Alberta Register of Historic Places

Haultain School

Calgary

Other Names:

South Ward School

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place
Haultain School is a late-nineteenth century, one-and-a-half-storey building situated on 30 lots comprising roughly 0.98 hectares of land in Calgary's Beltline community. The school embodies the Richardsonian Romanesque style and features a rough-faced sandstone exterior with sandstone lintels, sills, and arches, a medium-pitched hip roof with pronounced overhangs, and a sandstone entablature above the front entrance inscribed with "HAULTAIN SCHOOL 1892 1922".

Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Haultain School lies in its unique, Richardsonian Romanesque architecture and its association with the establishment of educational institutions in Calgary.

Construction on the Haultain School began in 1893, ten years after the Canadian Pacific Railway line had reached Calgary. In the decade following the arrival of the railway, the population of Calgary had grown substantially and the need for new schools became increasingly pressing. Haultain School (originally the South Ward School) was completed in 1894. Students at the new school were an eclectic mix, including the children of railway workers, new immigrants, and some of Calgary's wealthier citizens. During the first ten years that it operated, the school's academic curriculum was complemented by a cadet program and industrial and manual training for boys. With continued population growth, more classroom space was deemed necessary. In 1907, a new ten-room school was built on the site of the South Ward School. Three years later, both schools' names were changed to commemorate the memory of Sir Frederick Haultain, the President of the Executive Council (Premier) of the North-West Territories Legislative Assembly and a prominent voice for western Canadian concerns. Following the construction of the new school, the original ward school (now known as "the Annex") was used as a workshop, office space, classroom space, gymnasium, and auditorium. The school was eventually closed in 1962.

Haultain School is a remarkable architectural statement - an early and small-scale adaptation of the Richardson Romanesque style. This style, made popular in the United States in the late nineteenth century, was typically employed on large-scale civic and religious buildings. The appearance of this style in western Canada in 1894 - only four years after its embodiment in Toronto's City Hall - is surprising, as is its expression in a building of such modest scale. The Richardson Romanesque style derives from, but also expands, the Romanesque Revival architectural vision that was commonly used for western Canadian schools of this period. Elements of the Richardson Romanesque style include the rock-faced sandstone exterior and contrasting elements, the round arched windows, and the horizontal stringcourse at the base of the building. Combined, these features create a sense of weightiness and solidity that is reinforced by the low-pitched roof with wide eave overhangs that imparts the building with a robust horizontality. Calgary's first sandstone school, first school with electricity and running water, and first school embodying Richardson Romanesque architecture, the building was a pioneering construction in the late nineteenth century.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 907)

Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of Haultain School include such features as:
- mass, form, and style;
- hand-hewn rough-faced sandstone exterior;
- sandstone lintels, arches, and sills;
- horizontal stringcourse at base of building;
- decorative sandstone elements;
- wood-shingled hip roof topped by wooden bell tower with ventilation grills;
- carved wooden decorations on roof ridges and dormers;
- wide eave overhangs;
- round arches;
- sandstone entablature inscribed with "HAULTAIN SCHOOL 1892 1922";
- deeply recessed window openings;
- fenestration pattern and style, including straight-topped windows with multi-paned divisions, round arch windows, and gable end windows;
- original millwork, floors, doors, frames, and blackboard;
- wood truss system.

Location

Street Address:	225 - 13 Avenue SW
Community:	Calgary
Boundaries:	Strata Lot 1, Block 101, Plan 0911496
Contributing Resources:	Buildings: 1

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
5	1	24	15	4 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel
SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC SC	101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101	40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
51.040123	-114.067362	GPS	NAD 83

UTM Reference:

Northing	Easting	Zone	CDT	Datum Type

Recognition

Recognition Authority:	Province of Alberta
Designation Status:	Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:	2004/05/05

Historical Information

Built:	1894 to 1894
Period of Significance:
Theme(s):	Building Social and Community Life : Education and Social Well-Being Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Architecture and Design
Historic Function(s):	Education : Composite School
Current Function(s):
Architect:	J.R. Wilson of Calgary architectural firm Child & Wilson
Builder:	Thomas Underwood. Interior finishing completed by William Wood and I.H. Church.
Context:	HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE Haultain (originally South Ward) School was constructed in 1893 to meet the education needs of students located south of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) tracks. Children from the various economic classes of three districts would attend the same school: the children of the elite mansion owners, the Canadian Pacific Railway workers and the newly arrived immigrants. The completion of South Ward School marked the end of Calgary's first decade of educational development, corresponding with the town's growth since the arrival of the CPR. In addition to the academic program offered by the school, it also offered other activities such as a cadet Corps which was started in 1898. A pioneer program of industrial and manual training for boys of the higher grades was also introduced in 1901. With increasing enrolment after 1900, a new ten-room school was constructed on the same site in 1907. After the new school was built the original South Ward School was used as a workshop by the building Department of the Board from 1907 to 1910 and again from 1914 to 1922 and as the office for Dr. Melville Scott, the first superintendent of the Public School System from 1910 to 1914. From 1922 until its closure in 1962 it was used for storage, as classroom space and as an auditorium, depending on the demand for classroom space. The construction of the South Ward School in 1894 is an architectural anomaly in Canadian school design. The rectangular, sandstone structure is a unique example of the adaptation of the American Richardson Romanesque school in Alberta, but it is in fact one of the few instances of the use of the style in a smaller structure, particularly as it was primarily reserved for monumental civic and religious structures. Furthermore, the Haultain School was a surprisingly early example of the appearance of the style in the Canadian west. Haultain School was not only the first school in Calgary to have electricity, the first to be built of sandstone and to posses the newly implemented luxury of running water, but it was the first and only school in Calgary built in the very contemporary Richardson Romanesque style.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0737
Designation File:	DES 0907
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 30182
Website Link:
Data Source:	Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 907)