Asheville High School

Asheville High School occupies a natural promontory above McDowell Street, just south of downtown Asheville. Designed by Douglas Ellington and completed in 1929, the three-story, steel-framed building combines Art Deco and Italian Renaissance elements. Its walls are rough-cut pink granite, the roofs are tile, and the gutters and roof ventilators are copper. A hexagonal central rotunda with a ten-sided entry loggia anchors the plan, and academic, auditorium/cafeteria, gym and shop wings radiate from it. The district includes four contributing resources: the main building, the original heat plant, Ellington's terraced landscape plan, and the ballfield he planned in 1929 and that was built in 1934. Ten later resources, including bleachers, a track, a press box and a maintenance shop, are considered non-contributing. The only major addition is a 1974 media center joined to the rear by a covered walkway. The description notes that the school retains a high degree of its original architectural integrity and is still used for education.