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Overview

Architect Frederick H. Heath (1861-1953) and his subsequent firm, Heath and Gove designed Lincoln High School and several others for the Tacoma School Board during the early 1910s, including Tacoma Stadium High School, Central School, and Oakland School. The buildings were notable for the quality of their designs and the scale of their amenities. The buildings were so notable that the journal the American School Board Journal published an article surveying the system's recent work in 1914. It wrote: "There are few school systems among the American muncipalities that offer as many innovations and improvements as that of the city of Tacoma. The greatest growth of Tacoma...has been in the past fifteen years, and the buildings erected before that period were temporary, poorly constructed, frame buildings. A great opportunity was accordingly offered when permanent buildings began to be erected, and with the energy characteristic of Washington people, the school authorities of Tacoma undertook the consistent development of the school buildings, so they would in location, arrangement and possibility of future additions, serve for all time." Lincoln High School was one of the buildings covered in the article, and has remained actively used by the school system, over 100 years later.

Building History

Consideration for a new high school began in the late 1900s. Land was purchased by the school board in 09/1911. (See "Board selects site of South Side school," Tacoma Daily Ledger, 09/04/1911, p. 3.) Architects Heath and Gove had prepared a preliminary sketch for Lincoln High School in 10/1912, reproduced in the Tacoma Daily Ledger. (See "South Side high school," Tacoma Daily Ledger, 10/20/1912, p. 19.)

Excavation for Lincoln High School's foundation began in 02/1913, and its cornerstone was laid on Labor Day, 09/01/1913. Construction was largely complete by 08/1914, ready for the fall quarter.

Building Notes

The architectural firm of Heath and Gove also designed much of the student furniture inside Lincoln High School. (See"School Board Builds Furniture," Tacoma Daily Ledger, 09/13/1914, p. 17.)

The first graduating class of 1915 had 98 students.

Lincoln High School was placed on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places in 2006. Tel: 253.571.6700 (2008);

Alteration

Lincoln High was renovated in 2005-2007 at a cost of $74.2 million; in 2008, the renovated Lincoln High School had 222,000 square feet; the project team consisted of the following: DLR Group, Architect and Designer; TCF Architects, Architectural Consultant; Grulich, Historic Architectural Consultant; Lease Crutcher Lewis, General Contractor/Construction Manager; Heery International, Project Manager; its renovation has won the following architectural awards: 2008 Excellence in Masonry Design Honor Award for Rehabilitation/Restoration from the Masonry Institute of Washington (MIW) awarded 11/05/2008; 2008 Distinguished Project Award (DPA) for Public Projects over $10 Million from Northwest Construction Consumer Council (NWCCC) on 10/30/2008; Bronze Award from the 25th Annual Reconstruction & Renovation Awards as judged by members of the Washington State Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) announced in the 10/2008 issue of Building Design+Construction magazine; Lee J. Brockway Award given by the Washington State Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) for Lincoln High's "exceptional and inspiring" renovation; Shirley Cooper Award from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA); the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) Pacific Northwest Honorable Mention Citation as a "the project that is an example of smart growth, whereby land is used which has already been developed with infrastructure in place."