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Overview

The Sacramento architectural firm of Starks and Flanders designed C.K. McClatchy High School, named in honor of the owner and editor of the Sacramento Bee newspaper, Charles Kenny McClatchy (1858-1936). Starks and Flanders presided over a lightning-fast construction process; administrators laid the school's cornerstone on 05/20/1937 and opened the facility on 09/19/1937.

Building History

Sacramento voters passed a bond issue that provided $485,000 for the erection of McClatchy High School in the mid-1930s. At the time, the rapidly-growing city had only one other public high school, Sacramento High, that reached an overcrowded enrollment of 3,576 in the spring of 1933. (See Sacramento City Unified School District, "SCUSD: Part of Sacramento History," accessed 07/21/2016.) Franklin Deland Roosevelt's Public Works Administration (PWA) added another $335,000 to enable the building's construction. Starks and Flanders worked with three building contractors to complete McClatchy High: K.G. Parker Company, Holdner Construction and Peterson and Steinbrenner. (See US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, C.K. McClatchy Senior High School, 09/18/2001, section 8, p. 1.)

Alteration

Administrators appended a south wing onto McClatchy High School in 1938. According to the school's National Registration of Historic Places Registration form, "Prior to that time, there were only two courtyards with the sound end of the main building forming a partial "U" that was surrounded on the remaining sides by a walkway." (See US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, C.K. McClatchy Senior High School, 09/18/2001, section 7, p. 3.) Another 1938 portion was added to the school's southwest corner, adjacent to the women's locker room.In 1960 and 1961, the Sacramento City Unified School District paid for office remodeling at McClatchy.

In the wake of the State of California's passage of the Seismic Safety Act of 1975, new seismic safety standards went into effect for public buildings throughout CA. McClatchy High did not pass the new benchmarks in 1976, necessitating a three-year, $9 million project to bring the school into conformity with the legal requirements. Dreyfuss and Blackford Architects supervised the seismic upgrades. At the same time, new amenities were added including a new swimming pool, auto repair shop, and media center. New HVAc equipment was provided at this time, and some classrooms on the school's east side were transformed into offices.

PCAD id: 20394