Лос-Анджелестің Гарвард-Уэстлейк мектебінің тарихы мен құрылысы

College preparatory high school in Los Angeles

The Harvard School for Boys was established in 1900 by Grenville C. Emery as a military academy, on the site of a barley field at the corner of Western Avenue and Sixteenth Street (now Venice Boulevard) in Los Angeles, California. Emery was originally from Boston, and around 1900 he wrote to Harvard University to ask permission to use the Harvard name for his new secondary school, and received permission from the university's then President, Charles W. Eliot.

The Westlake School for Girls was established in 1904 by Jessica Smith Vance and Frederica de Laguna in what is now downtown Los Angeles, California, as an exclusively female institution offering both elementary and secondary education. It was so named because it was near Westlake Park, now known as MacArthur Park.

Currently, the school is split between the two campuses, with grades 7–9, the Middle School, located at the former Westlake campus in Holmby Hills and grades 10–12, the Upper School, located at the former Harvard campus in Studio City. The Middle School campus completed a four year modernization in September 2008, replacing the original administration building, the library, and the instrumental music building. The campus now features a new library, science center, and administration office. Another significant addition of the project was the Bing Performing Arts Center which features a two level, 800 seat theater, a black box theater, and a dance studio. The Upper School campus features the Munger Science Center and computer lab; the Rugby building which houses the English department, 300 seat theater, costume shop, and drama lab; the Seaver building, home to the foreign language and history departments as well as administrative offices and the visitor lobby; Chalmers, which houses the performing arts and math departments, book store, cafeteria, sandwich window, and student lounge; Kutler, which houses the Brendan Kutler Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research and the Feldman Horn visual arts studios, dark room, video labs, and gallery. The athletic facilities include Taper Gymnasium, used for volleyball and basketball as well as final exams; Hamilton Gymnasium, the older gymnasium still used for team practices and final exams; Copses Family Pool, an Olympic size facility; and Ted Slavin Field for football, soccer, track & field, lacrosse, and field hockey. The school also maintains an off campus baseball facility, the O'Malley Family Field, in Encino, California. The Upper School campus also features the three story Seeley G. Mudd Library, which is undergoing a large renovation over the Summer of 2023, and Saint Saviour's Chapel, a vestige from Harvard School for Boys' Episcopal days. In 2017, Harvard Westlake paid more than $40 million for Weddington Golf & Tennis, a 16 acre country club located less than a mile from the Upper School campus, with plans to build a Community Athletics Center on the location. Tuition for the 2024–2025 school year is $49,700, with a new student fee of $2,500. Other expenses—which include books, meals, and class activities—typically average $2,500 to $3,500— with an additional $3,000 to $3,600 for those who take advantage of the school's comprehensive bus service. Harvard Westlake provided $14 million in financial aid in 2023. That year, approximately 20% of the student body received financial aid, which averaged $33,500 for each student that received financial aid.

For the HW Class of 2019, average SATs were 716 (verbal) and 745 (math). Among the 292 seniors, there were 27 National Merit Semifinalists. For the 2019–2020 school year, Niche ranked Harvard Westlake the best private high school in Los Angeles, the 2nd best private high school in California, and the 6th best private school in the United States.

Harvard Westlake fields 22 varsity teams in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section, as well as teams on the junior varsity, club, and junior high levels. 60% of HW students participate in interscholastic sports.

See List of Harvard Westlake School alumni.