The old Washington School

The Old Washington School at 1910 California Street at Del Norte in Eureka is the main building of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center.  It began its long life as one of six square school houses built at the turn of the century in Eureka and the only one to have escaped the wrecker’s ball.

The building is a basic rectangular mass built in the classic school building vernacular with Colonial Revival detailing.  One enters through a two-story square pavilion with double one-story columns flanking the arched front entrance. The original stained-glass sidelights and transom surround the double-hung sash. The Colonial Revival detailing has been simplified or lost throughout the years. In 1999, the Historic Preservation program of College of the Redwoods restored the original second-story balustrade which reintroduced one of the prominent decorative elements to the building.

The building has been used continually since it opened as a grammar school in 1902. After its life as a school building until 1938, it was used as a barracks during WWII, housed the Coast Guard, Red Cross and served as a courthouse, was a warehouse for the Eureka School District and finally, from 1984 to the present, has been a community senior center.  Some of the seniors who attend our programs attended school here as children.

On January 17, 2002, the Old Washington School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its historic significance in Eureka and Humboldt County.