Heritage designation being pursued for Kitchener school

A Catholic school in Kitchener could soon be declared a ‘heritage destination.’ CTV’s Colton Weins takes a look at what’s behind the push.

A nearly 100-year-old Catholic elementary school in Kitchener could be designated as a heritage building.

The city’s heritage committee is pursuing a designation for St John’s Catholic School at 99 Strange Street.

It’s been a part of the core of Kitchener since 1929. It was the fourth school built in the city, in response to the influx of new families and births following World War I. The city says its contribution to educational development is historically important.

The school has been on the Municipal Heritage Register, but the province’s More Homes Built Faster Act requires properties on the list to be designated before January 1, 2027 or they will be removed from the register and can’t be re-listed for five years.

According to the city, an evaluation found the building meets four out of nine criteria for heritage designation. It was built in the Collegiate Tudor architectural style with a flat roof, red brick and cast concrete decorative details. It did undergo reconstruction around 2009 but kept its historical elements.

One local expert thinks designating it makes sense.

“They already convey a sense of connection to the Middle Ages,” Rick Haldenby, a professor with the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo said.

“I can’t say St. John’s is an architectural masterpiece. Frankly, it’s not. But it’s relationship to the street, it’s relationship to the community, it’s closeness to the park. I mean, there’s all sorts of reasons,” Haldenby added.

A heritage designation doesn’t completely protect it from demolition... But it would require the Waterloo Catholic District School Board to maintain the building.

“I think it’s good for children to understand that they’re part of a continuum, historical continuum,” Haldenby said. “As much as it’s a historic building, an old building, the group of students who goes there represents some of the newest Canadians, it’s very much a place about the society that we have today. So it’s a heritage building. But what it actually sustains is this kind of incredible, vivid diasporic melange that Kitchener and Ontario and Canada have become.”

Elizabeth Ziegler Public School is a heritage property in Waterloo that recently closed because of structural concerns. Haldenby feels with the renovations done at St. John’s and the value it holds in the community, it shouldn’t be a concern for parents and students.

“The school board could legitimately come back if they did want to demolish the building, again, I doubt they do, since they’ve just invested millions of dollars in updating it,” Haldenby said. “I really don’t believe that there’s any risk that this building is going to be determined to have structural problems within the foreseeable future anyway.”

City staff will now ask the school board for any comments or concerns about designating the building. A notice of intention to designate the school will then come back to the committee, which would then need approval from council.