‘It’s Not Perfect, But It’s Perfect for Us’

Fayetteville to Unveil Renovated 111-Year-Old School Building Saturday

The Fayette County Record

What for decades was nothing more than a storage building has become a remarkable example of historic preservation.

This Saturday, Sept 17, at 3 p.m. during a short ceremony, a ribbon will be cut and the doors opened for the public to see the renovated old red school building on the Fayetteville ISD campus.

After two years and just under $1.2 million of work, the grand 111-year-old structure that had been used for storage since the 1990s (and hasn’t been used for students since the 1980s) will again be rededicated as part of campus. “It’s pretty special,” said Fayetteville superintendent Dr. Jeff Harvey. “We did our best to salvage as much history as we could. We also wanted to make sure it had another 100 years in it. It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect for us.” When Harvey arrived as superintendent in 2014, he said the building didn’t have electricity or gas. The building had a new roof, but preexisting water damage had already taken it’s toll.

When FISD was putting together a bond package to present to voters in 2016, the school board was split on whether or not to include renovations to the old red building.

“We left it off with the idea that if we had any money left over we would dedicate it to the red school building,” Harvey said.

Turns out they had $525,000 left over. To that they added $700,000 of money in the school’s fund balance. They locked in prices pre-COVID and started construction in Nov. 2020 with Gaeke Construction of Giddings as a contractor

Initially, Harvey thought construction might be done last fall, but finding sub-contractors to complete some of the work was tricky, so it took a year longer. Harvey thinks people will agree the final product was worth the wait. The downstairs of the renovated building will serve as the new school library

There’s even a corner of couches in the library honoring former longtime school librarian, the late Melissa Hahn, called “Nana’s Nook.”

Because the building never had air conditioning before, a drop ceiling was installed but covered by pressed tin that matches seamlessly with the original look of the building

“We tried to keep most of the original doors and woodwork,” Harvey said

The grand staircase has been maintained (though there is an elevator now too), and upstairs are administration offices and the school board conference room, which will house a large table being made by local artist Evan Quiros. Several of the members of the current Fayetteville school board attended classes in the old red building

At the school’s wood-working shop, Harvey himself is still working on his new desk for his office upstairs in the building. It will be topped with one of the doors from the old building that they were unable to reuse otherwise.

Harvey said everyone is invited to Saturday’s 3 p.m. showcase of the new building

“Hopefully the community recognizes the importance of being able to re-use this building and not tear it down,” Harvey said. “It’s been a labor of love to say the least.”

To preserve the ‘surprise’ for Saturday’s event we will wait to run inside photos until next week.