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History of Harvard-Westlake School

Harvard School for Boys, a military school with 42 students, was established in 1900 by Grenville C. Emery in a barley field at what is now the corner of Western Avenue and Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles. Four years later, Jessica Smith Vance and Frederica de Laguna opened the doors of Westlake School for girls on Sixth and Alvarado across from what is now MacArthur Park.

In 1911, Harvard became a non-profit corporation under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. Miss Vance and Miss de Laguna operated Westlake until their deaths in 1939 and 1941, respectively. The School was purchased by Sydney Temple, whose daughter, Helen Temple Dickinson, was headmistress until 1966, when Westlake became a non-profit institution.

Westlake moved to a larger site on Westmoreland in 1917 and to the current North Faring Road campus in 1927. By the mid 1920's Harvard too had outgrown its original campus. After a plan to reestablish the school on a site near Westwood was abandoned because of the worsening Depression, the school was moved to the defunct Hollywood Country Club on Coldwater Canyon in 1937. Aviation pioneer Donald W. Douglas, founder of Douglas Aircraft Company, lent $25,000 for a downpayment.

The end of the '60s saw dramatic changes in both schools. Boarding was discontinued. Harvard dropped the military, and Westlake phased out its elementary school. Course offerings expanded beyond anything the schools' founders could have imagined. So did the enrollment; Harvard's student body surpassed 800 while Westlake's edged toward 700.

Both schools flourished during the '70s and '80s, growing in quality, size, and reputation. In 1989, trustees of the two schools legally effected a merger. Full coeducation began in the fall of 1991, with grades 7 - 9 at Westlake's North Faring Road location and 10 - 12 at Harvard's Coldwater Canyon campus.

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