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Site of groundbreaking Black private school in LA closer to becoming historic cultural monument
A Mary Clay School classroom in 1961-62. Teacher Woody Brown is instructing students in phonics, reading and handwriting.
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Courtesy L.A. Office of Historic Resources/Clay family archives
)
If you drive too quickly along West Adams Boulevard, west of 9th Avenue, you’ll likely miss the former home of the Mary Clay School, a two-story building that for decades provided innovative daycare and schooling to middle class Black children, starting in 1959.
L.A.’s Cultural Heritage Commission voted on Thursday to ask the L.A. City Council to give the building historical cultural monument status.
“[I] think it’s important to recognize this building… for the stories it tells… what it tells us about the history of Los Angeles,” said commission President Barry Milofsky, just before members unanimously voted to approve the request.
The Mary Clay School opened in L.A.'s West Adams neighborhood in 1959.
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Courtesy LA Office of Historic Resources/Clay family archives
)
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If approved by the City Council, the designation would protect the 102-year-old building from alterations, new construction, or demolition that would alter or erase elements that are of historic importance and irreplaceable.
The proposal for monument status comes as organizations work to preserve the under-recognized heritage of African Americans in L.A. after decades of demographic shifts in the city that have shrunk the city’s Black population.
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Supporting Black families
Mrs. Mary Clay relaxing in her private residence which was upstairs above the Mary Clay School operations, 1961-62.
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Courtesy LA Office of Historic Resources/Clay family archives
)
The building is an important site of Black education in L.A., where school founder Mary Elizabeth Smith Clay lived and worked. Clay was a trailblazing educator, civic-minded volunteer, and a nationally recognized expert on children’s education.
According to reports prepared by the cultural heritage commission staff, the school operated from 1959 to 1998 and used innovative methods to help kids with issues such as speech disabilities, while becoming also an important part of the social life of young people in middle-class Black families.
The school's origins
African Americans had moved to Los Angeles in the 40s to fill job openings created by the war effort, including Black women, who entered the workforce in large numbers. Publicly funded and integrated daycare was made widely available to help mothers from all income levels,
The Music Room of Mary Clay School. Children get situated on their cots at the beginning of nap time,1961-1962.
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Courtesy LA Office of Historic Resources/Clay family archives
)
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In the years after the war, public funding for daycare shifted to low-income families. Quality daycare for middle class Black families became difficult to access due to racism and high costs.
Clay opened a private school in her home to address that gap, and then moved into a bigger house to meet the growing demand. The school employed three teachers and introduced innovations like a psychologist, scientific methods to address speech issues, and foreign languages in kindergarten to third grade.
Mary Clay School annual photograph in 1989. Pre-school students are together with school owner/teacher Elenore “Sue” Clay (left) and teacher Miss Riggs (right).
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Courtesy LA Office of Historic Resources/Clay family archives
)
It was also used for fundraisers hosted by Clay for Black-focused and child-oriented causes such as the L.A. chapter of the Links Incorporated, the Anchorettes, Jack and Jill of America, the Pitt-Los Club, and the 12 Big Sisters.
In 1965 Clay was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to direct the Title Five Project, a program that gave training to people interested in working in childcare. She died in Los Angeles in 1971.
The building's history
Mary Clay was not the building’s original owner. The building was built in 1924 for F. Irwin Herron, whose family rode the waves of wealth created by L.A.’s oil and real estate booms in the early 1900s. Herron helped found what became the Los Angeles Stock Exchange.
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He hired Edwin C. Thorne to design the home. Thorne would go on to design public buildings later in the 1920s in Colton and La Puente, as well as private homes.
The owner of the property is listed in commission documents as Andre Gaines, associated with West Adams LLC. The document says the owner does not support the historical monument status. Rafael Fontes, planning associate in L.A.’s Office of Historic Resources said the owner had not permitted staff to see the interior of the building.
A contemporary photo of the former site of the Mary Clay School.
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Courtesy LA Office of Historic Resources
)
The designation was begun earlier this year by L.A. Councilmember Heather Hutt, who represents the 10th council district.
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