Catholic school building torn down
Students, parents and teachers of Kelowna’s St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School watched as the former school site was demolished Friday afternoon.
“We’re taking out two of our oldest buildings on site, McKenzie Hall and the original St. Joseph’s Hall,” said Hal Spelliscy, chair of the bishops task force for the St. Joseph project.
“This site has been providing education in Kelowna since the 1920s. These two buildings have outlived their useful life, and so today it’s time to say goodbye to them. Renovating was not viable.”
The new St. Joseph Elementary School was completed on the same site last summer in time for the new school year.
“We were able to do it all without even interrupting a school year,” said Spelliscy.
Demolition of the old buildings waited until this summer so it could be done when no children were around.
“Doing demolition like this when kids are off site is a much safer way to go,” said Spelliscy.
“Our contractors have been so amazing to work extra time in the summer to not interrupt the kids and also to be mindful of the parish and the people coming and going.”
Demolition will take a little longer than planned for various reasons, including because crews are working to save pieces of timber that can be used for resale.
“You’d like to think you just swing a ball into a building and then scrape it up and take it away, but no,” said Spelliscy. “Like a lot of projects, this last little bit seems to take so long.”
Following the demolition, a parking lot and landscaping will be put in, opening up the space so the school can be seen from Sutherland Avenue.
“Once it gets all cleaned up, they’ll be doing some paving and a little bit of landscaping, getting it ready hopefully for September,” said Principal Lynn Fleck.
“I’ve been here many years, and I’ve been looking at these buildings, and they’ve needed to come down, so it’s neat. This is a strong school with really exciting groundbreaking programs, and this puts the icing on the cake.”
T his site has been providing education in Kelowna since the 1920s. These two buildings have outlived their useful life, and so today it’s time to say goodbye to them. Hal Spelliscy