During the next few years, classes were held in various locations including an old school building and a local YMCA facility on 3 ½ Avenue.

An influx of people working at local industrial plants resulted in a sharp increase in the population during the 1920s and plans were made for a new school facility.

Virginia State Board of Education officials also sought to replace smaller school buildings with larger, architecturally significant facilities.

Hopewell was "developed with the intention of being a comprehensive school with courses as varied as the demand and facilities would permit."

[3] Frederick A. Bishop, a prolific architect and contractor from nearby Richmond, was selected to design the school.

[3] The high school building, which could accommodate 725 students, was completed in the fall of 1925 and following the Thanksgiving holiday, pupils were moved to the new facility.

In the 1940s, a gymnasium was built beside the cottage and a metal and woodworking shop was added to the rear of the school building.

The firm, along with Richmond architect J. Henley Walker Jr., designed the Science and Library Building, located across 12th Avenue and completed in 1959.

[6] The school building sat vacant until January 2008 when Hopewell city officials approved plans by Garcia Development, LLC to convert it into 50 loft-style apartments.

[2][10] It was described as a "representative and intact example of an early 20th-century urban school complex" that "retains the integrity of its historic location, association, setting, feeling, design, materials, and workmanship.

The renovation was designed by McEntire Davis Architects and the contractor was Haase, Inc.[11] Many of the 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments feature original details such as chalkboards and large windows.

Residents living in rear units face the athletic field and can watch football games.

[6][14] The Home Economics Cottage and the Science and Library Building now serve as offices for the Hopewell School Board.

The athletic field continues to be used for the Hopewell High School Blue Devils home football games.

[3] The Boys & Girls Club used the gymnasium until 2013 when the after-school program was moved to the Harry E. James Elementary School.

[16] In 2016, former NFL players Wali Rainer and Hopewell High School graduate Monsanto Pope joined other professional athletes in urging Hopewell government officials to renovate the gymnasium to reuse as a teen center focusing on tutoring and sports.

North 12th Avenue divides the complex and the main school building features a circular driveway off of City Point Road.

[3] The original portion of the school, built in 1925, is a Tudor Revival, two-story, seven-bay brick building with a basement.

[3] In the rear of the main school building is the two-story shop, a concrete and brick addition built in 1935.

[3] The athletic field, built in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project, is sited on the north side of the complex directly behind the main school building.

[3] The interior features many of the cottage's original details including mantels, woodwork and built-in cabinets.

A large room, which features the same design and materials as the original portion and is located at the rear of the building, is believed to be a later addition to the cottage.

[3] The two-story, Colonial Revival gymnasium was built in 1949 and features a cornerstone on the northwest corner inscribed with the year construction was completed.

The nine-bay brick building features quoining, decorative pilasters and a pedimented stone cap.

The large second floor wood sash windows on the rear portion of the building feature round-arched fanlights.