The many reasons why the former school board admin building deserves heritage protection

Robert Smythe and Erwin Dreessen

Later this month, we will be presenting an application to the city for heritage protection of the former administrative buildings of the Ottawa Public School Board at Gilmour and O’Connor Streets.

The request is for protection under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, which gives municipalities the authority to designate specific buildings as having cultural heritage value.

Consisting of the original building that dates from 1922 and additions built in 1956 and 1963, the complex has sat empty and boarded up for the past 20 years after Ashcroft Homes bought the property for $1.7 million from the school board.

Various attempts to develop the site, which would have involved demolishing the additions, have gone nowhere so far.

Significant, but does it meet the criteria?

In the recently approved Centretown Heritage Conservation District Plan, which classifies every structure in the area, the complex has the highest possible rating: Significant Resource.

But to qualify for specific heritage designation under the act, a building must satisfy a number of specific criteria.

City staff use a template consisting of a number of yes/no questions which cover the required criteria. In our application, we have used that template to make the case. Some of the points in our submission are summarized as follows:

Architecture: Is the property a rare, unique, representative, or early example of a style, type, expression, material or construction method? YES!

The original building was designed by renowned architect William Caven Beattie, then superintendent of buildings for the school board. It has been variously described as in Beaux-Arts or neo-Georgian style.

Its proportions are carefully considered and its limestone trim contrasts with the darker brick of the building. A pair of wrought iron light standards flank the main entrance.

For decades, a picture of the entrance, with the light standards and adjacent blue spruces, graced the report card of every public elementary school student in Ottawa.

Both additions have achieved a remarkable compatibility with the original building, displaying the same limestone and dark brick combination.

The central 1956 addition features a two-storey section in limestone that appears to hang on the building like a framed picture. The 1963 addition completes the symmetry of the whole complex.

Craftmanship / Artistic Merit: Does the property display a high degree of craftsmanship or artistic merit? YES!

Of special note is the grand trustees’ meeting room (45 x 36 feet) which has handsome oak paneling and can accommodate public observers.

Contemporary newspaper descriptions also mention the use of Caen stone in the rotunda, marble treads and risers in the main staircase, and terrazzo floors in the corridors.

Historical Associations: Does the property have direct associations with a theme, event, belief, person, activity, organization or institution that is significant to a community? YES!

The complex reflects the growth of public education in Ottawa, a city that evolved from the “rough and wicked place”, as it was described in 1838, to one that supports a dense network of publicly supported schools that have frequently pioneered new ideas.

For example, in 1951 Ottawa became the first school system in the province to offer instruction for what were then called “severely mentally retarded” children.

Another association with the life of the city is the largely forgotten fact that, after City Hall, which was then at Elgin and Queen Streets, burned down on March 31, 1931, City Council began to meet in the trustees’ meeting room. This arrangement lasted for 27 years until August 1958 when the new City Hall on Green Island was inaugurated.

Representative Work: Does the property demonstrate or reflect the work or ideas of an architect, artist, building, designer or theorist who is significant to a community? YES!

As superintendent of buildings, W. C. Beattie (1886-1945) also designed York Street Public School (for which just last August 31 Ottawa City Council approved the issuance of a Notice of Intent to designate).

After he left that position, Beattie went on to design what is now Immaculata High School on Echo Drive, the then headquarters of Ottawa Hydro on Albert and Bank Streets and several of its substations, and more.

But the Administration Building at Gilmour and O’Connor is arguably the finest example of his work.

A Centretown landmark

We conclude that this administrative complex is indeed a landmark in Centretown, anchoring the western end of the Metcalfe to O’Connor block of Gilmour Street. The First Church of Christ, Scientist (built in 1913-14), anchors the eastern end.

We listed 14 sources and add 15 illustrations. By adopting the format of heritage staff’s customary reports, we hope to have lightened the burden of turning this application into a report to be considered by the city’s Built Heritage Subcommittee.

Let’s hope this happens soon! Once council accepts the subcommittee’s recommendation for protection, the owner is notified and may lodge objections. It is then up to council to withdraw the designation or proceed with certifying the designation through a bylaw.