Tuesday, November 26, 2013

New Walker HIGH School

Walker High School expands !    New growth
See the new picture below this OLD picture

Walker High School from where I graduated
While I am sure this has been shared here before, I came across the Louisiana National Register's document on Walker High School (now Freshman High School) and wanted to share. Imagine being among those first students in the 1930s, walking into their beautiful, newly built high school for the first time. It had to be exciting! The full document, along with images, can be found here: http://www.crt.state.la.us/hp/nationalregister/nhl/search_results.asp?search_type=historicname&value=Walker+High+School&pageno=1 Taken from the Louisiana National Register: “Walker High School is a two-story brick building with concrete trim. Built in 1930, it stands within a small educational complex located only a block from a major intersection in the Livingston Parish community of Walker. The building primarily displays Italian Renaissance and Italian Baroque motifs. The building’s rectilinear facade exhibits a three-part composition in which a slightly projecting central pavilion with a vertical emphasis is flanked by horizontal wings. The school’s footprint is that of a rectangle from which a large rear wing extends. This wing accommodates a large, two-story auditorium located directly behind the entrance pavilion and lobby. The building houses nine original classrooms, four on the first floor and five on the second. Each room opens into a “U”-shaped hallway which wraps around the auditorium. All of the rooms are large, well lighted, and have doors with transoms. The facade’s most important feature is the projecting pavilion, where most of the Italian motifs are found. It is distinguished by a one-story portico whose thick columns and matching pilasters have ornate capitals and bas relief carvings on their lower portions. The columns support a heavy molded entablature with a thin row of egg and dart molding located just below the cornice. The entablature, in turn, supports a small balcony with an iron railing. Behind the portico are wood paneled doors recessed within an arched opening whose spandrels feature floral motifs. Each door has a rectangular window subdivided into a central lozenge shape and four additional polygonal panes. At the pavilion’s second level two spiral columns with ornate capitals support stylized acanthus leaves. These columns separate a set of three arched windows. Above the windows bas relief floral motifs surround a baroque cartouche displaying the numerals “1930". The pavilion is crowned by a curvilinear parapet flanked by low walls. The latter are decorated with colored tile insets and classical urns. In addition, the parapet is decorated by a brick band beneath a concrete coping, a central keystone piercing the curved section of the brick band, a raised and curved panel in which the school’s name is spelled out, and an element slightly suggestive of an onion dome rising from the top of the parapet’s curve."


Here's the new High School TO BE

School Board approves purchase of property in Walker for future expansion of Walker High School

The Livingston Parish School Board on Thursday Nov. 21 approved a request by School Board Member Jimmy Watson to purchase 1.69 acres of property adjacent to Walker High School in anticipation of a future expansion of the campus.   Watson said the property will be purchased for $630,000 from monies that have been saved in the Walker School District fund. He said the property is located south of the campus and fronts Highway 190. It is currently occupied by a residential trailer park, which he said would be vacated of all renters within 60 days following the closing on the property. 

This is the second property purchase approved by the school board in anticipation of expanding the Walker High School campus, Watson said. A section of 2.25 acres bordering school property on the east and facing Palmetto Street was approved for purchase at $346,000 last month.  Watson said a single residence is located on that property. He said the house will be vacated within 90 days of the closing, and then the school system will seek to sell and move the house from the property.

Watson said he anticipates the two purchases to close within the next month.







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