The former Findlay School in Dartmouth is officially a heritage property

A regional council meeting last week also included a heritage hearing for 26 Elliot Street in Dartmouth, the former Findlay School building.

The building is owned by Halifax Regional Municipality, but the original research and proposal for the heritage classification was put forward by Dartmouth resident Maura Donovan.

“Volunteering in our community comes in all sorts of different forms and this was a rather unique project that Maura had where she went through and did a very extensive research report,” said Councillor Sam Austin, who represents the district where the building is located.

Donovan, a neighbour of the Findlay School, was present at the council meeting. Her research was condensed into the staff report presented to council on January 28.

Kathleen Fralic with HRM’s Heritage Property Program presented the reasoning behind the recommendation for the heritage classification.

“The Findlay School is a rare remaining example of a bungalow school in the Dartmouth area,” Fralic told council.

The five-acre property, which lies across from Sullivan’s Pond, currently exists as the Findlay Community Centre. It includes a fitness centre, meeting rooms, a pottery studio, a playground, horseshoe pits and a community garden.

“The school was named for Sara Findlay, a high school vice-principal who taught in Dartmouth area schools for 44 years, and her family donated the land that the school is located on, Fralic explained.

The school received 55 out of 100 points from the Heritage Advisory Committee, which evaluates the property in six different categories: age of the site, architectural importance, the significance of the architect, building construction type, the integrity of the building, and its relationship to the surrounding area.

Originally built in 1932, the six-classroom school remained in operation until 1972, at which point ownership was transferred to the city.

The municipal planner told councillors that if any one-storey schools in HRM should be preserved, it should be this one.

“The Findlay School is thought to be one of three remaining bungalow schools from that time in the Dartmouth area,” Fralic says.

However, there are other examples of the interwar-era schoolhouses, including the Sackville Public Library and the Lakeside Community Centre.

Council was informed of several important elements of the school that should be preserved, including the wood shingle siding, hipped gable roof, porticos and columns, and the long windows on the front of the building.

“The main architectural features and overall appearance of the building have been largely maintained,” Fralic said.

She also told council that there was also a cinder block gymnasium added to the building in the 1960s.

“This addition at the rear, because the building is a U-shape, it actually created an open-air courtyard that’s located in the centre of the structure,” she says.

Consultations with Parks and Recreation staff determined there were no short-term plans to alter or demolish the building, but council still felt making it a heritage property would secure its future.

“The Findlay Community Centre and before that Findlay School has been an important civic landmark in downtown Dartmouth for generations,” said Councillor Austin.

Austin told the room that he thought the Findlay Community Centre was a standout example of one-storey schools from that era.

“It is a prominent building in the neighbourhood and it is of a style that is basically disappearing.,” he said. “If you’re looking at is and saying well what would be the school from this era that we would want to keep? This would be the one.”

Council voted to give the building heritage designation in a unanimous vote.