Published Feb. 3, 2022
BY MARCUS MICHIE
Have you ever spotted curious structures or installations on Carmel High School’s campus? If you have thoroughly examined CHS, you may have seen a few architectural mysteries and strange objects present on campus.
In the barren walkway adjacent to the cafeteria, for instance, six years of deterioration left the barbecue rusted and inoperable.
Defective components have decommissioned the grill for years. (Photo by MARCUS MICHIE)
“We tried to use the barbecue six years ago without much success,” CHS activities director Aubrey Powers recalls.
Built in the 1990s, the seemingly neglected grill’s past was occupied with preparing patties, sausages and other grilled food primarily for athletic events, including the football team’s pregame dinners.
“It’s a beloved feature of our campus,” CHS administrative assistant Lisa Brazil says. “It’s just waiting out there for life to return to normal.”
In a newer addition, several newly installed benches and stumps have emerged beside the amphitheater, but some students and staff are questioning their awkward and peculiar presence.
Overlooking the amphitheater, these phony stumps gather dust. (Photo by MARCUS MICHIE)
“Having places to sit is great,” says Computer Science teacher Tom Clifford, who’s classroom has a front-row seat to the stumps outside. But Clifford admits he is puzzled by the design of the stumps. “Why not get actual rounds of logs?”
The unnatural, synthetic logs dissuade some students from settling down with friends, and with an abundance of recently added seating around the campus, some students question whether the arrangement was worth installing.
“No one sits there,” freshman Jeremiah Robinson says. “The school could have invested the money elsewhere.”
Before the benches and stumps were built beside the stairway to the amphitheater, the land was unused and often disregarded as an unattractive segment of the campus.
“If it’s something that the students will use, I think it’s a good idea,” says CUSD Board member and former CHS principal Karl Pallastrini.
Time will tell.
CHS’ library was built in the early 2000s beside the administration building. Before its removal, the previous library was located where the Center for Performing Arts now resides. (Photo by MARCUS MICHIE)
Another structural subtlety on campus is the library balcony. Strangely, the balcony is inaccessible from inside the building.
“I’ve never noticed the balcony before,” CHS campus supervisor CJ Veloz says. “I would guess they wanted to have inward doors, but had a change of heart.”
The library was built while Pallastrini was principal, and he envisioned the balcony to be an area for students to gather, read and study in the open air.
“It was an idea that didn’t have enough traction to happen,” Pallastrini says.
Whether purposefully decorative or an architectural flaw, the balcony is a curious feature of CHS’ library, similar to the dilapidated shack beside the CHS track. Nicknamed “Ables’ Barn,” the shack held track and field equipment for decades, but time has left the shed moldy and unenterable.
Left undisturbed, the insulated asbestos within “Ables’ Barn” has been harmless. (Photo by MARCUS MICHIE)
“John Ables was a track coach here for many years,” Brazil explains. “I don’t know how long it has been here, but it’s scheduled to be demolished.”
For years, CHS has been cautioned against tearing down the structure as the roof tiles contain asbestos, the mineral linked to mesothelioma.
“Because of the asbestos, students can’t go in, but adults can,” Clifford says.
The barn could be demolished by the summer of 2022 and replaced by a new storage facility shortly thereafter.
Carmel High School’s colorful past has produced many mysterious structural oddities. Just what does the future entail for these curiosities and others on campus?
