windsoriteDOTca - windsor ontario arts, music, events, hyperlocal news blog & city guide

By Owen Wolter

Friday October 10th, 2008 @ 12:24am

 

Sorry for the bad photos, I had these lying on my hard drive since spring of ’06, but never had a real reason to post them until now. Today, Edith Cavell School (on Ontario St., in Riverside) was in the news, on AM800. It’s actually not a school anymore; about six years ago it was converted to condos. Apparently, Scaledown.ca’s own Mark Boscariol had a hand in creating this awesome adaptive-reuse project! I actually attended this school, between 1993 and 1994 while the new King Edward Public School was being built. It was a beautiful mess. Strage fungi growing in the basement gym, dark and dingy hallways, and very, very high ceilings.

From AM800 CKLW today:

I’m not sure what prompted the idea to designate it, but it’s a great idea to honour and preserve this structure.

Edith Cavell from the front.  I remember having class portraits on this lawn.

Around back, I’m standing approximately where the gym used to be.  The gym was below ground level, and the upper reaches of it were visible from the playground.  Also, to the left in this photo, there was an extension of classrooms which apparently were removed during the condo conversion.

The brick structure is wonderful.  A cat sits in the window of what was the music room.

The ceilings in the classrooms are wonderfully high in this 3 story structure.

Edith Cavell is obviously named after the famed British nurse whom in WWI, helped allied soldiers flee from German occupied Belgium.  She was captured by the Germans and executed.  This was a story we learned quite well while at the school.  It’s good to see that adaptive re-use exists (or existed) in Windsor.  If only it was a more popular alternative to outright demolition.
 

• seattleforge

  My brother lived there. He moved to Chatham a year ago. They were great units.

• jaleco

  For a second I thought this was the school across the street from me… I can’t remember the name of the school, but it is also on Ontario Street, just a block from Pillette… But it doesn’t look anywhere near as nice as this school.

  Last I heard (back in 2005) it was being used to train police dogs, and they were going to change it into condo’s also..

  So far it’s just half boarded up, with smashed windows.

  I love learning about old schools, and seeing preservations/recycling like this. Great way to make use of still usable building.

• ext_130778

  The first time I made out with a girl was in behind this school. It’s truly now a landmark!

• Valare

  Seattleforge is my brother-in-law. I believe that that is my cat in the window. Her name is Zilliah. She misses the big sunny warm windows. It was a great place to live, I still miss it too.

• Roger

  Hi “jaleco.” The school on Ontario Street, one block west of Pilette was Ada C. Richards.

• Al

  I went to Edith Cavell for grades 7 and 8 back in the 70′s.  I still have some of the friends that I had when I went there. I loved that school and the teachers were great. We even had a bicycle repair class.