Lunenburg Academy
| Lunenburg Academy | |
|---|---|
| Académie de Lunenburg, Lunenburg Elementary School | |
Second Empire architecture | |
| Designated | 1983 |
The Lunenburg Academy is a historic school building located in
History
After the county academy was destroyed by fire in 1893, the town of Lunenburg set out to create a new building which would be "an ornament to the town and a credit to the Province".[1] As the old academy, which housed only 200 students, had reached its capacity, the new building was planned to be much larger.[2]: 11 Construction of the Lunenburg Academy, directed by architect Harry H. Mott, began in the fall of 1894 and was completed in 1895. The school opened on November 7, 1895, admitting more than 650 students.[3] The academy served as a primary and secondary school for students in Lunenburg County until 1966, when it became strictly a school for grades primary to nine. It continued to operate as a school until March 2012, when concerns over maintenance costs led the school board to cede operations to the town.[2]: 13–4 The Lunenburg Academy was designated a National Historic Site in 1983, owing to its architectural heritage and its illustration of the 19th century academy system in Nova Scotia.[4]
A large-scale restoration project is ongoing as of August 2019.[5] The project aims to convert the building into a mixed-use structure with community and office spaces.[3] The building currently hosts the Lunenburg Library, which opened in 2018,[6] and the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance.[5] Some of the former classrooms are rented to businesses and organizations.[6]
Architecture
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Exterior
The three-storey wooden building is located on a 3.7 acre (1.5 ha) lot atop Gallows Hill at 101 Kaulback Street, adjacent to the
Interior
The building's area is approximately 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2). Much of the interior remains unchanged from its original structure.[3] Mott's interior plans included a heating system in the basement consisting of six air furnaces, with the upper levels housing classrooms of approximately equal size, arranged in an asymmetrical pattern to optimize natural lighting. The two main entrances of the building were for boys, the others for girls; there were separate staircases for each gender, and there was no main foyer, so that male and female students could not mix outside of the classrooms.[2]: 11–3
The furnace system was replaced with radiators in the 1950s. During the 1980s, the third floor was closed due to fire safety concerns; it was reopened after a rehabilitation project that took place from 1998 to 2000.: 21
References
- ^ Mather Byles DesBrisay (1895). History of the County of Lunenburg. W. Briggs. p. 397 – via Internet Archive.
{{cite book}}: External link in|via= - ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cary, Henry (8 Nov 2013). "The Lunenburg Academy National Historic Site: Management Plan". Manuscript on File, Town of Lunenburg Unesco World Heritage Site. Town of Lunenburg – via academia.edu.
- ^ a b c Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (12 February 2015). "Restoring 120 Years of History". Government of Canada. Archived from the original on 19 Nov 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Lunenburg Academy National Historic Site". Canadian Register of Historic Places. Archived from the original on 5 Mar 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
- ^ a b Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (29 August 2019). "Enhancements for Historic Lunenburg Academy". Government of Canada. Archived from the original on 19 Nov 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- ^ a b Anjuli Patil (28 July 2018). "Lunenburg Library opens to public after move to former school". CBC News. Archived from the original on 5 Aug 2018.
- ^ Atwood, Margaret (16 Nov 2003). "At Home Among the Bluenosers". The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times Company – via LexisNexis.
On the hill at the top of the town is the Lunenburg Academy, an extraordinary mansard-roofed construction built in the 1890s, a sort of Charles Addams nightmare, only white.