High school’s iconic building to be replaced

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District may lose one of its most famous landmarks this year, as the district announced plans to demolish the condemned administration building at Newport Harbor High School over the summer.

Robins Hall, which features Newport Harbor’s prominent clock tower, closed in 2003 due to seismic concerns. Among the projects scheduled this year under the Measure F school bond is a replacement for the old building — and to create it, Newport-Mesa will have to tear down the building that has loomed over the corner of Irvine Avenue and 15th Street since 1930.

The good news, according to Deputy Supt. Paul Reed, is that when Newport-Mesa finishes the new Robins Hall, the average passerby won’t be able to tell the difference.

“It’s almost impossible to keep that clock tower and the facade of the old theater,” Reed said. “We looked at it, but it is so complex to tie the facade and clock tower into a new building, and extremely expensive, and in the end it isn’t safe. We’d almost have to encase the clock tower to make sure concrete wouldn’t fall during an earthquake.”

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, architects from LPA Inc. presented designs for the new Robins Hall, which is virtually identical to the original. The building used to house Newport Harbor’s theater, administrative offices, classrooms, library and food services, all of which have moved elsewhere on campus.

Reed said the district would have to create the new Robins Hall in three phases. First, crews would have to relocate the boiler system and utilities from inside the hall, since they still provide power for the rest of the campus. The district has put out bids for those jobs, but the work has not started yet.

During the summer, Reed said, the district hoped to demolish the old building, with construction of the new one to start in the fall. Newport-Mesa planned to renovate Robins Hall under Measure A — the $110-million school bond that voters passed in 2000 — but reasoned that creating a new building from scratch would be cheaper than redoing the original.

The new Robins Hall is one of three major projects scheduled for this year under Measure F, which voters passed in 2005 in part to complete work left over from Measure A. The district broke ground Thursday on a stadium at Estancia High School and is finalizing plans for a gymnasium at TeWinkle Middle School.