Southeast : NEW HEADQUARTERS

Architectural purists won’t be running to rescue the Long Beach school district’s 66-year-old downtown headquarters.

The building, a perplexing mixture of Spanish revival and modern styles, has been scheduled for demolition next year. Maintenance bills of more than $100,000 a year prompted the decision, school officials said.

In August, the district’s headquarters will move to an 11-year-old building at 1515 Hughes Way in West Long Beach.

Money to buy a new building arrived recently when the city of Long Beach purchased a district-owned lot nearby for $3.75 million. The new headquarters cost about $4 million.

The district won’t sell the old site because of burgeoning enrollment and overcrowding at the nearly 81,000-student system.

Officials hope to construct an elementary school or high school at the site as soon as state construction money becomes available.

A spokesman for the district said the old building is an eyesore. Architects diminished its original Spanish flair during a 1959 structural face lift, he said.

More recent, earthquake concerns prompted school officials to remove the building’s concrete facade, leaving behind ugly splotches of gray paint.

The building “looks like it has the measles,” said district spokesman Richard Van Der Laan.