Colegio Cesar Chavez - Facilities

Facilities

"The examples of muralism at Colegio Cesar Chavez comprise an uneven lot.... Subtlety has little place among many of the bold, simplified images. Golden and turquoise visions of the powerful snake god Quetzalcoatl adjoin primitive pictographs in which a buzzard and a skull, suggesting death, are carried on the backs of kneeling figures. An immense, expressionistic skull confronts a viewer, flames rising off the death’s head like tendrils curling toward the sky. Workers toil in a field dominated by the central presence of a grotesque scarecrow; a rattler and an eagle prepare for battle. The past, present and future come together potently in an 8-foot-high rendering of an archetypal Aztec figure, the three-headed omniscient god that sees what was, what is and what will be. The symbolism dates back to similar figurines discovered in a pre-Columbian tomb near Mexico City."

Colegio Cesar Chavez's main campus building was the two-story administrative building called Huelga Hall. ("Huelga" is Spanish for "strike".) When it was a part of Mount Angel College, Huelga Hall was known as Marmion Hall and was used as the campus dormitory for women. Huelga Hall was the hub of campus activity and was where most classes were held. The walls of Huelga Hall were covered with large Mexican-themed murals, some in the style of Diego Rivera, others being transcriptions of ancient Aztec artwork. In the main reception room there was a mural of Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara near the fireplace. To the north of Huelga Hall stood two buildings that served as dormitories for Colegio students.

Colegio also owned two homes. Directly behind Huelga Hall was the Art Building. The Art Building was a two-story farm house in the Victorian style. It had been built in the mid-1900s by the Bernt family of Mt. Angel. When Mount Angel College took possession of the Bernt house, it was renamed Studio San Benito. Under Colegio's ownership, the house was referred to as the Art Building. The Art Building lay vacant and unused for most of Colegio's existence until when in 1980 it was occupied by the family of Arthur Omar Olivo. Mr. Olivo was the grounds keeper and facilities maintenance manager of Colegio César Chávez. After a falling out with Colegio president Irma Gonzales, the Olivo family vacated the Art Building in 1982 shortly before Colegio's closure. Beside the Art House stood another two-story house that was referred to as the Pottery Building. Both the Pottery Building and the Art Building were demolished in the mid-1980s.

On the other side of Main Street, across from Huelga Hall, Colegio maintained Guadalupe Hall, a building named in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.