New life for an old school

Las Vegas officials showed off a refurbished Fifth Street School to the public Monday night, having taken what was a dilapidated 72-year-old building and reinventing it as an arts and cultural center.

"It's like a dream come true," said Mayor Oscar Goodman. "It's a gorgeous, gorgeous building.

"I envision this as being the intellectual epicenter and marketplace for Las Vegas."

The city's redevelopment agency dedicated $13.4 million to renovate the building, which is on both the local and national registries of historic places.

The work included restoring the exterior as closely as possible to its original state, right down to the color of paint on the walls and the tiles in a decorative fountain. More than 140 doors and windows had to be recreated because only 30 of the originals could be salvaged.

Goodman called the restored building an "agora," a Greek word for an intellectual and cultural "marketplace."

The new tenants include UNLV's College of Fine Arts and School of Architecture; the Nevada School of the Arts; the American Institute of Architects Las Vegas; and the city's cultural affairs department.

The gymnasium has been converted into an auditorium, and there's conference room and gallery space as well.

The site at Las Vegas Boulevard and Clark Avenue was home to the Las Vegas Grammar School, which was built in 1911 and destroyed by fire in 1934. The replacement building was finished in 1936.

Clark County used it for offices in the 1970s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and the local register in 1992. Las Vegas acquired the building in 1996.

About 300 former students of the school were on hand for the dedication Monday. They had fond memories of the school and the neighborhood.

"I remember the apricots and the grapes across the street, down Fourth Street," said Dick King, who attended the school from 1941 to 1945. "We were in charge of making sure they didn't get too ripe."

The original school didn't have air conditioning, and Bill Cummings, who started attending in 1948, said that in the eighth grade, he took advantage of the open -- and tall -- windows in his classroom.

"I used to sneak out the window and get an ice cream cone," he said. "I never got caught."

Cummings and Danny Rivers attended the school together from kindergarten through eighth grade, and Rivers has distinct memories of a strict gym coach.

"He was famous for making sure all the guys stayed in line," Rivers said. "He had a basketball. If you did not stay in line, he'd make sure you caught it in your stomach somewhere."

And he was on the receiving end "several times," Rivers acknowledged: "It was definitely a wake-up."

Las Vegas isn't exactly known for preserving its history, and the fact that the building is not only still standing but also updated and open for business was a big part of what was celebrated Monday night.

"I'm glad to see a project like this," King said. "We have a lot of history here.

"It's great to see something that's not being imploded."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.