SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City School District is breaking ground on a new campus for West High School, a project made possible through voter approved general obligation bond in 2024.
The school originally opened in 1890, but the main section of the current school opened in 1922. The district’s public information officer Jason Olsen said they’re planning to update it while still preserving the history of the building.
“This building is over 100 years old,” he said. “The plumbing, the electrical, and the heating — it’s not up to snuff. It doesn’t work, and sometimes you can't even get parts for it nowadays.”
He said the redesigned building will feature modern classrooms, collaborative learning spaces and updated facilities. Students will continue classes in the current school while the other is being constructed.
“The new building will be a great asset to our students,: he said. “We need to build a school that’s ready for 21st century education.”
The new academic tower and athletic field house will be across the street, while the athletic fields will be on the west side of 300 West. Olsen said they did look into saving the whole building, but it was too expensive. “We’re going to take some of the architectural features of the school and hope to incorporate them into the new building,” Olsen said. “We also want to save the clock tower and use that as the entrance to the athletic fields.”
The new West High School costs approximately $300 million and will take about four years for the main building, plus two extra years for the athletic fields, Olsen said. The official groundbreaking ceremony is going to take place at 1:30 pm on Thursday, March 19th.
