Viewfinder: A First Look at Manatee High's New Davis Building

As students go back to school on Monday, Manatee High School students have a little something extra to look forward to in the hallowed halls of this high school.

This year's class will be the first to return to the school with a brand new auditorium and state-of-the-art music facility in the new Davis Building. The building has been under construction for nearly two years.

Thousands of students have passed through the doors of Manatee High School's historic Davis Building throughout the course of the past 85 years. But the class of 2012 will be the first to experience both the historic Davis building and the brand new reconstruction with its up-to-date technology and other 21st century ammenities.

The familiar red brick building was constructed in 1926 as an elementary school, Biltmore Grade School, but closed after only one year of operation, according to Linda Boone who walked the halls of the original Davis building as both a student in the 1970s and a teacher since 1979. Boone is a Spanish teacher at the school as well as Assistant Band Director.

MHS (then known as Bradenton High School) opened in 1912 and was originally located on the northwest corner of 9th Avenue and 14th Street W. It relocated to its current location when Biltmore Grade School closed down, following the collapse of the Florida Land Boom.

After undergoing a series of renovations in the 1980s and 1990s, the Davis Building, which takes its name from longtime principal, Paul F. Davis, began its demoliton process in January, 2010. The northwest wing, south wing, lobby, auditorium and music area were demolished and rebuilt in a manner that retains the integrity of the original building.

According to Boone, the new building's columns were cast from model molds made from the original columns.

The new 70,000 square foot building has 25 classrooms and houses the entire foreign language department as well as the majority of the social studies department.

Although the new auditorium does not have a balcony like the previous one did, it is one of the largest performing arts centers in the area with 800 seats.

The new auditorium, as well as the new band, orchestra, chorus and dance rooms at MHS feature state of the art sound and lighting, and the classrooms are more technologically equipped.

All of the performing art classes ranging from theatre and dance to music will take place in the new Davis Building.