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Show Thursday, November 1, 1979 Page 3 Washington School Given New Life 'If ft - v. , . . iJ?fir LJ I -s - Y'A l?1 - :-y The Washington School on Park Avenue, abandoned as a schoolhouse since the 1930s, recently was purchased pur-chased by a California investment in-vestment company which plans to renovate the building build-ing into condominiums. June DeSilva of Personal Investment Company said plans will be presented to the Planning Commission as soon as there is room on the agenda. Included will be six condominiums inside the existing school building, with five others to be built behind. "We want to keep the feeling nostalgic inside the schoolhouse, nothing too modern," Ms. DeSilva said. "Then we're hoping to build a footbridge from a back dormer to the other set of condominiums. For me, this is a very exciting project, because I love the ' old character and personality of Park City." Ms. DeSilva said a Salt Lake City architect experienced exper-ienced in historic restoration will be working on the project. "We're going to keep the same basic feeling inside the school as there is now-keeping now-keeping the roofline and windows. And the other five units will look more like houses than condominiums, with each one offset." Ms. DeSilva said her company com-pany invests in property all over the United States, reading and listening for tips on the up and coming areas. The company originally sent Ms. DeSilva to look into property in Silver Springs and then heard about the availability of the Washington Washing-ton School. Making major purchases on behalf of investors is not an easy job, but Ms. DeSilva said she was prepared for hard work after running a construction company for several years. "I was very lucky. I was fortunate to be an aggressive person all my life I was a loan officer in a savings and loan company and got involved in-volved in construction by appraising for loans. Then I went to work for a mortgage company then an escrow company. It was a big corporation and one of the companies was a construction construc-tion firm that was not doing well, so I said, why not let me try running it. And I did." Ms. DeSilva commented that once renovated, the George Washington School will be worth about $2.5 million. The building, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, Washing-ton, DC, was built in 1885 and opened its doors in 1886. A year later the school had 500 students in first through fifth grades. Local historian Bea Kummer remembers the school was closed by the time she came to Park City in 1929. It later was bought by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was used as a dance hall. Public iiLrnHan Violet Terry attended the Wa&ning ton School until 5th grade and then went to the Jefferson Jeffer-son School, now called the Jefferson House. "I remember the first day of school, I was so frightened," fright-ened," Mrs. Terry recalled. "In those days you didn't got far from home, and I hadn't been around that many people. My sister was in third grade, so she took me to school the first day. We lined up outside the school, with the beginners close to the door and the older kids in the back. I remember the porch and the big front door. I got so scared because my sister was so far back, and I started to cry. A neighbor boy from Deer Valley named Les called me a sissy or something like that, so I ran back to my sister. .She asked me why I was crying and I said Les had hit me, which he didn't. I felt badly when she went up to him and toirl him to leave me alone." "There were several rooms in the school, and first and second grades were together. to-gether. There were little wooden chairs we sat in in a circle when we were reading read-ing The building is three floors, with the bathroom in the basement, first and second grade on the first floor, and third through fifth upstairs. I think, it's been a long time. "I was in first grade in 1917 and I hero were quite a few kids m school those days. World ;ir 1 started and they taught us how to knit wash-clothes wash-clothes for (he soldiers. We learned arithmetic, reading, spelling and had bees. The teachers were very thorough and looked at each student's work. There was none of this passing papers back to the kids behind you to correct idem. I remember I liked it there." leer Interest mi & g n i ma xshmtit j ra ana m nnu OB REDUCING INVENTORY FOR WINTER... We've got wood tubs and many glass tubs that can be delivered immediately... DO IT NOW, BEFORE THE SNOW FLIES, PARK CITY SPA&TUB 649-8172 750 East Highway 248 P.O. 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