced by four buttresses rising along the façade, decorated
at the tops with cast concrete reliefs representing stylized grapevines
and embellished with polychrome medallions.
- Recessed
entrance has a surround depicting squirrels, snakes, and other animals
among vines.
- A
frieze of interlocking wreathes, above a repeating pattern of chevrons
near the top of the wall, extends around the building.
 Senator
Richard Bryan:
"Las Vegas today with a metropolitan population of a million people
was really quite a small community when I came to school here as a freshman
in the fall of 1951. It was like a rite of passage — all of the
activities in the community were centered around this school... Coming
to Las Vegas High School was in itself a big event and everyone who was
in seventh or eighth grade looked forward to coming to Las Vegas High
School, because, in a sense, it was a right of passage, you had really
arrived. Las Vegas High School was where all the excitement was."
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