Located at 1309 Stanton Street in El Paso, the St. Patrick's Cathedral School and Community Center was completed in 1923, designed by the architectural firm of Beutell & Hardie with a construction cost of $200,000. Built by contractor R.E. McKee, the building contained 16 rooms for school use, along with a fully equipped gymnasium, an olympic sized pool, and a large theater.
The school was the long-time dream of Rev. Fr. M. O'Leary, who invested years of prayer and energy to see this project through. O'Leary was the Pastor of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the school was named St. Patrick's Cathedral School and Community Center appropriately. For its first two years, the school was administered by the Sisters of Loretto, then in 1925 it was taken over by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the Christian Brothers, an order founded by St. John Baptiste de la Salle in France during the 17th Century. When the Brothers took over the administration on September 8, 1925, the name was changed to Cathedral High.
The architectural firm that designed the building was Beutell & Hardie, a well established local firm that drew the plans for a number of other El Paso gems, including Crockett Elementary School, the downtown Gardner Hotel, and the Radford School for Girls. Both architects also practiced as individuals and in competing firms, responsible for many other Sun City buildings.
In a 1974 El Paso Times interview, Bradford Hardie stated that he designed the Cathedral School alone; however period (1922-1923) newspapers clearly identify Beutell as lead architect for the project. At the time of the interview, Hardie was 82 years of age, and passed away a short time later.
Beutell identified the architectural style of the building as Northern Italian Renaissance, purposefully understated to honor the dignity of the building and its purpose. Beutell boasted the uniqueness of the building construction, in that one structure would contain so many features, which he states were rare in the USA. The building utilizes 55-foot long reinforced concrete girders "which are without equal in El Paso" (quoting the architect). They contain 7,700 cubic feet of concrete and 100,000 pounds of steel.
The building is extant and still in use as Cathedral High School, albeit with more modern additions. This weekend we were able to swing by and capture some photographs of the old building, which retains its original dignity as it approaches a century in existence.
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-- Mark Stone, citing https://www.cathedral-elpaso.org/ and newspapers.com
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Newspaper clipping, showing the building near completion, from the May 12, 1923 El Paso Herald via newspapers.com |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone on 03/20/2021 |
