Vic High decision shows stewardship
Re: “Put education before pricey preservation,” comment, June 28.
To dismiss heritage preservation as mere sentiment or added luxury when planning the renewal of Victoria High School flies in the face of some core Victoria community values. The Greater Victoria School District has recognized this. It is to be commended for its stewardship of the district’s historic-schools legacy, including, for instance, the restoration of South Park and Lampson Street schools, the creative community reuse of many others and, more recently, its decision to preserve Victoria High School.
Vic High is a significant heritage monument in the urban landscape of Victoria. It anchors the Fernwood neighbourhood, itself one of Victoria’s best conserved Victorian/Edwardian examples of its kind. When completed in 1914, the size, scale and cost was rivalled by only two previous Victoria skyline markers: the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel. And Victorians were proud of this fact.
Vic High’s groundbreaking classical design and highquality construction also marked a fundamental shift in community values of the day. Those values signalled a belief in the social and economic importance of advanced education. The 1911 design by Charles Elwood Watkins was to accommodate not only a high school, but also one floor for McGill University-linked Victoria College, ultimately to become the University of Victoria.
Conservation of the building, its form and character, preserves the premier example of its type and a significant British Columbia monument.
Restoration of the exterior would acknowledge and respect a neighbourhood noted for lovingly restored character homes and the immediately adjacent Fernwood Village, itself anchored by the Belfry Theatre, a creative and sensitive reuse of an historic neighbourhood church.
A sympathetic adaptation of the interior, respecting significant historic decorative features, would not only preserve community memories but also provide the setting for learning moments on the history of education and those who trod the halls in earlier years.
Interior renovation provides an opportunity to adapt old spaces to new uses, current learning technologies, curricula and teaching methods, and retrofit not just for health and safety but also energy economy. There is also the potential to revive and repurpose original built-in green amenities such as the high ceilings and (now sealed) original built-in fresh-air ventilation shafts, along with openable classroom windows.
Interestingly, Vic High architect Watkins built his reputation for high-quality design on his Victoria schools (six further commissions: Burnside, Oaklands, George Jay, Monterey, Quadra and Willows). His work utilized state-ofthe-art seismic standards applied to steel-reinforced concrete. He was the first in Canada to use the advanced “Kahn” engineering technology, benefiting from lessons learned on the West Coast following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The north side of the main block lends itself to considerable expansion. The recent addition in the modernist style by Wade Williams Architects, which complements and respects the scale and monumental form of the 1914 main block, could inspire a further major addition.
A generous financial premium need not accompany this approach. St. Ann’s Academy was conserved, repurposed and retrofitted to current seismic standards. At St. Ann’s, a new concrete building was inserted into the original masonry envelope, and a one-storey-high foundation was also constructed. The exterior was meticulously restored. The total bill amounted to the same per-square-foot cost as an all-new building.
Early investigations for restoration of the Union Club (designed the same year, in the same style and using similar construction technology as Vic High) revealed a much higher seismic resilience than originally anticipated. The first two phases of the restoration plan came in on time and on budget.
Victoria now boasts a 50-year tradition of engineering and design expertise, trades and craft skills in restoration construction.
However, for immediate precedent we could look to Portland, a Pacific Northwest city that vies with Victoria for the quality, extent — and love — of its built heritage. The restoration and modernization of its historic 1915 Franklin High School was finished this year.
Although on a larger scale, this project included a detailed exterior restoration, a seismic upgrade and complete interior modernization, along with a major new addition. An anchor feature of the school’s plan, as with Vic High, was its grand auditorium. This has been repurposed into a state-of-the-art media centre.
Heritage preservation such as the Vic High project does not require a large added increment of cost. It does require extra care, effort and creativity. The Victoria community has long demonstrated its capability in this arena. Prof. Martin Segger is an architectural historian. He served as a Victoria city councillor, chaired the Provincial Capital Commission, and served on the boards of the National Trust for Canada, B.C. Historic Sites Advisory Board, Canadian Heritage Trust and Victoria Civic Trust.