The New Boy’ Gym (now the large gym) The first permanent modernist structure on the campus, built in the early sixties, provided a sky lit gym with folding bleachers, coaches’ offices, a classroom, and locker rooms. At the same time new parking lots were built and the closure of Oak Grove Avenue, which ran through the campus, provided additional space for a growing school. (Courtesy of the LAUSD Art and Artifact Collection, Architect Louis A. Thomas, Rendering by Stan Johnson)
First Phase of the New School Like the old, the new school was built in two stages. The first classroom and administrative office building are complete here ending with stair wells on the left which will begin the second classroom block. The sheltered courtyard in the center forms an eating area in front of the cafeteria. A second story bridge, here unroofed will connect the two buildings in reflection of the old school.
(Courtesy of the LAUSD Art and Artifact Collection)
Architects Rendering of the New School 1970 The original school buildings ,though restorable, were torn down for safety reasons. A new campus was designed in contemporary “brutalist “style and built to segue with the demolition. The new classroom buildings were nestled against the hills, with the grounds and smaller buildings forming a garden court in front. On the left is the new small gym. The corner of the auditorium is at right.
New Toland Way. The old school was replaced by this building, probably in the late 1950s (Rendering by Parker and Parker Architects and Structural Engineers, Courtesy LAUSD Art and Artifact Collection.)
Old Delevan Drive. This building was located on the street of the same name to the east of the York valley, on the other side of the hills. It was built in 1926. The 1971 earthquake caused the school to be declared unsafe and the students to be moved to bungalows. The building was demolished soon after. Only the ornate cupola was preserved to be reused. The grounds remained the same and the school garden is still in use. (Courtesy Ruth Fairrington.)
New Delevan Drive. In 1973, ground was broken for the new school. The cost was $560,000 for the 11-classroom, two-story building. Contrary to the rendering, the cupola was placed on top of a bungalow to the rear of the main building. (Rendering by Harry T. Macdonald and Associates, Courtesy LAUSD Art and Artifact Collection.)
Toland Way Elementary, Circa 1938. In a similar view, the original masonry building, opened in 1925, stands in front of the western York Valley. Occidental College is on the upper right. Trees now conceal Eagle Rock Boulevard on the left. Below, the students construct an outdoor theater behind the school, one of many in the area. (Courtesy LAUSD Art and Artifact Collection.)
Occidental College from the Hills Northwest The first three buildings are completed but unoccupied in 1914. Eagle Rock Boulevard is the divided street running left to right in the center of the photo. The street layout is as it is today. Johnson and Fowler Halls, the paired buildings, were classrooms and administration. Swan Hall in front was the first dormitory. This was unincorporated land located south of the City of Eagle Rock. (Contributed by Louise White Puthuff, postcard photograph by B.D. Jackson)
The Skeleton of Swan Hall Dormitory Alumni Avenue stretches to York Boulevard and Campus Road wraps around. We are standing on the hill where Orr Hall dormitory will be built and looking down the valley, which will become Glassell Park, to the Los Angeles River in the distance. Unseen to our right are Johnson and Fowler Halls, The area in the center, just over Ralph Rogers house, is the location of an artesian spring, now tapped by Sparkletts Water Company (Courtesy of College Archives—Occidental College Library)