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Sluice Point School and Community Centre

6 L'Anse des Bourques, Sluice Point, Nova Scotia, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2000/11/23

East gable end and southern elevation, Sluice Point School and Community Centre, Sluice Point, NS, 2009.; Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2009
East gable end and southern elevation
East gable end, Sluice Point School and Community Centre, Sluice Point, NS, 2009.; Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2009
East gable end
East gable end and southern elevation, Sluice Point School and Community Centre, Sluice Point, NS, 2009.; Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2009
Southern elevation and east gable end

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2010/01/15

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Sluice Point School and Community Centre is a one-and-a-half storey building of wood construction located on a small lot of land on Chemin de l'Anse des Bourques in the centre of the village of Sluice Point, Nova Scotia. Vernacular in style with Greek Revival elements, its construction dates from circa 1866. The designation applies to the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

The Sluice Point School and Community Centre is valued for its age, for having served as a place of learning to generations of schoolchildren, and for having educated a number of well-known Nova Scotians.

The school was built around 1866 and was the first school building to be constructed in the community of Sluice Point. Prior to this time all the students of this small Acadian village would have had to walk several miles to nearby Amirault’s Hill to attend school. This school, like many other village schools, was originally a one-room schoolhouse with one teacher in charge of all grades, from the youngest to the oldest. In 1901 the Argyle Municipal School Board expanded the institution to two rooms and the people of the community built on the ell, which forms the rear of the building today.

The school continued to operate until the time of consolidation of schools throughout Nova Scotia in the 1950s and 1960s. In January of 1956, the junior and senior high school students started attending school in the recently expanded Amirault’s Hill School although the students from the lower grades continued to attend the Sluice Point School for a few years. 1959 was the last year school was held in the Sluice Point building. In 1961, the Municipality of Argyle deeded the building to a community group that has maintained it as a community hall.

The school is also noteworthy for having provided the educational basis which launched the careers of many prominent Nova Scotians. One of its most well-known scholars was Austin Burke. Burke was ordained to the priesthood in 1950, became the Bishop of the Diocese of Yarmouth in 1968 and the Archbishop of Halifax in 1991.

Source: Argyle Municipal Heritage Files, file #011

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Sluice Point School and Community Centre include:

- one-and-a-half storey wood construction;
- steeply pitched gable roof;
- smaller one-and-a-half storey extension from rear;
- large pediment on gable end;
- Romanesque window centered in pediment on façade;
- double windows centrally located on eastern ridge wall of main building;
- eastern ridge wall of extension consists of an off-centre doorway and two double off-centre windows;
- decorative cornerboards that are pilasters with capitals on main building.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Nova Scotia

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (NS)

Recognition Statute

Heritage Property Act

Recognition Type

Municipally Registered Property

Recognition Date

2000/11/23

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Building Social and Community Life
Community Organizations
Building Social and Community Life
Education and Social Well-Being

Function - Category and Type

Current

Community
Social, Benevolent or Fraternal Club

Historic

Education
One-Room School

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Municipality of Argyle Heritage Property Register, located at the Argyle Township Court House Archives, 8162 Highway 3 (Box 101) Tusket, NS, B0W 3M0

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

53MNS0010

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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