Morro Bay is backing an effort to place the former Morro Elementary School on the National Register of Historic Places, just weeks before the city expects to take ownership of the property.
The City Council unanimously directed staff on Sept. 22 to send a letter supporting the historic nomination and ask the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, which currently owns the property, to withdraw its preliminary objection.
The State Historical Resources Commission is expected to consider the nomination at its meeting on Nov. 12 and 13.
By then, Morro Bay expects to own the property.
The city is scheduled to close escrow on or before Oct. 31, when it will owe the school district the remaining $4.8 million for the Napa Avenue site.
Councilmember Cyndee Edwards said the pending change in ownership was one reason the district should reconsider its opposition.
“Since we’re already in this relationship and escrow with the school district, it would absolutely make sense that we would ask them to rescind their objection letter,” Edwards said during the meeting.
She claimed that the district initially objected to historic status because it was focused on “getting the highest … dollar for the property” before reaching an agreement with the city.
Friends of Morro Elementary has pushed for the historic designation as part of its effort to preserve the former school, spending almost $20,000 toward the nomination as of March.
The draft nomination argues that Morro Elementary qualifies for the National Register for both its role in the city’s educational history and its architecture.
Morro Elementary “served as the largest and longest-operating elementary campus and functioned as a central civic institution from the Great Depression through the postwar period,” according to the draft.
Its proposed period of historic significance runs from 1936 to 1959.
Four buildings on the original 5-acre campus are considered to be contributing historic resources: the Mission Revival-style main building, the Craftsman-detailed music building, and two mid-century modern classroom buildings.
Architect Louis N. Crawford designed the main building, which was constructed in 1936 with help of New Deal programs. As enrollment grew after World War II, two classroom buildings designed by architect Frank Wynkoop opened in 1954 with V-shaped “butterfly” roofs, expansive windows, and other features associated with mid-century modern design.
Together, the buildings “illustrate the architectural transition from Mission Revival to mid-century modern design as applied to public school construction,” according to the nomination.
Now, that preservation effort is intersecting with Morro Bay’s plans to redevelop the roughly 10-acre property, which could include a new civic center.
Mayor Carla Wixom told New Times that historic designation will factor into that development.
“Placing the school on the National Registry of Historic Places will have impacts on future use,” Wixom said in an email. “There are pros and cons that will be taken into consideration as we look at adaptive reuse of the space.”
But Wixom emphasized that the designation wouldn’t encompass the entire property.
“The registry will only include the buildings that are submitted into it and not the entire 10 acres,” she said.
As part of its due diligence before moving forward with the purchase, Morro Bay hired consultant LSA to review the historic assessment and nomination paperwork.
LSA found that the four buildings in question appear eligible for the National Register. The consultant also considered whether preservation could interfere with converting the main building into a functioning City Hall.
“The finalization of the nomination itself would not necessarily hamstring the city’s ability to engage in that future work effort,” City Attorney Brian Stack said. ∆
This article appears in Oct 1-8, 2026.
