Tuba City Boarding School, Tuba Hall, Navajo Reservation, Main Street & West Cedar Avenue, Tuba City, Coconino County, AZ

STORED OFF SITE AND ON SITE. mchr
Significance: It is significant as a good example of turn-of-the-century Bureau of Indian Affairs architecture in the Southwest and for its association with early BIA education programs on the Navajo Reservation. Originally built as a dining hall but later changed to a dormitory, this boarding school structure modestly incorporates Neo-Classical Revival Style elements such as its symmetrical exterior and portico and entry details. The use of local materials applied to an imported building style suggests how through its buildings the BIA sought to assert its presence on the Navajo Reservation, at once drawing from the region but nevertheless reflecting its centralized authority by imposing the prevailing national architectural style for public buildings on its projects. The absence of elaborate ornamentation also suggests both the Bureau's budgetary constraints and the Spartan-like nature of the Bureau's boarding school program...
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1690
Survey number: HABS AZ-146-A
Building/structure dates: ca. 1905 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: after 1919 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: before 2012 Demolished