Buildings

Birchwood School, St. James-Assiniboia Professional Staff Development Centre

Address:150 Moray Street
Use:Education
Original Use:Education
Constructed:1959
Architects:Libling Michener and Associates
Engineers:P. Krauss of Crosier Krauss and Greenberg
Contractors:Roziere Construction Limited

More Information

Birchwood School is one of the early schools built by the former St. James School Division in 1959; it was closed as a school in 1977 and now functions as a training centre for professional staff.

Design Characteristics

  • This was a small neighbourhood school, more or less intact in plan to its period with the exception of an early addition of two classrooms and an auditorium on the north end
  • It forms a rectangle, one storey, with a simple plan of classrooms to either side of a central corridor
  • The ends are finished in a light brown brick; the east and west walls have had a good portion of their windows filled with painted panels replacing the void; the proportions remain satisfactory
  • Marooned by the construction of the Moray Bridge, the school reflects the declining enrolment in the district as well as the division's active attempts to re-use its viable building stock