Balmoral School Calgary 1913-1914

The building seen here was constructed in 1913-1914, as the most expensive and elaborate sandstone school in the city. Calgary at the time and today remains home to many of these iconic structures. In addition, Balmoral School ended up being the final example built and with this a chapter dating back to the early 1890s, came to an end. Here we’ll take a fun little look at the stately building, one quiet evening at twilight along with Balmoral Bungalow School from 1913, out back of the property.

The latter is a much smaller, wood framed and sits on the northeast corner of the grounds. It and other Bungalow (and similar Cottage) Schools in Calgary were built as stop-gap measures pending completion of larger faculties. They were then often sold off (and sometimes moved away), to be used as homes or apartment blocks. It wasn’t the case here and enrollment was such that they kept it even after finishing the main school.

The school kept so busy that a third building had to be brought in post World War One and used until about 1960. It functioned as the Balmoral School Annex and built in 1909 in nearby Crescent Heights, then later moved here. It sat in the northwest corner of the property.

Historic Balmoral School Calgary.

Balmoral School is steel framed, clad in dressed sandstone blocks and cost a cool quarter million to construct (no small change at the time). It became one of nineteen such structures in the city and all (we believe) are still standing present day, although some are no longer schools and repurposed for other use. They vary in size and design, but share many common elements. By its footprint, we think Balmoral holds title as largest, but a couple other sandstone schools come close.

These were made from locally sourced material – there were many sandstone quarries in and around Calgary – so economical for the time. Later brick became the choice material as a less expensive alternative.

Your author went to a sandstone school in the 1970s, here: Sunalta.

An old photo found in the University of Calgary archives, shows Balmoral shortly after completion. A sign out front reads J MacPhail General Contractor and three fellows are seen in front standing around a car. They’re all well dressed and likely dignitaries or some higher-ups connected with the firm or project.

In the 1950s a gym got added to the west side of the school. The building fronts on busy 16th Avenue North and Balmoral is part of the Tuxedo Park neighbourhood established in the early 1910s. When built Balmoral School stood near the edge of Calgary, but today deep inside the city.

What’s in a name? “Balmoral is the Scottish ancestral home of the Commonwealth’s Royal Family.” – Calgary Board of Education.

Balmoral School has accommodated up to about a thousand students in the past, but today enrolment sits at about six hundred. At the low point the count came it at well under two hundred and the building clearly underutilized at the time.

It’s mostly served as an elementary school over the years, or combo elementary/junior high, but has also functioned partly as a senior high. Today it’s for grades five to nine. Balmoral Bungalow School has been used by private learning firms, or for adult education in recent times, but appeared between tenants on our visit.

Think of all the changes Calgary has gone through since Balmoral came on the scene. In 1913-1914, cars were still a novelty, the Stampede had only been around for a year or two and the city still had a decidedly rural feel. Today the urban population is over a dozen times greater than when the building was new. The city grown sure has grown and the biggest spurt has been in recent times.

Do you rememeber what it cost to build? What would $250k get you in Calgary today? How about Jack. Well, maybe a refrigerator box under a railway bridge, or we could lease you the derelict car in our back yard for a couple years, but that’s about it. Even a dog house would be more expensive and the mean average price of a home in this city sits at about double what the school cost to build.

The clock tower’s a unique feature, but has never functioned and always reads about four (about the time school traditionally lets out). The mechanism was never acquired and it’s believed the cost and then the outbreak of World War One were both contributing factors. The money wasn’t there for one and Europe, where the machinery was to come from, in complete turmoil at the time, so they’ve forever done without. While they looked at getting something installed in later years, that never happened either.

Not that many kids can read an analogue clock anyway.

There’s a legend about a Titanic connection, but let’s not dig too deep. Some websites mention the clock workings were shipped on the storied liner and lost when it tragically sunk. There’s zero proof, so let’s file this accordingly. If one were to compile all the folklore associated with that doomed ship, and put into one file, you’d find the number of people, things and riches supposedly lost is many, many times that of reality. It must have been one HUGE liner.

It’s funny, and perhaps a bit troubling, how people make up stories about stuff like this.

William Aberhart, later Premier of Alberta, holds honour as the school’s first principal and later earned the nickname “Bible Bill” for his outspoken views on religion.

Balmoral School sits on a sizable lot, and the grandest structure in this otherwise mostly residential neighbourhood. One can get a clear view of it from 16th Avenue, the business strip, and it’s there set back, in all it’s majesty.

Balmoral Bungalow School out back.

How the world has changed since Balmoral School came to be long ago, yet it’s still being put to good use. It’s been almost a hundred and ten years and still going strong. How many students? How many teachers? The number must be staggering, given the time frame involved. Lots of fond memories, we hope.

Know more (new tabs): Balmoral School Calgary and Sandstone Schools of Calgary.

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They’re saying…

”Chris and Connie’s posts are among the best of the blogs out there. In fact this is my go to guide for where to explore in the summer. I like how well organized it is which allows a person to select from epic hikes to nearly forgotten history… ” Glen Bowe.

More places of learn’n, big and small…
Brownville School.
Mayland Heights School
Liberty School.
sKooL dAyz.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: April, 2022.
Location(s): Calgary, AB.
Article references and thanks: Calgary Board of Education, City of Calgary, “Cornerstones” from the Calgary Herald, University of Calgary archives and Alan Zakrison’s Old Calgary Sidewalk Stamps Facebook page.

It ended up being the last of its kind built.

The clock forever reads a few minute past four.

The most elaborate of Calgary’s iconic sandstone schools.

The date reads 1913 but completion came the following year.