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OLD COLEMAN HIGH SCHOOL

Mayfair Avenue and Second Street, Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, T0K, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1986/03/06

The old Coleman High School Provincial Historic Resource (circa 1937); Crowsnest Pass Museum, date unknown
Front view
The old Coleman High School Provincial Historic Resource (April 2004); Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, 2004
Front view
No Image

Other Name(s)

OLD COLEMAN HIGH SCHOOL
Coleman High School/Crowsnest Museum
Coleman School
Coleman High School
Coleman Central High School

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1936/01/01 to 1937/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2005/05/18

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Old Coleman High School is a two-storey, brick and wood frame structure in a mid-century neo-classical style, located on six lots on 18th Avenue in the community of Coleman, in the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Old Coleman High School lies in its importance as an educational and social institution in the Crowsnest Pass, and in its representation of the standardized school architecture in Alberta in the interwar period.

The International Cola and Coke Company had created the Town of Coleman in 1903. Before 1937, high school classes were taught in neighbouring Blairmore or rental locations throughout Coleman, but the maturing student population heightened the demand for classroom space and the Coleman School Board decided to construct its own, central, secondary school. Unlike other high schools in the Crowsnest Pass, the Coleman High School had an auditorium; this permitted extra-curricular activities and community services, such as night school classes in English for the large immigrant community. The Coleman High School continued to operate until 1963.

The Old Coleman High School is also significant as an example of the standard building plans used by the province in the interwar period. The school was built according to the Department of Education's Plan No. SP-1108; this combined elements of Modern, classical revival and Collegiate Gothic into an appropriately low-budget but not completely styleless building in a design recognizable as a mid-century educational institution. The High School thus reflects the provincial government's control over school design and construction in rural Alberta in the first half of the twentieth century.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 1305)

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Old Coleman High School include features of the standard school design SP-118, such as:
- form, scale and massing;
- Modernist lack of decorative elements;
- red brick facade with decorative designs above the upper level windows;
-a stone string course at the level of the second floor windows and a stone capping the building, which suggests a cornice;
- central entrance tower typical of Gothic revival style academic buildings;
- paired double-hung windows;
- the original school yard remains intact allowing for unimpeded views of all four building elevations.

Original remaining elements and fittings of the interior of the Old Coleman High School such as:
- the staircase;
- flooring;
- ceiling;
- the auditorium and stage;
- doors;
- light fixtures;
- baseboards and trim.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Alberta

Recognition Authority

Province of Alberta

Recognition Statute

Historical Resources Act

Recognition Type

Provincial Historic Resource

Recognition Date

1986/03/06

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1936/01/01 to 1963/01/01

Theme - Category and Type

Building Social and Community Life
Education and Social Well-Being

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Museum

Historic

Education
Primary or Secondary School

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 1305)

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

4665-0534

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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