Description of Historic Place

Templeton Secondary School is located on Templeton Drive in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood on Vancouver’s east side. It is a large, three-storey, reinforced-concrete structure with a flat roof and no basement. Constructed in 1926-28 and extended in 1962, the original portion is clad in roughcast stucco and painted in the school’s colours of purple and grey. The principal elevation faces onto Templeton Park. The school’s rear elevation, which backs onto fenced playing fields, is a mirror image of the front.

The site has a park-like feeling, with footpaths and a mix of mature deciduous and coniferous trees, particularly on the front lawn. The path running across the rear of the site forms part of the Trans-Canada Trail. Immediately east of the school, a large pavilion houses a public swimming pool.

Heritage Value

Templeton Secondary School has value for its history and its architecture. With respect to history, it was one of the first junior high schools in the Province, opening in the fall of 1927 (the first opened in Penticton in 1926; Kitsilano Junior High also opened in 1927). It reflects the belief that secondary education should be expanded beyond the purely academic level to address the needs of a much broader section of the student population. Further value is found in the evidence of the eventual demise of the junior high school concept and the resulting expansion and conversion of Templeton, in 1962, to a full secondary school. The physical evolution and interior arrangements reflect the history of secondary education in 20th-century BC.

The architecture also has heritage value. Designed by well-known architects Sharp & Thompson and the School Board’s architect F.A.A. Barrs, it is simply treated, the large banks of windows and the pier-and-spandrel treatment reflecting the concrete structural frame and the proto-modernist aesthetic of the 1920s. Its plainness also reveals the reduced confidence of Vancouver taxpayers following the economically depressed war years, and the resulting moderation of the School Board’s architectural ambitions.

Templeton Secondary School also has heritage value for the collective memory of its past and present staff and pupils. This is seen in its archival record, which include student council minutes, photographs, yearbooks, and trophies. Early students remember Templeton’s magazine, TeeJay, and the strict system of discipline enforced by student monitors and courts. Students from the 1960s and 1970s might remember the campaign to build Templeton Pool and the students’ ‘free speech’ crisis of 1967. More recent students will recall the filming here of the TV series, Smallville.

Located in a working-class area, Templeton Secondary School draws students from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. The experiences of boys and girls varied with gendered expectations, which are articulated in their yearbook portraits. Templeton’s history is also closely intertwined with the individual stories of its teaching staff. The first principal, Mr. Fitch, was one of Vancouver’s leading advocates for progressive education. A later principal, Mr. Rosse, and the present vice-principal, are graduates of the school.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Templeton Secondary School include:

General
- tradition of use as a school
- view of the North Shore mountains
- location in a single-family residential context

Exterior and Form
- rectilinear form, scale and massing
- flat roof with parapets
- concrete foundation and structure, roughcast stucco cladding, some cinderblock
- exterior details of the 1926-28 building, including the projecting central bay with windows on front and rear elevations, stairs to main entrance with splayed concrete parapets and metal handrails, pair of recessed double doors, signage identifying the school on the rear elevation, continuous projecting running course between the first and second floors, continuous sills and projecting lintels, tiled school crests below the roof, and mosaics
- fenestration: multiple-assembly, multi-pane windows; single-pane hoppers in the basement

Interior Features:
- intact spatial configuration of many interior spaces, including high ceilings, wide hallways, panelled wood doors with wood surrounds (some with textured glazing and original hardware), scalloped arches in hallways, loudspeakers, paired glazed double doors with transoms, chamfered walls, running courses below ceilings and at hip-height, ventilation panels, recesses for fire extinguishers
- classrooms: recessed doors, some connecting classrooms, some slate boards, built-in storage units with original hardware, glazed sliding-door bookshelves, window ledges
- old gymnasium: clerestory windows, wall-mounted metal gym equipment, ropes and benches
- new gymnasium: cinder blocks, open-span ceiling, cast-in-place concrete bleachers, retractable full-height dividing wall
- auditorium: stage with flanking access stairs, curved upper balcony with seating, projection room with recessed utility door and original hardware
- stairwells: wraparound wooden banisters with curved handrails, running courses at hip height, banks of windows for natural light
- other: kitchen equipment from the 1940s and ’50s, health service room adjacent to the main office, vocational areas, bathroom fixtures and configuration, radiators, recessed and arched alcoves, fire-break pocket door between original and new buildings, terrazzo floors and wraparound handrails in addition, original lockers, home economics room with corner kitchen layouts and built-ins, sewing room with cupboards for ironing board, irons and notions, laundry chutes in science room, wood plaques for student council presidents and metal commemorative plaques in main hallway, twin entrances to gym with wood-panelled doors

Landscape
- mature, large cedars at the front of the property
- metal flagpole