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Houston School
El Paso, Texas

 

Description: Houston School, Five Points School
Other Names: Alamo Heights School; Austin Junior High School (1922-1929)
Address: 2851 Grant Avenue, at Elm Street and Portland, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: educational: junior high school (originally accommodated grades 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9)
Original Client: El Paso Independent School District; Charles S. Ward, president of school board
Historic Inventory: none
Date: 1922
Condition: extant; in use as an elementary school

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: T-shaped; 2 stories with raised basement; 24 classrooms and auditorium; 218 feet 6 inches across x 124 feet deep
Budget/Cost: $122,000, excluding cost of land; cost of land: $7,000. Jan 19, 1922 reports budget at $175,000.

Foundation: brick
Wall Materials: red brick
Roofing Materials: pitch and cinders
Other Materials Used: cement courses and coping
Remodeling and Additions: 6 classrooms and cafeteria, 1965, Robert Fouts, architect

Present Owner: El Paso Independent School District
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: Ponsford 594, photograph of basement plan; Ponsford 595, photograph of first floor plan; Ponsford 596, photograph of second floor plan; Ponsford 422, photograph of front elevation; Ponsford 423, photograph of side elevation; (A-4) 13 ink on linen sheets of plans, including side, front and rear elevations, dated February, 1922
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library, Ponsford 421, perspective view

Bibliography: (1) Trost & Trost Are Named Architects for Alamo School (newspaper clipping of unidentified source, undated, probably late in 1921) Ponsford files, El Paso Public Library (describes selection of Trost & Trost as a result of a competition)
(2) Proposed New Building at Five Points, El Paso Herald, January 21, 1922, page 24 (illustrated with facade from plans drawn by Trost&Trost [Ponsford 422])
(3) Make Protest at Five Points School House El Paso Herald, January 21,1922, page 24 (a discussion of the planning process for the new school)
(4) Five Points Is Logical Site for New School for Relief of Congestion, Business Men Say, El Paso Herald, January 27, 1922, page 2 (a discussion of the planning process for the new school
(5) Permits Show Much Building for El Paso, El Paso Herald, April 3, 1922 (Permit has been issued for the Alamo Heights school being built at Grant avenue and Elm street for $122,000.)
(6) Austin School’s Doors Opened for First Time; Care for 800; All Rooms Finely Furnished (newspaper clipping of unidentified source, undated, probably September, 1922), El Paso Public Library
(7) EL Paso Herald, January, 19,1922, reports Trost being vote to receive commission.

 

Remarks: Commission 2541. A fine Trostian ornament in low relief decorates the entry.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990