This story has been updated.
A city panel gave the go-ahead on Wednesday to proposed improvements to the exterior of one of San Antonio’s most historic high schools.
The Historic and Design Review Commission approved a request by the architecture firm FPC to modify the existing landscape, hardscape and signage at Thomas Jefferson High School, 723 Donaldson Ave.
Documents submitted to the commission show a redesign of the west front lawn and central front lawn and entrance areas, and a new, lighted sign.
The improvements, part of the 2020 bond project in the San Antonio Independent District, are the first of many planned for the 1930s-era school in the Monticello Park historic district.
“The goal of this project was to revive some of the gathering spaces throughout campus,” said architect Allison Chambers, principal at FPC. “They have a number of different courtyards that are not really activated, so the idea was to make improvements generally to paving and landscaping but also to create spaces for outdoor learning.”
Texas-based TBG Partners is the landscape architecture firm on the project.
A back-lit sign spelling out Thomas Jefferson High School is planned for school property along Donaldson Avenue — to make it more obvious where the main entrance is located, Chambers said. The school’s red “TJ” logo will appear as an inset to the sidewalk pavers.
“We tried to just make it a continuation of the original 1930 design but have it be modern and to be a gathering spot for students,” she said. “We thought it would be a great place for people to take photos at graduation, to make it a more important space, but also signify this is the sidewalk you take to go to the office.”
While the scope of the work approved by commissioners was mostly for exterior renovations, FPC also is designing improvements that are planned for the historic library and auditorium at the school.
Other projects in the 2020 bond for Jefferson include $32.3 million worth of improvements to common spaces, parking lots, athletic fields and the track and tennis courts, along with upgrades to the school’s security and technology systems.
Built in 1931-32, Jefferson was the first high school in the country with a construction cost that exceeded $1 million, Chambers said. It was also the first U.S. high school with an attached gymnasium.
The school’s roster of famous alumni includes congressmen and judges, athletes and musicians, NASA officials and military heroes, and TV journalist Jim Lehrer.
A representative from the Monticello Park Neighborhood Association said it supported the design plans and the goal to improve accessibility and meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
But the group also requested that no decomposed granite be used near the public right of way due to the potential for wash-out and that a sealant be used on stone and brick elements of the signage and retaining walls. The Monticello group asked that trees not block the view of the school and that retaining wall heights be minimized so as not to obstruct the brickwork detail on the building.
For preservation architects, the renovations at Jefferson are a fun challenge.
“You have an existing building to play off of,” Chambers said. “You’ve got a material palette already picked out for you, but now it’s just how do you incorporate that and make something that’s obviously modern and of its time, but sensitive and respectful of the historic architecture?”
This story has been updated to correct attributions to comments about design plans to the Monticello Park Neighborhood Association instead of the Conservation Society.
