Many Las Vegans fondly recall school days at Immaculate Conception School. Architect Charles W. Barret employed a hodgepodge of classical motifs such as the urns, arches and columns to organize his building. The central classical pediment entrance with baroque curvilinear parapet at top is stylistically inspired by 17th Century Italian church facades. Barret lived and worked in Las Vegas from 1921 to 1942, and designed the old East Las Vegas High School and the First Methodist Church at the corner of National Avenue and 8th Street. A comparison of the Immaculate Conception School and the First Methodist Church will yield Barret's fluency with both the Classical and Gothic architectural vocabularies.

Information on the career of Charles W. Barret was graciously provided to the CCHP by Deborah Wonn Butcher, his granddaughter.