St. Matthew’s Episcopal School

St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School, located in San Mateo, is a K-8 school. The campus consists of a church designed by Willis Polk and grounds designed by Thomas Church.  The historic site is protected under CEQA.  Any additions or alterations to the site and its structures required consistency with the Secretary of the Interior Standards.

The project involved the improvements to the campus including new classrooms, a theater and a gymnasium. These improvements were the first to be done on the campus in 55 years.

PUDC/Joel Roos managed the project as the owner’s representative from conceptual design, entitlements, design development and bidding of the project.

The project included the addition of the student population from 250 to 450 students.

The school, located in a suburban community had to resolve the high drop off and pick up rates within the small urban footprint of the campus which is located within the downtown business district of San Mateo.

The team worked with the City of San Mateo on a Transportation Demand Management plan to minimize car transport, which included requirements for multiple occupant vehicles (reinforcing the need for carpooling), the development of facilities to motivate bicycle commuting, the use of mass transportation, as well as, establishing staggered times for drop-off and pick up.

The design and development team worked with the City of San Mateo’s historic consultants to assure that the design improvements stayed within the context of the Secretary of the Interior Standards for historic structures. In so doing a Mitigated Negative Declaration was sought and successfully certified.

Status: Completed

PUDC Role: Owner’s Representative

Architect: Pfau Long Architecture

Contractor: Herrero Contractors