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This article was re-published from the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Renovate or Replace Publication.
Light fixtures, doors, and cabinets were stripped from the main hallway when the building was slated for demolition.
(Photo: Vern McKissick; Architect: McKissick Associates)
Thanks to volunteers who loved their alma mater, the original doors and lights were re covered and reinstalled in the main hallway as the building was renovated.
(Photo: Vern McKissick; Architect: McKissick Associates)
The former Hazleton High School, recently renovated as an elementary/middle school, stands proudly on a hill overlooking the city.
(Photo: Matt Grohol, Standard Speaker)
Some 1,000 people packed the newly renovated gymnasium for rededication ceremonies.
(Photo: Blaine Falkena, Standard Speaker)
The former cafeteria was remodeled into a new library.
One of the many picturesque classrooms of the refurbished 1926 “Castle.”
(Photo: Phil Latella)
Passionate community involvement has saved the former Hazleton High School from the wrecking ball and paved the way for its reincarnation earlier this year as the Hazle Elementary/Middle School. The 1926 school, known as “the Castle on the Hill” because of its turrets and other Collegiate Gothic elements, was closed in June 1998 and slated to be demolished for a new school. An auction was conducted in which its oak doors, built-in cabinets, brass chandeliers and other fixtures were extracted and carted away.
But after a rally called by citizens determined to save the school, then-Hazleton Mayor Michael Marsicano refused to issue a demolition permit. “A lot of people loved that school,” said Gilbert Degenhart, a 1947 graduate who championed keeping the building during his four years on the Hazleton Area School Board. “After the mayor held up demolition, we had volunteers – we called them the Castle keepers – who patched the roof, cleaned up trash, and checked the building every day to make sure it was secure.” one Castle keeper even obtained the original auditorium doors and chandeliers so they could eventually be reinstalled.
In 2003, the school board hired architect vern McKissick, AIA, to evaluate the building. “It was a fantastic structure,” McKissick said. “It was more substantial than anything we would build today. I told the board, I might not be able to renovate the building for less cost than new construction, but I could do it a year faster.” As it turns out, the project cost about $3.5 million less than a new school of comparable size, even with the cost of rebuilding the turrets that had been removed from the towers flanking the main entrance.
Some 1,000 people packed the newly refurbished gymnasium for the rededication of the school in January. “This is unbelievable. Every brush of paint was worth it,” one 1948 graduate told the Hazleton Standard-Speaker. Said another, “I think it’s a beautiful monument to the people who graduated here. It’s going to be a step forward for the children who follow.”
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