Jordan High School was established in 1925 and named after the naturalist and Stanford University president, David Starr Jordan. The historic campus boasts a collection of five structures from its earliest period. Four of the five structures were all constructed between 1925 and 1927, including the Administration Building, its West Annex also known as the Domestic Science Building, the North Annex, and the Auditorium.

Following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, these buildings were seismically retrofitted in 1935 and renovated with a unifying PWA (Public Works Administration) Moderne style. Prominent Los Angeles architect Sumner P. Hunt designed the remodeling and retrofitting effort with builder George M. Easton and under the supervision of the district architect Alfred S. Nibecker, Jr. A loggia connecting the Administration Building to the North Annex also was constructed in 1935 and constitutes the fifth structure in this historic district determined eligible in 1994 for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Three additional buildings on campus date from the same period of construction: the PWA Moderne-style girl's gymnasium (1937), and two shop buildings from the 1920s that were also seismically upgraded in 1935.