Lampson Street School

Here's one of our oldest school buildings, built in 1913. There was an earlier small building put up in 1903 but it was replaced by this building ten years later. I find it interesting how attitudes to education are reflected in school architecture. This school, Victoria High School (1914) and Camosun College (Young Building 1914) were all erected during a time when education was still in the classical mode as reflected in their neo-classical design. Learned people knew Latin and Greek and were familiar with ancient European scholars and philosophers. The genders were separated - both Lampson and Vic High (1914) still have the "Boys" and "Girls" wings to the school, identified indelibly in cement. And these schools were built during a time when popular education was a relatively new concept and a good education was still viewed as somewhat of a privilege. Below is a bit more information provided at the school.