| Address: | Garvin and Cherry Streets, Pauls Valley, Oklahoma | County: | Garvin |
| Started: | Completed: | 1940 | |
| Agencies: | WPA | NRHP: | No |
Current Usage:
Google Maps Apr 2022 shows Demolished
Description:
A multiple class, single story structure, Jefferson School is L-shaped and extends from the outside corner of the “L” 180 feet south and 105 feet east. Each wing is 70 feet wide. The school is constructed of buff brick laid with a running bond and the walls are capped with red Spanish tile. The roof is flat with parapets. Elongated, aluminum cased windows, placed by threes, rest on cut limestone sills. On the west side are two bay windows, symmetrically placed, which are covered by tile roofs. Above the bays at the roof line are stepped crests. The front doors at the corners of the “L” are recessed behind two archways that rise to a story and one-half tower with a pyramidal roof covered with red tiles. On two sides of the tower at the top are three small windows, below which is a frieze of repetitive embrasures. The tower, the tile and the crests give the building a distinct mission revival style. The east wing of the original building has been extended to provide additional classrooms, but the extension maintains completely the architectural style of the original building.
Jefferson School, unlike the Jackson and Lee school buildings, reflects the Mission Revival Architectural style generally employed by Albert S. Ross in his WPA school designs. Especially apparent at Jefferson, that style is most unique in the Pauls Valley area, as is the nature of workmanship on the building. One of three elementary schools built by the WPA in the community, Jefferson symbolized the total dependence of Pauls Valley on depression era structures to meet its educational responsibilities. Without the WPA, modern education would have been delayed by decades. Moreover, the construction program provided jobs for workers long on relief rolls, providing a measure of economic security and a rekindling of self-respect.
Architect: Albert S. Ross
VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: Lots 7 and 8, Block 19, Pauls Valley original plat.
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