This educational complex is a product of two school districts and three major building campaigns. Arlington Heights Independent School District commissioned the first structure, a two-story brick schoolhouse, in 1909. It initially served all grades; since the 1920s it has served elementary grades. The T-plan composition of the 1909 school is a five-bay central block facing Camp Bowie Boulevard, flanked on each side by stepped, recessed stair towers and two-story classroom blocks. Walls are clad in yellow brick, while fine quality dark maroon patterned brickwork highlights the stairtowers, cornice level, and grouped window bays. Once complemented by a sloping hipped roof whose deep eaves were supported by gracefully curving brackets, this fine building may be the work of architects Sanguinet and Staats.
To the west of the 1909 schoolhouse, Arlington Heights High School was constructed in 1922 by the architectural firm of Clarkson and Gaines. Harry B. Friedman was contractor for the 1922 construction. In plan, a rectangular block two and one-hall stories in height, the high school facade is composed as a five-part composition framed by pilasters. Limestone details and a green glazed file visor roof ornament the parapet roofed structure. The high school, later used as a junior high and an elementary school, was remodeled in 1966 when a number of windows were bricked in or replaced.
Architect Wyatt C. Hedrick and contractor Charles H. Flaws constructed a link between the school house and the high school in 1954; this link drastically alters the site orientation and formal facade composition of the 1909 schoolhouse. Since 1976, the complex has housed school district offices, but remains an indicator of the extremely high quality typically used for public school buildings before World War II. If unaltered, the 1909 and 1922 schools would be eligible for the National Register. The structures contribute to the Public Schools National Register Thematic Group.
