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Walls going up at new THS

By Leigh Anne Butler

The construction of the new Tallassee High School is progressing.  When you drive by, you might notice brickwork has begun. 650,000 bricks are required to complete the new structure, which is slated for completion this fall.

“We want to retain the architectural look from the original high school building and the annex,” Brock Nolin, superintendent of Tallassee City Schools stated. 

The annex was constructed in 1938 and will remain next to the newly constructed high school building and preforming arts building.  The brickwork on the new construction will emulate the brickwork on the annex.  A mock wall was constructed in front of the annex to ensure the new brickwork was a good match.

“We did the mock wall for quality control; to make sure the brick color was right, the brick joints looked right and that the craftmanship is there,” Nolin continued.  “There is a different level of quality control that is needed with the façade.  To the trained eye, a smidge difference in the mortar joint or the way they strike it off can make the final result look very different.”

There are two different brick mason companies currently working on the project.  “We started on the back northeast corner of the auditorium.  One brick company went left and one is going right, so the race is on.”

“They are laying blocks subgrade because you don’t want to put the high dollar bricks underground.  They will lay cap blocks and come up to grade and then start their brick courses.”