It was designed by the Omaha architectural firm of John Latenser & Sons.

The brick, three-story, U-shaped Neoclassical-inspired structure is typical of the many "school buildings that made Latenser a highly respected name in school architecture in the early twentieth century.

The Shelby-Tenant Community School District was discontinued in 2004, and this building was left vacant.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014,[1] and converted into an apartment building called the Cardinal Lofts.

This article about a property in Shelby County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.