Las Vegas Academy of International Studies and Performing Arts (Las Vegas High School)

Las Vegas's only high school until the 1950s, this building is certainly the best example of the Art Deco style in the city. Designed by the father-son firm of George A. and Lehman A. Ferris of Reno, the three-story concrete building has a five-part facade marked by a central pavilion and two corner pavilions flanking two recessed sections, all marked off by buttresses. The stucco-covered walls are smooth, embellished with an intricate cast concrete frieze of repetitive animal and vegetal forms. The central pavilion, containing the main entrance, is the most elaborate element. Four buttresses rise along the facade, decorated at the tops with cast concrete reliefs representing stylized grapevines and embellished with polychrome medallions. The recessed entrance has a surround depicting squirrels, snakes, and other animals among vines. A cast concrete frieze of interlocking wreaths above a repeating pattern of chevrons near the top of the wall extends around the rest of the building. Although the exterior is well preserved, the interior has been substantially altered.