Hamilton has preserved one of its architectural gems

The Sherwood community should finally be able to say without a doubt that their voices were heard loud and clear by the HWDSB, and they have saved their local school.

Additionally, there is another silver lining here, because a Hamilton architectural gem has been preserved, as the school was designed by the eminent architect Stanley Roscoe, who also designed Hamilton City Hall, Macassa Lodge and Highland Secondary, now Dundas Valley Secondary. It is an achievement in the safeguarding of an important piece of Hamilton history and design.

Roscoe was born in Franklin, Man., in 1921. He worked as a teacher, served for three years in the Canadian Navy, and ultimately studied architecture at the University of Manitoba.

Graham Crawford, a local heritage enthusiast who interviewed Roscoe several times told me that, “Roscoe experienced a life changing event” when architect Frank Lloyd Wright visited the University of Manitoba as a guest speaker. Roscoe was intrigued by Wright’s “presence, his style, and his incredible attention to detail.” He became a major influence on Roscoe’s work.

Roscoe was hired by the City of Hamilton in 1951 as the “city architect,” a post he held for 10 years. A champion of modern design, he is credited with bringing modern architecture to Hamilton. His work on city hall is regarded as a significant moment in Hamilton architectural history, and was written about in international publications such as Time magazine.

Iconic Canadian architect Bruce Kuwabara, a member of the Order of Canada and winner of three Governor General awards for his design work, cites Roscoe as a major influence.

His connection to Roscoe is the stuff of which legends are made. Kuwabara’s parents were interred in “work camps” in Western Canada during the Second World War. Once released, they moved to Hamilton, where Kuwabara’s father worked at a steel mill.

To make extra money to improve the life of his family, Kuwabara’s father worked a variety of jobs. One of those jobs happened to be work on the crew that installed the marble facade on city hall. One day Kuwabara’s father brought home a bag of cut tiles, which intrigued the young boy, and he created a range of “modern designs” with them.

After visiting Expo in Montreal in 1967, Kuwabara decided to become an architect.

He was hired by the city to work with Roscoe as a summer student. Kuwabara remembers Roscoe’s architectural style as “crisp and sharp.” He was impressed by his personal style, but even more by his incredible attention to detail. Both Crawford and Kuwabara told me if there is any detail you notice in any of Roscoe’s buildings, it would have been personally chosen by the architect. No detail was too small to escape his attention.

Several elements of the design of Sherwood Secondary can be identified as elements of Roscoe’s work, often expressing the influence of Wright’s work. Crawford commented on the Mayan appearance of the exterior structure of the auditorium and gymnasiums, which frame the building. He also commented on the internal courtyards, of which there are two. “You walk into the building. It’s full of light, and you are looking at nature. That’s important.” Kuwabara noted the “human scale” of the building, the “angles of the roof that represent modern sculptural figures,” and the “significance of the silhouette” of the building in the neighbourhood.

Kuwabara referenced urban planner Jane Jacobs when he said “we need to appreciate a range of generations of buildings” in this country. He said the Sherwood community has “achieved something great” in saving this building, and “that should be celebrated, because it allows the building to move into the future, and allows further generations to experience and enjoy it.”