The latest victim of 2009. Princess Anne School.
Built in the former town of Riverside, Princess Anne was built in 1956 and designed by local architects Johnson & McWhinnie.
Another one bites the dust… Maybe not the most important school building, but more local history lost, this time a piece of the history of Riverside.
I will be very interested in seeing the new David Suzuki school.
It never ceases to amaze me that a society that purports to revere history, architecture and archaeology and has the remnants of classical architecture standing going back to ancient Greece can’t seem to build something that can serve for more than fifty years! If the buildings don’t crumble, somebody decides to tear them down or abandon them to hasten the crumbling. Fiftie sarchitecture for the most part isn’t worthy of standing for centuries, let alone millenia, but why isn’t it? If they could build the pyramids, the parthenon . . .etc, etc, ad nauseam, why can’t we build something prettier and longer lasting than a Premium saltines box?
My children attend this school. This school was cramped, outdated, poorly ventilated and needed replacing.
Sometimes progress is a good thing!
In comparison to schools built during the roaring 20s, this doesn’t even seem to register within miles of my idea of what I should be looking out for on a preservation radar. Maybe that’s just me. I don’t even know why they would Christened such a building with a royal name. Honestly, it looks like someone stuck together a bunch of portables and then slapped on a brick facade. It also reminds me of the last time I did a roadtrip to States and noticed those cheap $20 truck motels like the Embassy.
The above comments prove the battle that we will face in trying to save mid-century modern architecture. These very comments were the sorts of things said about Victorian architecture in the 1950s when it was wiped out en masse in the name of progress.
While we are on the topic of Johnson & McWhinnie–any chance they are responsible for Windsor Fire & Rescue Station 4 on College Avenue? It has very similar vaulted bays to the Serbu Tire/Beaver location posted here previously.
JT – I was surprised that Station #4 wasn’t theirs either. I agree that it is strikingly similar to the tire shop, however, when I met Doug Johnson that was one I asked him about. He told me that his firm didn’t do that, but that it was designed by Patrick McGuire an engineer (he was clear to point out he wasn’t an architect 🙂 ) in 1964.
Having attended the school for six years during the early sixties, I have many memories of the place. Since the school didn’t have an auditorium, assemblies were held in the hallways with the speaker located at the elbow—-where the two wings met. It is most unfortunate that its replacement will be named after a Japanese company that produces evil contributors to global warming.
Ted in Toronto — I take it that’s your attempt at a bad joke? Considering your concern over “evil contributors to global warming” I would think you are ecstatic about this school. I take it you really get angry any time you meet someone with the last name of Ford!
JT, feel free to wage your battles to save “mid-century modern architecture”. As for me, I will be happy to see my children come home from school not drenched in sweat because it was 90°F in the class room.
The funny thing is kids have been going to school without air conditioners for years.
It’s not the end of the world. I didn’t have it in my school, besides the hottest months, no one’s even there!
David_II– Like the school, have nothing against any Fords, but distain self promoting charlatans.
A bit of nastiness here. My comments are no part of any “battle” I’m waging–nor were they a meant as an offense to your children. It is worth noting, as others have, that I never sat in an air conditioned classroom until I got to University–and I was sitting in schools relatively recently–as recently as the 1990s–so I can appreciate the discomfort of sitting in a hot classroom…been there/done that. Of course thare are examples where climate-control was simply added to an exisiting building–as opposed to a tear-down/rebuild.
The only point I’m trying to make is that all progress is not necessarily a bad thing. I think there is a danger for those who are truly interested in the history of this city if you bemoan every demolition that happens. You become like the boy that cried wolf. After a while no one listens. Replacing this school is a good thing. Let it be.