When people think of architectural heritage – or “built heritage,” as it’s often referred to in city hall reports – they generally think of old, old buildings. That’s not always so, though, as the new home of the Guelph Community Christian School illustrates.
The former College Avenue Public School, which was a Grade 7-8 school before the local public board phased out  these intermediate schools, was built in 1959 on a design by noted Guelph architect Richard Pagani. The split-level two-storey buff-brick and glass residence that Pagani built in 1961 at 13 Evergreen Dr., south of the U of G, is considered one of the city’s best examples of Modern architecture and was officially designated  for its heritage value in 2002. Pagani’s love for inverted roofs is also on display at the school on College Avenue. He also designed the city’s downtown police station and Westminster-St.Paul’s Church on Victoria Road.
Bob Moore, the Christian school’s principal, has fondly spoken of Pagani’s original “butterfly roof” at the school as having captured the spirit of its era by looking “like the back end of a ’59 Chevy.”
Moore is obviously proud of his new school’s heritage elements, including a high ceiling in the library that was previously hidden by a lower false ceiling. The original cedar ceiling with glued laminated beams is “very 1960 and very Canadian,” he says, and newly installed high windows provide lots of light to view it.
It’s a type of heritage that’s well worth preserving.