Today’s photos come courtesy of regular reader Colin, who had a chance to vist John Campbell School prior to the interior demolition.
The Lobby of the School.
The Main Offices.
More of the front offices. All of this area is being kept in the original state and preserved.
A view of the stage in the Music Room.
A view of the Music Room ceiling.
One of the original classrooms.
The original wood cabinets inside one of the closets.
Looking over the glass block windows in the Gym.
A stage in the Gym.
The girls change room.
The girls showers. Colin was told that this area hadn’t been used in 40 or 50 years. Why I’m not sure? Maybe someone out there knows something about it.
A view of the basement ductwork.
The row of boilers.
What was originally the coal room.
A ladder leading up from the coal room.
The door on the old coal furnace.
One final view of the basement.
Thanks Colin for sending the photos along…
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Nice tour of this place. Not familliar where this school is but an empty abandoned school to me is the best sight. (long story and too many painful thoughts to dare start so I'll spare everyone here) Always enjoy these walkthroughs of old buildings be it from urbanex or open doors. Thanks for posting this Andrew.
PS Like the censoring job of the guys face that brought a smilley to my own face too.
This was a great set of pictures of that school. It was odd this past fall when they tore up McKay beside the school up and then when it was done, there was still construction vehicles parked next to the school, and I did not know what was going on. I know its not a good thing to see what happening to the school, but at least the Building it self will stand for another 50 to 60 years, before its renovated again or something else. I hope they continue to do things like this for a while with older schools like this one, since these inner-city schools need to stay around for many more years to come.
Interior demolition? Will they be salvaging any of it? In those few pictures, I saw a ton of stuff that should be reused. Anyone know of who the demolition contractor is gutting the place? They need to be contacted, if only to get Habitat ReStore in there.
Thank goodness they are saving all the details in the front section of the school. The celing of the music room is great. I hope they open that skylight again. I believe it was covered over in the 60s.
My understanding is that the interior of front section of the school will be preserved in its original state. They will be adding glass display cabinets in the hallways like the discovery school, to display objects relating to windsors history.
From what I understand. There was some salvage, but due to current fire codes, most of the stuff is headed to the dump (as ususal)...
The front section and one classroom will be preserved as it was, but the rest of the school will be demolished to the exterior walls, and the new school rebuilt inside the existing envelope. This is a groudbreaking project in this city, and while there are always things that could be done better it's hopefully a sign that attitudes are changing as it relates to our built heritage.
The original desire of the school board was to demolish the entire structure, then they relented and offered a bastardized attempt at "preservation" like we got at King Edward in Walkerville.
Happily at the end after years of discussion, they were willing to take the costlier route. This option will ensure the building remains to be enjoyed for future generations.
The woodwork shown in these pictures is simply stunning. I'm glad to hear some will be preserved, but it's too bad the rest cannot be reused in some way.
Hez - I agree 100%. Too bad we have to deal with preservation in such baby steps... At least the whole building isn't headed to the landfill.
Fire codes? For getting access to remove building materials or fire codes as in the items removed could constitute a fire code violation?
Either one, I am not surprised that is the reasoning. Just as it seems to be the reason why this city tears down so much of their history...fire code violations which we know can be used as a weapon. Just ask those from Patterson Collegiate, numerous old apartment buildings (one of which I lived in but the owners were smart in that they decided to do some changes to code...not for the better but at least the building still stands).
Anyway, thanks for sharing those pictures I hadn't been inside in years. by the way most shower areas were closed in all grade schools in Windsor sometime around 1980 or so. I guess it could be because of students goofing around in the shower areas and/or possible situations with teachers and naked students and the implications that scenario could cause.
ME - I believe that in this case, because the building is in reality new construction inside an exisiting building, that by removing the items, and reinstaling them they must meet current fire codes. From what I understand (and I'm no expert in this field) they wouldn't be to code in new construction, where as in their natural state, they are grandfathered in..