Whether they're private or public, urban or rural, America's schools exemplify a diverse mix of architectural styles ranging from Spanish Colonial to Tudor Revival.
To find the most scenic schools in the US, INSIDER consulted Architectural Digest's lists of the most beautiful public and private schools as well as regional lists, such as Southern Living's guide to the South's most beautiful high schools. We also looked at schools with award-winning designs or stunning natural environs.
Scroll down to read about the prettiest school in every state.
ALABAMA: Indian Springs School in Indian Springs
Located near Birmingham at the base of Oak Mountain, where it opened in 1952, the Indian Springs School is a 350-acre boarding school for students in grades eight through 12.
The building, designed by the environmentally-focused architectural firm Lake Flato, won an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Education Facility Design Award in 2016.
Its modern-meets-woodsy exterior matches the philosophy of the school's forward-thinking founder, Dr. Louis E. Armstrong, who wanted to create a place where students would be "learning through living."
ALASKA: Kodiak High School in Kodiak
Renovated in 2015 by the DLR group, Kodiak High School — which was originally built in the 1950s — was upgraded with a four-story, 85,000-square-foot addition that features three types of spaces categorized as "link, gather, and learn."
The tower was created to emphasize hands-on learning experiences that would prepare students for careers in Kodiak's major industries, like fishing and aerospace.
ARIZONA: Chandler High School in Chandler
Chandler High School has been open since 1914, making it one of the oldest schools in Arizona.
Chandler's oldest remaining structure, a two-story, Classical Revival-style building referred to as "Old Main," was built in the 1920s by Allison & Allison, a Los Angeles-based architectural firm.
ARKANSAS: Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock
Designated a National Historic Site, Little Rock Central High School was built in the Gothic Revival style.
The school, completed in 1927, played a historic role 30 years later when it was desegregated following the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The "Little Rock Nine," a group of black students who decided to attend Little Rock Central, then an all-white institution, played a vital part in bringing the issue of desegregation to national attention.
CALIFORNIA: Santa Catalina School in Monterey
Characterized by its 36-acre, hacienda-style campus, the Santa Catalina School is a private Catholic school that was founded in 1950. Located on the Monterey Peninsula, the school is a stone's throw from breathtaking, coastal scenery.
Santa Catalina is divided into an upper school, which is an all-girls day and boarding school, and a lower school that serves girls and boys from preschool through eighth grade.
COLORADO: Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale
Three hours west of Denver, you'll find the Colorado Rocky Mountain School, whose rugged campus sits at an elevation of 6,100 feet near Mount Sopris.
Spread out over more than 300 acres of pastoral land, the school features restored wooden outposts that pay homage to its history as a ranch.
CONNECTICUT: Pompfret School in Pomfret
The Pomfret School, an independent, coed college preparatory boarding and day school, was founded in 1894. The grounds of its 500-acre hilltop campus were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted — the world-famous landscape architect who planned New York City's Central Park.
Pomfret's campus also has its own woods, with five color-coded trails to choose from.
DELAWARE: St. Andrew's School in Middletown
St. Andrew's, an Episcopal, coed boarding school founded in 1929 by a member of the Du Pont family, boasts a 2,200-acre campus.
Highlights include Noxontown Pond, where students and members of the public alike can compete in rowing competitions, and an original mural by N. C. Wyeth, father of painter Andrew Wyeth.
Washington, DC: Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School
Mundo Verde, DC's first "green" public charter school, fosters literacy in English and Spanish.
Originally housed in a building from the 1920s, the school was given a modern face-lift in 2016 by Studio Twenty Seven Architecture. The fresh design, which won an AIA Education Facility Design Award, comprises funky features such as a vibrant yellow staircase.
FLORIDA: Miami Senior High School in Miami
It took a $55 million renovation to restore Miami Senior High to its Alhambra-esque glory. Completed in 1928 in the Mediterranean Revival style, the building includes features such as crenelated towers and Gothic arches.
You might recognize the building from Drake's "God's Plan" video. While filming there, the rapper donated $25,000 to the school.
GEORGIA: Academy of Richmond County in Augusta
The Academy of Richmond County was established in 1783. The Academy's current building, which dates to 1926, epitomizes the Academic Gothic style with its corner buttresses and pointed-arch entrance portals.
HAWAII: President William McKinley High School in Honolulu
McKinley High School is notable for its Spanish Colonial-style architecture and the Chinese banyan trees that frame its quadrangular lawn.
When the school's 1,114-seat auditorium was completed in 1928, it was Hawaii's largest theater.
IDAHO: Boise High School in Boise
Boise High School — one of the few urban high schools in Idaho — was designed by John Tourtellotte, who had previously designed the State Capitol.
Although construction was completed in three stages beginning in 1908, the impressive Greek portico that characterizes the building's central section wasn't added until 1922.
ILLINOIS: Lake Forest High School in Illinois
Lake Forest High School's original building was designed in the 1930s by Stanley Anderson, a local architect who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
INDIANA: Shortridge High School in Indianapolis
Before the German-American architect Bernard Vonnegut (Kurt Vonnegut's grandfather) and his firm designed Shortridge High's current building in 1928, the school previously occupied various religious structures, including a former Presbyterian church and a former Baptist seminary.
IOWA: City High School in Iowa City
Originally built between 1937 and 1938 with funding from the Public Works Administration, City High School has undergone six additions.
It was named the Most Beautiful Public High School in Iowa by Architectural Digest.
KANSAS: Wichita East High School in Wichita
Built in 1923, Wichita East High School — whose campus spans 44 acres — is the largest school in the state of Kansas. It was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style.
KENTUCKY: Pine Mountain Settlement School in Bledsoe
Pioneering teachers in Kentucky's coalfields established the Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1913 as an educational space "for the children of the Kentucky mountains."
The school, whose campus features hand-crafted cabins made from stone and timber, has survived through the years and now serves the community as a nonprofit that offers environmental education workshops.
LOUISIANA: Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans
The Academy of the Sacred Heart, a private, all-girls Roman Catholic high school, was established as a convent in 1867.
Since 1900, the Academy has been housed in a Colonial Revival-style building. All that remains of its previous building, a 19th-century Greek Revival mansion, is a wrought-iron fountain topped with a swan.
MAINE: Deering High School in Portland
Built on the site of a former horse-racing track between 1922 and 1923, Deering High School was designed in the Tudor Revival style.
MARYLAND: Henderson-Hopkins School in Baltimore
The Henderson-Hopkins School — another AIA Education Facility Design winner and the first new Baltimore public school built in over 30 years — features buildings designed to look like East Baltimore's brick row houses.
With large windows that let in light and wooden slat ceilings, the school is beautiful inside and out.
MASSACHUSETTS: Tabor Academy in Marion
Situated on the shores of Massachusetts' Buzzards Bay, Tabor Academy has been nicknamed the "school by the sea."
In fact, this independent prep school incorporates its proximity to the water into its curriculum. Students can learn about aquaculture at a nearby oyster farm in addition to taking courses in nautical and marine science.
MICHIGAN: Grosse Pointe South High School in Grosse Pointe Farms
Built on the site of a former swamp in 1927, Grosse Pointe South High School is known for its Colonial Georgian architecture. Its most iconic feature is a 133-foot-tall tower.
MINNESOTA: Hibbing High School in Hibbing
Hibbing High School, which opened in 1924, is notable for a number of reasons. Not only is it Bob Dylan's alma mater, it also features a grand auditorium modeled after the Capitol Theatre movie palace in New York City. It was also the first high school in the US to construct an indoor swimming pool.
MISSISSIPPI: Sacred Heart Catholic School in Hattiesburg
When Father Sylvester Greimel, a German priest, founded Sacred Heart Catholic School in 1900, it was the area's first Catholic educational institution.
The original building is one of the oldest in Hattiesburg.
MISSOURI: Springfield Central High School in Springfield
Springfield Central High School's current building opened in 1894. The original four-story structure cost $100,000 to build (more than $2.5 million today).
MONTANA: Montana Academy in Marion
Located on a remote ranch, Montana Academy is a picturesque boarding school whose cabin-like structures and scenic views give it an atmosphere that's anything but clinical.
NEBRASKA: Nebraska Christian Schools in Central City
Nebraska Christian Schools have been serving the community of the Nebraska Sandhills since 1959.
Located on a 27-acre campus, the Schools are housed within the former administration building of Nebraska Central College, which was constructed in 1866.
NEVADA: The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain in Las Vegas
Located on a 33-acre campus in the Las Vegas valley, the Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain boasts one of the largest school gardens in the region.
The Ruffin Organic Farm, which is more than 2,000 square feet, yields 10,000 pounds of produce a year. Dawson's chefs harvest these fruits and vegetables and use them in the dining hall.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Holderness School in Plymouth
Spread out over 600 acres in New Hampshire's Lakes Region, the Holderness School's campus was once part of the Livermore Estate. One of the oldest remaining structures, the campus chapel, dates to 1797.
Holderness also offers state-of-the-art athletic facilities, including an ice rink and a turf field.
NEW JERSEY: The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville
The Lawrenceville School was founded in 1810 as the Maidenhead Academy. In 1883, it was given its current name — and a landscape makeover by Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City. One feature of its grounds, the Circle, is a National Historic Landmark.
Lawrenceville was popularized in the American imagination by author Owen Johnson, whose novel inspired by his days at the school, "The Varmint," was turned into a Hollywood film called "The Happy Years."
NEW MEXICO: Armand Hammer United World College of the American West in Montezuma
Armand Hammer United World College of the American West is one of 16 United World Colleges dispersed over five continents. Founded in 1982, the college is characterized by its Queen Anne-style architecture.
NEW YORK: Emma Willard School in Troy
The Emma Willard School, whose campus sprawls out over 137 acres in upstate New York, is known for its striking Gothic architecture.
Founded in the 1820s by its namesake as Troy Female Seminary, the school continues to be a leader in all-girls education.
NORTH CAROLINA: Salem Academy in Winston-Salem
Along with Salem College — its sister institution — Salem Academy is the oldest all-female school in the US. Founded in 1772, classes were originally taught by unmarried women from Winston-Salem's Moravian (German-speaking Protestant) community.
The oldest building on campus, the Single Sisters' House, dates to 1786. The schools' stone buildings are a great example of the Federal style of architecture.
NORTH DAKOTA: Grand Forks Central High School in Grand Forks
Grand Forks High School was built in 1882.
It was recently upgraded with a modernized Fine Arts Wing. The design, which incorporates black box theater and music performance spaces, received the 2013 Honor Award from North Dakota's chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
OHIO: Withrow University High School in Cincinnati
Withrow University High School, completed in 1919, combines northern and southern Colonial architecture. The campus is known for its bridge and 114-foot-high clock tower.
OKLAHOMA: Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa
Founded in 1926 by the Order of St. Augustine, Cascia Hall features French Norman–style buildings spread out across a stunning 40-acre campus. While it includes original structures such as a monastery and dormitory, it also boasts modern amenities that include a sports stadium and library media center.
OREGON: Benjamin Franklin High School in Portland
Benjamin Franklin High School underwent a $113 million, two-year remodel that was completed last year, but it still contains historic features that date back to 1917.
In contrast to the Colonial Revival structures of the original building, the additions all feature solar panels, making the school LEED-certified overall.PENNSYLVANIA: Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova
Founded in 1856 and located on a 19th-century estate that features a stunning mansion, the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur appeared in the movie "The Philadelphia Story."
RHODE ISLAND: Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth
Located along Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, the 500-acre campus of Portsmouth Abbey School features 14 buildings designed by notable Bauhaus architect Pietro Belluschi.
SOUTH CAROLINA: Ashley Hall School in Charleston
Ashley Hall, founded in 1909, features architecture that dates back more than a century.
The McBee House, a Regency-style building, was completed in 1816. With its elliptical stairway and vaulted ceilings, it's not only elegant — it's haunted by a friendly ghost, according to school folklore.
SOUTH DAKOTA: Hot Springs High School in Hot Springs
Constructed in the 1920s in the Tudor Revival style, Hot Springs High School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
TENNESSEE: St. Andrew's-Sewanee School in Sewanee
Situated on the Cumberland Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of 2,100 feet, St. Andrews-Sewanee School boasts gorgeous views throughout the year.
TEXAS: El Paso High School in El Paso
Completed in 1916 by local architectural firm Trost & Trost, the Greco-Roman-influenced El Paso High School nods to ancient buildings like Athens' Parthenon and Rome's Portico of Octavia.
UTAH: Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant
Named for the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains, which stretches along the Utah-Idaho border, the Academy was founded in 1875. Its oldest building, the Liberal Hall Museum, was constructed a year earlier.
To take full advantage of its mountainous environs, Wasatch Academy offers an outdoor adventure program. Students can explore the rugged Utah terrain by biking, climbing, skiing, and snowboarding.
VERMONT: Rock Point School in Burlington
Founded in 1928, Burlington's Rock Point School is located on a wooded, 125-acre property along Lake Champlain.
VIRGINIA: Chatham Hall in Chatham
Chatham Hall — the private, all-girls school that American artist Georgia O'Keeffe attended —was founded in 1894.
One of the most beautiful structures on campus is St. Mary's Chapel, a Renaissance-style cathedral that features hand-crafted, stained-glass windows.
WASHINGTON: Marysville Getchell High School in Marysville
Designed by the DLR Group as a series of "small learning communities," Marysville Getchell High School features a group of four modern and minimalist buildings situated around a courtyard.
With open floor plans and large glass windows, the campus emphasizes the beauty of its environment, which includes second-growth trees and forest wetlands.
WEST VIRGINIA: Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg
Between 1918 and 1940, Parkersburg High School was the largest high school in West Virginia.
The building is an example of Jacobethan Revival architecture, which blends the horizontal elements of Elizabethan design with the vertical columns popularized in the Jacobean era.
WISCONSIN: Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam
Wayland Academy, founded in 1855, has preserved its original four-story, Corinthian-pillared building.
The pillars symbolize the four branches of the Academy's philosophy: scholarship, faith, health, and service.
WYOMING: Natrona County High School in Casper
When it was constructed in 1924, this Collegiate Gothic-style building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed to contain Natrona County High School and Casper College.
Although it has undergone renovations through the years, the building has retained many of its original features, most notably its outdoor terra-cotta ornamentation.
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