A one-story design was chosen, as many students would have traveled several miles on foot or on horseback.

The building's orientation helped to keep temperature in the rooms, cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.

In addition, the area under the front arches once featured windows and doors that opened at the front and back of the auditorium, creating a cooling cross breeze.

[5] The front building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1987, for its architecture, as well as for its significance as "a well-preserved example of institutional architecture in the early statehood period of Arizona history".

This was the case at the time of the NRHP nomination of this building in the Florence MRA.