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Location: 211 E. Main Street, Ottawa, Illinois
Ottawa Township High School is situated at the point where the Fox and Illinois rivers meet and is just a block from downtown Ottawa. The school contains grades 9-12 and has an average yearly enrollment of 1600 students. The size of the school has grown over the years to be nearly 350,000 square feet. The Main Building was built in 1916 and contains the administrative offices, theater, library, pool, a gymnasium, and classrooms. The Manual Arts Building and Kingman Gym were built to the east of the Main Building in 1931 and includes more classrooms, a cafeteria and agriculture/auto shop. In 1937 the Passageway bridge was built to link the Main Building to the Manual Arts building. The Shannon Building was built in 1961 to the south of the existing buildings providing an additional link between the two buildings. The Shannon building houses science and art labs, music rooms, as well as additional general classrooms.
In 1987 Ottawa High School, started working with W. C. Fredricks & Associates, the firm which would evolve into Basalay, Cary and Alstadt Architects. Ottawa High School and BC&A Architects have remained partners ever since. Over the course of the last 32 years there are few parts of the school that BC&A Architects has not had a hand in maintaining or updating through projects large and small.
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The Courtyard
Prior to 1999, the Ottawa High School courtyard was an uninviting concrete eyesore. The courtyard which had been created between the three building and the passageway was used as a service drive and parking lot. It also served as the main pedestrian pathway to Kingman Gym and King Football Field. The space was mostly concrete and did not provide a very pleasant welcome to arriving visitors.
In 1999 BC&A Architects were tasked with recreating this space to be an attractive amenity rather than a concrete eyesore. When finished the space was a park-like plaza used for pedestrian circulation from building to building, entry to the football field, and exterior lunchroom space for the cafeteria which was overcrowded at the time.
The project was partially funded through a life safety grant to correct deteriorating steps from the gymnasium’s handicapped-accessible entrance and to correct other life safety issues. The balance was funded by the Education Foundation through the sale of monogrammed bricks, statues, light poles and benches. There are of 34,000 bricks in the courtyard, six light poles, 14 sculptures, and 14 benches. Any excess money raised was used by the Education Foundation to fund other yearly educational programs or scholarships.
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Auditorium
In the summer of 2000 the original auditorium in the Main building was completely renovated. The seating which had become damaged and worn out was completely replaced. The plaster walls and ceiling were repaired and the entire room was repainted. In addition to the work in the auditorium space, all stage lighting was replaced with an upgraded system.
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Addition
Since the last small classroom addition in 1973 the school continued to grow and gradually become more crowded and needed additional classroom space, the cafeteria had also become overcrowded after the school had changed to closed campus lunch program. In 2003 as part of a $20 million state grant, a two story 23,000 square foot addition was built to the east of the Manual Arts building. This addition provided 15 new general classrooms and a new art classroom. To provide a larger cafeteria the old and outdated agriculture/auto shop was moved into a new building and the old shop area was transformed into the new cafeteria.
As part of the 2003 project, the outdoor sports fields were all upgraded, the cinder surfaced track was replaced with a new synthetic track surface. The bleachers on both sides of the track and football field were replaced along with the outdoor lighting. The old tennis court was removed and a new award winning court was built in a new location which made room for a practice football field. The baseball field was replaced, and a new softball field and soccer field were built.
In addition to these larger projects, Basalay Cary and Alstadt Architects has worked with Ottawa High School on many smaller life safety and energy efficiency projects to maintain and upgrade the buildings. Prior to 2008 all windows on campus, with the exception of the 2003 addition, had single pane non-insulated glass, and many windows were very difficult to operate. In 2008 every window in the school was replaced with new insulated glass units. Historic photos were used to replicate the look of the original wood divided lite windows in the Main building. Tuckpointing, re-roofing, plumbing replacement, and security camera installation are just some of the projects which have been done over time to protect and extend the life of the buildings.
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