Description of Historic Place

The Alsask School is a Municipal Heritage Property comprising one urban lot within the Village of Alsask. The property features a two-storey brick building built in 1914.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Alsask School resides in its association with the development of education in Alsask. Like most communities in Saskatchewan, Alsask grew rapidly between the province’s foundation in 1905 and the onset of the First World War. The architecture of many public buildings constructed in Saskatchewan during this period, including the Alsask School, reflects this optimistic time. This two-storey school replaced a one room schoolhouse that could not accommodate the district’s increasing enrolment. This architecturally detailed schoolhouse, constructed from brick and cement, symbolized the progressive idealism that defined public education in early Saskatchewan. The school began offering high school classes shortly after opening. Many students from surrounding school districts boarded with families in Alsask while earning their high school diplomas, confirming Alsask as a regional centre. The school was closed and acquired by the Village of Alsask in 1976.

The heritage value of the Alsask School also resides in its architecture. A variety of architectural styles, particularly Georgian Revival and Romanesque Revival, imbue this schoolhouse with grandeur. The school is defined by the grand and symmetrical proportions of its façade, which features large symmetrically spaced window openings, and is capped with a hip roof. The main entranceway is framed by a pavilion that is surmounted by a flagpole. The interior is divided into relatively symmetrically classrooms.

Source:

Village of Alsask Bylaw No. 1/2002.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Alsask School lies in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the public architecture of the building, such as the elements of the Georgian Revival style evident in the rectangular form of the building, the symmetry of the façade and the division of the interior into rooms, the pavilion, the hip roof and dormers; and Romanesque Revival elements such as the corner quoins, the projecting pilasters and the round arch above the main entrance.