Out of seven architects submitting proposals for the new high school, Douglas D. Ellington was selected by majority vote.

Ellington and Englehardt's collaboration made the new Asheville High a model facility in terms of architecture and educational offerings.

When first opened, Asheville High had a wide variety of vocational programs including automotive mechanics, full print shops (all yearbooks, newspapers, and magazines were printed on-campus), mechanical drawing, and photography, including a darkroom.

This forced the programming for the schools, and indeed the city's economic well-being, to hit rock bottom.

For a time, Asheville High was closed, and students were removed to David Millard and Hall Fletcher.

[3] On October 5, 2008, then Senator Barack Obama visited Asheville High School in his race for the White House.

The biggest problem was the roof, with thousands of clay tiles which would all have to be removed (and possibly replaced afterward) for the work.

Jack Thomson, executive director of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, called the building "a master work of Ellington.

"[3] Over the next few years a $27 million restoration project was undertaken that included repairs to the mortar work, switching out the copper gutters, and replacing the Ludowici roof tiles.