VHS an essential part of our heritage

Re: “VHS was outdated half a century ago,” letter, March 20.

It is with great concern that we read about the possibility that School District 61 will demolish Victoria High School.

This iconic building, which has long been a part of our community’s landscape, is in many ways far too valuable a structure to assign to the wrecker’s ball and should be saved from such a fate, at any cost.

Our city’s heritage is an extremely important part of our children’s education and, as such, the history and architecture of Vic High should form a part of the values that bind them to our community.

Furthermore, the school itself, being the oldest high school in western Canada, represents the last continuum of the ongoing fabric of the significantly valuable history of the former students and other community members who have benefited from attending school in the existing building for the past 100-plus years.

In addition, in another important sense, the building itself provides one of the few remaining structures that has in the past, and will likely continue to do so in the future, provided a backdrop for the filming of motion pictures and television programs, all of which contribute to our local economy and awareness of our historic city.

We ask the people of Victoria to contact the Greater Victoria School District and urge them to consider any one of the other proposed options before destroying what is, arguably, one of the most important heritage buildings in our community.

Stephen and Patricia Young Victoria