School and Gymnasium Block

Public Square, Circa 1894

Tent Chapel and School, circa 1899. When Mormon settlers came to Mesquite Flats in 1894, they designed the southeast corner of this block as the Public Square. It was a place where the community gathered for many events. At this site a tent was set up circa 1899 for use as a chapel and a school. It was 16′ x 16′ with no windows, no heat, a dirt floor, and only logs to sit on.

Block School, circa 1922. 

The Block School, so-named because it was made of cement block, had four classrooms and an auditorium. It stood on the southeast corner of the block until it was replaced with a new campus in the 1960’s. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints rented the schoolhouse for meetings and gatherings for several years.

Gymnasium, circa 1938.

This red brick gymnasium was built adjacent to the Block School and became the center of recreation for the community. The gymnasium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It represents Italian Renaissance REvival style architecture. Construction of the gymnasium was funded through the federal Public Works Administration (WPA) program.

This is Mesquite Historic Marker #9 (see others on this page) located at 51 East 100 North in Mesquite, Nevada.

The Mesquite High School Gymnasium was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#92000119) on March 10, 1992.

From the national register’s nomination form:
The Mesquite High School Gymnasium is significant under Criteria C in the area of significance of Architecture. Built in the Italian Renaissance Revival Style, it is representative of the historic context “Schoolhouse Architecture in Southern Nevada’s Fifth Supervision District, 1870 to 1942.” It is significant as an example of its style as well as its rare use of terra cotta and tinted concrete brick. The Mesquite Gymnasium is illustrative of the School Support Building property type, and possesses the characteristics of that type in terms of its historic use, which reflected the expanding educational curriculums of the 1930s, and its functional design, which incorporated a central gymnasium with classrooms on the perimeter. The building is representative of the Custom Architecturally Designed Schoolhouse property type as well. It embodies the characteristics of that type in terms of the formality of its style, and the special attention paid to the spatial organization of the building’s uses.

School support buildings were important components of the expanding role of education that occurred beginning in the early 20th Century. Their function and necessary large size often required designs and methods of construction quite different from traditional school buildings. Almost always designed by architects, and usually in the formal styles, the school support building became symbolic, not only of educational reform, but also of community stature.

Funded by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA), the Mesquite Gymnasium was designed by Salt Lake City architect Miles E. Miller, and built by Salzner-Thompson, contractors. Miller also designed gymnasiums in the nearby towns of Bunkerville (1939) and Overton (1938) under the PWA program. The Mesquite Gymnasium exemplifies the public architecture sponsored by the federal relief programs of the Depression era. The federal government promoted subdued or minimal versions of the traditional styles associated with public buildings. Those styles were mostly drawn from Italian Renaissance or classical examples. They also promoted the use of modern, fireproof materials, particularly concrete and steel.

The design of the Mesquite Gymnasium illustrates that preference through its incorporation of elements of the Italian Renaissance Revival Style in a simple, straightforward manner. Stylistic features of the Mesquite Gymnasium that typify the Italian Renaissance Revival model are strict attention to symmetry at the principal façade, a division of the façade into three primary bays, and classical detailing of the cornice, entry frontispiece, pilasters, and doorways. The gymnasium entrance bay is designed with a pair of fluted classical pilasters flanking each side of the recessed, round arch doorway. The pilasters terminate at an ornate entablature and cornice that extends the length of the facade. Those elements are built of tan terra cotta. Although a common architectural product, its application on Southern Nevada school buildings is rare. The stylized frieze at the gymnasium eave is also decorated with terra cotta, in the form of medallions.

Aside from the application of terra cotta ornamentation and symmetry of the building, the design makes little additional reference to classical architecture. The balance of the gymnasium’s design is, however, in keeping with the concepts of minimalism, simplicity, and use of modern materials, as promoted by the federal government. Windows along the front of the building, which shed light into classrooms, are organized in groups of five and are tall, steel sash awning windows. Other windows are symmetrically located and also constructed of steel. Tall, arched windows along the rear wall of the gymnasium, now infilled, were also constructed of steel sash.

The use of brick-size, red-tinted concrete masonry units is regionally rare, but reflects the desire to use modern fireproof materials that simulated traditional clay brick. Although briefly popular during the 1920s and 1930s, the use of concrete brick was not economical and was soon replaced with larger concrete block, which required less material to manufacture and less labor to erect. The masonry work at the gymnasium is well detailed, with stepped back reveals at the building corners, and soldier courses at the water table and as a decorative band along the upper walls of the lesser facades.