Cathedral High School - Los Angeles, California
By: Jennifer Walker - Journey

Oscar Leong sits in the new admissions office of Los Angeles’ Cathedral High School, his shoes pressed against the polished hardwoods reclaimed from the school’s old gymnasium floor. Leong is proud as he talks about the new addition, which includes classrooms, labs, and a new regulation gym.

“It’s a 20-year dream come true,” he says.

During Leong’s senior year at Cathedral in 1984-85, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced that the high school, which was founded in 1925, would be closing at the end of the school year. The property had been sold. The student body erupted, rallying alumni, faculty, and parents to fight for the survival of the school. After all, Cathedral was at full capacity and provided education for students from highly Catholic neighborhoods in the oldest and poorest areas of the city.

The campaign garnered media attention, and alumni and the Christian Brothers committed personal resources to keep the school going. As a result, the Archdiocese reversed its decision, making the sale null and void and allowing the school to carry on.

During that time, Cathedral unveiled plans for a new gymnasium – a drawing of a modern building that stood in stark contrast to the old, traditional buildings that made up the school. There were no funds to build the new gym in the foreseeable future, but the drawings offered hope. One day, Leong knew, that dream would be made into reality.

Seven years after graduating from Cathedral High School, Leong returned to Cathedral High School to teach and work with now-president Martin Farfan in the newly created development office. By the mid-1990s, the school had experienced a drop in enrollment, and the Christian Brothers entered into an agreement with the Archdiocese to establish Cathedral High School as a private school governed by a Board of Trustees. This allowed the school’s development office to pursue outside funding.

By the turn of the century, things were looking up. Enrollment was climbing. Scholarships were in place for the majority of the 600-plus students who come from the oldest, poorest, and, in many cases, most violent neighborhoods of the city. And, fundraising efforts to support the scholarships and school were flourishing. It was time to move forward and turn the old drawing of the gymnasium into reality.

For Leong, the expansion was personal. He had attended the school when it was on the brink of closing and saw the original rendering of what the school could be. And when it came to bringing that vision to life, Leong wanted to be sure that whoever designed the addition understood just how important the project was to alumni like him.

Charles (Chuck) Kluger, principal of Kluger Architects, Inc., based in Signal Hill, California, answered the call. He met with Leong and Farfan and listened to their needs. He learned that while the school had a strong desire to expand, there were some growing pains with which to contend. For one, because land was sparse, building the new gymnasium and adjacent classrooms would require tearing down the old gymnasium. Some alumni just didn’t want to see the building – tattooed with precious memories – destroyed.

To complicate matters, the old gym had been built on an old cemetery, and a protocol would have to be established to deal with any remains that may surface during demolition and construction. (Luckily, no remains were unearthed during the process, only pieces of headstones and fencing.)

After the meeting, Kluger drew up plans. Unlike the modern-looking gymnasium that was unveiled by the school in 1985, the proposed buildings were designed to look more tradition and in keeping with what Kluger called the “Ivy league school ambiance” of the old buildings.

Because the Cathedral faculty and Kluger all wanted the students to feel a part of the planning process, the school had the Student Senate – the top dozen seniors at the school – visit Kluger’s office and review the plans.

“They had some great suggestions,” Kluger says, such as opening up corridors and stairways to alleviate congestion between classes.

By 2003, the plans were finalized and Cathedral had broken ground on the new expansion. The project was completed in January 2008. The finished product included a tournament-approved, CIF Regulation gymnasium with home and visitor locker rooms below the gym floor. An adjacent two-story building housed classrooms, labs, and a second-story alumni office with stunning views of the Los Angeles skyline.

Kluger added sentimental touches to keep the spirit of the old gym alive. For example, the bleachers in the old gym, which had been carved with nicknames and proclamations of young love over the years, were reused to accent the concession area of the new gymnasium. The clock that hung in the old gym also was reinstalled in the new gym as yet another way of tying the old in with the new. Kluger also pulled the polished hardwoods from the old gym floor and reused them on the floor of the new alumni office. It is here, amid the painted purple Phantom mascot, that Leong, now the admissions director, has his office.

“It’s so nice,” Leong says of the addition, which is now in full use. Kluger even visited the school for the first Phantom basketball game in the new gymnasium, an act that showed Leong that Kluger truly cared how the new building would be received by students and alumni. 

“I can’t tell you how good it feels to be on campus,” Leong says. “We’re just so proud.”

Kluger Architects, with offices in Signal Hill and Los Angeles, is a full-service architectural firm offering a wide variety of solutions and services, www.klugerarchitects.com.

Fast Facts

School: Cathedral High School
Location: Los Angeles, California
Student Body: 600
Grades Serves: 9-12
Project Goal: To build a new gymnasium and a separate building for more classrooms, labs, and an alumni office
Size: 48,000 square feet
Cost: $13.5 million
Challenge: Tearing down the old gym, which would destroy sentimental aspects of the school. The gym also sat on an old cemetery, which presented issues, should old remains be unearthed.
Solution: Using wood from the old gym to enhance the beauty and revive memories in the new gymnasium. Plus, establishing a protocol for any remains that surfaced during construction.