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Kitsilano Secondary School

2550 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6K, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1993/12/15

Kitsilano Secondary School; City of Vancouver, 2008
Main entrance
Kitsilano Secondary School; City of Vancouver, 2008
North elevation
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Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1911/01/01 to 1958/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2008/12/01

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Kitsilano Secondary School site is comprised of a joined complex of buildings built separately in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver between 1911 and 1973, a playing field, a blacktop multiple games area, a blacktop parking area and driveway, and some formal landscaped areas in front of the 1911 building. The 1958 additions consist of 4 buildings: a three-storey classroom block adjacent to the 1926 building on the west side of the site; a one-storey changing room building and a two-storey gymnasium in the middle of the site; and a one-storey vocational shop building on the east side of the site.

Heritage Value

The Kitsilano Secondary School site is important for its cultural, educational and aesthetic significance; in particular for its use of the Modernist design idiom in the 1958 additions and for its choice of that idiom to express the functional expansion of public education in the city’s secondary schools.

Designed by chief Vancouver School Board Architect E.D. King, the 1958 additions are culturally important for their display of the Modernist ideals of standardized, functional and unembellished design that is dramatized by their close proximity to the highly ornamented 1911 and 1926 buildings on the site. In rejecting stylistic historicism and ornamental symbolism of these earlier school buildings, the 1958 buildings clearly embody the post-WWII sense of beginning anew.

Further cultural significance of the 1958 buildings lies in the site being a physical record of the declining need for adornment in building design, a reduced emphasis on substantial landscaping, and a new emphasis on blacktop as compared with design practices in the 1920s. The size and number of additions reflects the expanding suburban population and curriculum (including indoor gymnasia and vocational shops).

Other important cultural values of this school are: the combined memories and experiences of past students and teachers, the continued use of this site as a school complex from 1911 to the current day, and the continued use of its name: “Kitsilano”.

In terms of the educational value of the site, the 1958 additions are important as a record of the building program that was needed to accommodate the great increase in school enrolment in that decade, resulting from the post-war boom in house construction in the Kitsilano area, greater expectations that young people should stay in school and graduate, and the Vancouver School Board’s decision to combine the junior and senior high school organizations. The 1958 facilities are also a record of the financial commitment made by the governments of the day for universal public secondary education and programs for modern multi-use schools.

The aesthetic significance of the site lies in its use of the International Modern-style, which was typical for Vancouver Secondary schools built at this time, and which reflects the Modernist ideals of uncomplicated concrete frame construction, a minimum of embellishment, and an external expression of internal functions, all reflecting the intention to provide clean and efficient spaces that embodied ideals of social mobility and equality

The school site as a whole is significant for being a neighbourhood landmark. Situated on a slight rise, it can be seen from a distance. Also important is its relationship to the neighbourhood and to the community centre across the street, which contributes to its value as a community meeting place that combines education and recreation.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Planning Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Kitsilano Secondary School include:

General
- The name of the school site
- Tradition of use as a school

Siting, Context and Landscape
- Relationship of the 1958 buildings to the 1911 and 1925 buildings.
- Relationship and orientation of the 1958 buildings to the site and the neighbourhood.

Architectural Qualities
- Expression of interior use in exterior form and detailing

Architectural elements of the 1958 alterations and additions such as:
- Stair halls expressed on the exterior by window walls separated by minimal concrete
spandrels with vertical relief detail
- Flat roofs
- Exterior walls with banks of aluminum windows
- Simple unadorned painted concrete pier and spandrel classroom exterior wall construction

Landscape elements
- Minimal landscaping of 1958 alterations, in contrast to substantial original landscaping

Recognition

Jurisdiction

British Columbia

Recognition Authority

City of Vancouver

Recognition Statute

Vancouver Charter, s.582

Recognition Type

Community Heritage Register

Recognition Date

1993/12/15

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Building Social and Community Life
Education and Social Well-Being

Function - Category and Type

Current

Education
Primary or Secondary School

Historic

Architect / Designer

E.D. King

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

City of Vancouver Heritage Planning Department

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

DhRs-617

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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