Laconia High School

In the design of the Laconia High School, architect Philip S. Avery was confronted with the challenge of creating a building to meet extensive educational requirements on a limited budget. Completed in 1923–1924, at a cost of approximately $228,000, this brick and cast-stone structure is an excellent representative example of Colonial Revival school architecture, similar to other buildings of the same period, function, and style in New Hampshire. Noteworthy is the perfectly symmetrical front (west) facade with its matching entrance pavilions featuring Doric columned porches topped by metal balustrades and round-arched window apertures. The original, near rectangular floor plan on three floors called for a combination of classrooms, science laboratories, a gymnasium, a large civic auditorium with a seating capacity of over 800 people, and spaces for commercial, manual training, and domestic science departments. Erected on flat land and set back 200 feet from Union Street, the Laconia High School, despite changes in fenestration, interior modernization, and additions, still expresses the original exterior design intent.