Monte Vista School

The Monte Vista School is an exceptionally fine example of the Mediterranean style applied to institutional use. Coupled with its architectural importance it has local historic significance as the focal point of the Monte Vista Addition, the first subdivision east of the University of New Mexico and north of Central Avenue. The school has acquired an increasingly fine reputation as an educational institution; its use and physical character appear to be especially compatible.

The school is one of three Mediterranean-style schools in the city; the other two, Eugene Field School (1926) and Jefferson Middle School (1939) have both been altered on their front facades. Additions to Monte Vista, as noted in the physical description, are all on the western side of the building, well away from its welcoming, ornamented front entry. This dramatic front entrance is oriented directly toward the Sandia Mountains, making the school one of the few public buildings in the city which takes advantage in its site planning of Albuquerque's unique location just west of this dramatic mountain range.

The siting of the school, besides taking advantage of its mountain view, also increases its importance as the center of the subdivision. The large lot on which it stands lies within the acute angle formed by the intersection of Campus and Monte Vista Boulevards, the two major streets which quarter the addition. A broad sidewalk flanked by a well-established planting of conifers leads from the point of the angle to the school entrance. The building also appears as a stylistic culmination of the area, a formal presentation of the vernacular interpretations of the regional styles seen in the surrounding homes.

The person responsible for the school's design and siting was T. Charles Gaastra, a Dutch architect who made his home in the Southwest during the 1920s, Gaastra quickly learned to design in the popular regional styles. He designed the Eugene Field School mentioned above, several homes, the Bernalillo County Courthouse (since remodeled), the Wool Warehouse, and the first four buildings on the University of New Mexico campus built under the university's formally adopted policy (1927) of using the Spanish-Pueblo Revival style for its architecture.

The Monte Vista Addition was platted in 1927 and by 1930 nearly 150 homes had been built. As the population in the area grew, the need for public schools became more and more evident. Initial plans were for a 10-classroom building, but the $108,000 price tag was too high. An eight-classroom facility was approved to be built at a cost of $77,500. It was planned to accommodate 225 students in grades kindergarten through 7th grade. The original faculty was small: one teacher taught grades five through seven and served as principal, and three other teachers taught kindergarten through fourth grade. Construction was completed by the beginning of 1931 and the school was presented to the public at an open house on February 1st. Newspaper articles described it as "one of the finest of its kind in the Southwest." A special feature of the building was "the radio system whereby the principal may speak to all rooms without leaving the office." The school was planned to allow for an additional eight rooms to be added later, a piece of foresight for which architecture critics can be thankful since it allowed the school's imposing east facade to be left untouched. The original building and the 1947 additions along with the landscaped area at the front are proposed for registration.