From the Evening Record, Monday, July 20, 1914.
- When completed Windsor will have one of the finest public school buildings in Ontario, built at a cost of $75,000.00 The building is now about half completed and is being rushed by the contractors, the H.G. Christman Co., Hamilton, Ont. The new school is a twelve room building being built on Wyandotte street between Curry and McEwen avenues. The building is constructed of brick with stone trimmings, reinforced concrete floors, is entirely fire proof with Mackolite partitions between class rooms and asbestos slate roof and stairways from basement to second floors constructed of reinforced concrete.
There are four main entrances to the building, two on the front and one at each end. In the basement are large toilet and play rooms for boys and girls, boiler, machine and ventilating apparatus rooms, and large manual training room. On the main floor are five class rooms, the principal’s office and large kindergarden, which will be used as auditorium for school concert, large rolling partitions opening up the auditorium to large 16 ft. corridor. The second floor is composed of science, sewing rooms and class teachers’ room, library, domestic rooms.
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The plans for the school were prepared by architect J. Carlisle Pennington, 35 La Belle building, Windsor.
Still standing, it forms the front part of J.E. Benson although quickly running out of time. Likely to be demolished once the school board shuts her down… At 98 years old, it is the oldest operating school building in the city that I can think of.
Yes. This one is slated for demolition.
this is all fine and good but i wonder if there are plans to rebuild on the site or farm the kids out to other schools
hopefully it wont get demolished but that would not be the windsor way.Demolish old architechture the minute it closes ,but let newer buildings that went out of buisness for years just sit beening an eye sore.Case in point ,the outback steakhouse and white rose buildings by the devonshire mall have sat empty for a few years but no one will even consider demolition of these buildings.Oh well ,i guess this city cant go without their prized parking lots.
Probably the two properties you mention are part of a shopping center and owned by a company that, plans for new tenants or hopes for some. The city cannot dictate demolition of sound buildings, thats the owners call.
richard
that is true ,i never thought of those properties beening owned by someone but cant help but be annoyed that newer buildings will sit vacant regardless of who owns it but old buildings especially the ones with interesting design will see the wreching ball. go figure.
I always liked this school. I thought that french school on Ottawa was the oldest operating school, no? Either way, it’ll be a shame when this one goes.
Andrew, what’s with the ginormous watermark? lol
Aaron i guess you’ve heard that the city is looking at the condition of city hall it sounds like they might be looking at rebuildin it sometime in the future it probably won’t happen but i think they should occupy a couple of those floors in the chrysler building they’ve been trying to peddle it would certainly save the taxpayer’s of windsor a TON of $$$$ but we all know the babies need a new playpen LOL
Yes, Aaron, I do believe it is reasonably close in age to L’ecole Envolee.
http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=2932
This school will be replaced with a new school on the Taylor site. So kids in this neighbourhood will no longer have a school. They now will need to be bussed to their new school. This is just shows that the school board is not considering the negative impact they have on a neighbourhood when they remove a school. I know school officials are all about the budget but why didn’t we consider renovating this school? Surely a renovation of this historic school will cost the same or less than the construction of a new facility. We need to consider the replacement value of this school too, once it’s gone it’s extremely unlikely that we can ever rebuild something of similar value. But hey… who cares what they do to the neighbourhood, as long as they can save a buck right?
Does anybody remember or recall anything about a fire at Benson? I went into the building one summer around 1986 and recall burnt walls on the upper floor. It may have been the attic where the big window is in the picture.
Has anybody notice how the elementary schools around the University of Windsor campus are closing? It is as if the growing student rental population, plus fewer affordable houses as the Bridge boards up units, are squeezing out families.
Benson, Prince of Wales and Lucien Beaudoin have closed. St. Francis has converted to adult education . And now the future of J. L. Foster Secondary School is under review because of the declining enrolment.
I believe Gordon McGregor Public School may be older. It seems that they were built around approximately the same time, though I could be wrong.
The person that mentioned the fire may be referring to a lightning strike that damaged the chimney in the late 80s. As far as I know this would be the oldest school in windsor at 99 years old. I really hope they don’t tear it down it’s a beautiful building. It also has a 3rd floor that was closed off as you can you by the covered windows on the stairwells. There also used to be a tennis court on the roof of the auditorium acessable from the 3rd floor. Its a huge school