You don’t need to be enrolled in school to learn something. Across the country, adaptive reuse projects show that former school buildings continuing to serve their communities even after the classrooms are shuttered and the teachers are reassigned. School projects do more than preserve bricks and mortar (although they do that, too). They sustain stories, strengthen neighborhoods, and invigorate local economies.

Former schools are ideal adaptive reuse projects because they tend to be centrally located in neighborhoods, with large spaces like cafeterias and gymnasiums for gathering, and small offices and classrooms which are ideal for becoming apartments, hotel rooms, and modern offices. There's no need to bring a bookbag or No.2 pencil to take a look at the ways these seven schools (with support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation) are still giving back their communities.

Academy Lofts at Adair Park (Atlanta, Georgia)

Even decades after its closure, there’s still a lot of creating and learning taking place in the former George W. Adair School. Originally constructed in 1912, the school closed permanently in 1973 and sat vacant for decades. Thanks to a $8.2 million investment, the former school exists today as the Academy Lofts at Adair Park, a live/work space giving local creatives affordable options for both studio space and housing.

Given its significance to the Adair Park neighborhood, the surrounding community was involved in the development process, vocalizing their thoughts and desires for what they wanted the space to become. The two-story brick building is also home to Switchyards, a coworking space, and is the headquarters of the Creatives Project, which is the official community partner for the project. Academy Lofts at Adair Park was a National Trust Community Investment Corporation project, financed in part by NTCIC’s contribution of a $2 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation, and an equity investment in the $1.3 million Federal Historic Tax Credits generated by the project.

Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort (Tucson, Arizona)

In 1929, the then-called Hacienda Del Sol School welcomed girls to a rigorous and then-unusual college preparatory curriculum. The boarding school was home to daughters of the country’s most prominent families, from the Vanderbilts to the Pillsburys to the granddaughter of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The school had its ups and downs along with history, including closing its doors during World War II.

In 1948, Hacienda del Sol, with its views of the Santa Catalina mountains, reopened as a resort, continuing to attract well-heeled folks like Clark Gable. The re-opening revealed a renovation helmed by a disciple of the original architect, keeping the Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture intact. Over the years, the property experienced more ups and downs, until it was reopened as a modern resort in 1995 and renovated again in 2015. The result is a property that honors its roots in the Sonoran Desert and provides access to the environment for its guests. Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort has been a member of Historic Hotels of America since 2009.

Hotel Grinnell (Grinnell, Iowa)

This Neoclassical gem was built in 1921 and served as the Iowa city’s junior high school until 1978. It was part of a larger academic complex of buildings that were demolished, but this one escaped that fate by becoming a municipal office building. It wasn’t until 2017 that an entrepreneur had a vision of renovation, honoring the building's history and helping to cement its role in the future of Grinnell. The boutique hotel welcomes city guests to an eco-conscious experience with a cheeky sense of humor (neckties read, “not now” and function as do-not-disturb signs and room keys are “hall passes”). And, the hotel still serves the local community.

In addition to saving the bones and the feeling of the junior high (but not the smells or the anxiety of getting to class), the former theater at the school is now an event venue, and the restaurant, called the Periodic Table, is open to the public. Hotel Grinnell was inducted into Historic Hotels of America in 2023.

Tate Etienne Prevost (TEP) Center (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Technically, segregation in United States schools was outlawed in 1954. In practice, it took a lot longer. It wasn’t until 1960 that three Black girls integrated McDonogh No. 19 Public School, an elementary school that was sitting empty due to racism and discrimination. Today, the TEP Center, named for those three students—Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost—teaches the people of New Orleans about civil rights, school desegregation, and civil rights. The former school re-opened in its current form in 2022, which includes the offices for the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond and affordable housing for qualifying residents of the Lower 9th Ward.

Tours of the TEP Center, which includes exhibition space and facilities, are open to the public. The project received varied support from the National Trust, including a $75,000 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund grant to help tell the girls’ full stories to donations of paint for the McDonogh No. 19 interior.

Visitation Hotel Frederick (Frederick, Maryland)

For more than 150 years, the stately brick façade of what is now Visitation Hotel Frederick was an address of importance. Opened in 1846 as a Catholic school and convent, the structure functioned as a Civil War hospital during a time of need. Throughout its history, the building received upgrades fitting its role as a House of God, including a stained-glass-lined chapel with Corinthian columns and other details. As has happened with many monasteries around the world, as the number of nuns living at the convent dwindled, the Order of the Visitation made the decision to close the facility in 2016.

An Annapolis entrepreneur purchased it and, with the help of the National Park Service and the Maryland Historic Trust, renovated it and turned it into the Visitation Hotel Frederick, which opened in 2025. The Federalist-style building features 65 rooms, using elements of the school and the convent throughout. The hotel’s restaurant takes advantage of those stained-glass windows from its home in the former chapel. Visitation Hotel Frederick was named to the Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Best of Adaptive Reuse list in 2025.

Webster Community Center (Pontiac, Michigan)

The Webster School taught the children of Pontiac, Michigan between 1921 and 2008 and was initially built to support the families who flocked to the region in pursuit of automotive manufacturing jobs. The building was designed by Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton, the team behind Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, and was constructed with an ornate foyer, a combination gym and auditorium, and 26 classrooms. While Webster was built as an all-white school, it was desegregated in the 1970s.

In the following decades, as Pontiac’s population declined, enrollment did as well and the school closed permanently in 2008, after which it sat empty for a decade. In 2016, Micah 6 Community bought the property and is currently transforming the once vacant school into a mixed-use community center where it will be home to small businesses and non-profit organizations, a Head Start program, a fresh food store, and more. Webster Community Center is also a National Trust Community Investment Corporation project. NTCIC’s investment in the project included $7 million in New Market Tax Credits Allocation and an equity investment in the $5.5 million in Federal Historic Tax Credits generated by the development.

1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa (Eureka Springs, Arkansas)

For Arkansas women of a certain social standing in the early 1900s, there was no place they wanted to go more than Crescent College & Conservatory for Young Women. Built from Arkansas limestone in a Romanesque Revival style outside with Victorian details inside, the building has long been considered the “Grand Ol’ Lady of the Ozarks.” Eureka Springs is known for its healing waters, Victorian aesthetic and for being a place where it is more common than uncommon to encounter a haunted building.