A major landmark in Ajo, the Curley School (named for mine superintendent Michael J. Curley) terminates the vista down Lomita Avenue from the town plaza. Completed in 1919, the school building was designed by Lescher and Kibbey (later, Lescher and Mahoney), the Phoenix architectural firm responsible for the Douglas Mansion in Jerome and the Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe. The main building is a fine example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Additional buildings were constructed in 1926 and 1937. After a period of abandonment, the International Sonoran Desert Alliance rehabilitated the school’s eight buildings and its seven-acre campus. This work was completed in 2007 and main building now offers 114,000 square feet of arts-oriented apartments, classrooms, workshops, and an auditorium with an indoor-outdoor stage and computer lab.
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Curley School
1918–1919, Lescher and Kibbey; 2007 rehabilitation, The Architecture Company. 201 W. Esperanza Ave.
Coordinator:
R. Brooks Jeffery
Jason Tippeconnic Fox
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