The following is a very lightly edited submission from the Santa Monica Conservancy.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) and the Santa Monica Conservancy invite the public to an open house on Wednesday, December 3, from 4 to 6 p.m., celebrating the restoration of art and architecture created during the New Deal in the 1930s.
For more information, you can download the official flyer here or RSVP here.
Celebrating New Deal History at Samohi starts at Santa Monica High School’s (Samohi) Barnum Hall, followed by visits to the 2025 Preservation Award Winners (Stewardship): the Samohi Senior Bench and Viking Warrior Statue.
Speakers will be Carey Upton, Facilities Manager for SMMUSD, and Nina Fresco and Ruthann Lehrer, Santa Monica Conservancy. The celebration includes the first-ever art gallery installation of paintings created under the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project, in which artists received federal grants for their artwork. A large-scale painting by renowned artist Conrad Buff, “Westward Ho,” will be on display at Barnum Hall.
Barnum Hall, the school auditorium, showcases Moderne architecture and decorative artwork in one of the City’s most splendid historic landmarks.
The Viking Warrior statue was salvaged from demolition, restored, and installed in a prominent new location. The Senior Bench, with its beautiful petrachrome murals, was also relocated and restored.
The 1930s were transformative times in Santa Monica. The onset of the Depression was followed by the devastating Long Beach Earthquake in 1933, which severely damaged all our schools and moved classroom learning to tents outside. Rebuilding and reconstruction were facilitated by federal grants under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Major public works were carried out in Santa Monica, including the construction of City Hall and the Post Office. Public art was integral to this program as part of the country’s economic recovery strategy. Rebuilding our school campuses at this time resulted in WPA Moderne architecture and other facility innovations that were progressive at that time, as well as new artwork. As our school campuses continue to evolve, retaining visible links to our past is important in remembering our history.
Parking is available at the city parking structure at 4th Street and Olympic Boulevard, with access to Samohi at the 4th Street gate.
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