Bridgeland-Riverside community fears fate of historic Bungalow School as CBE looks to sell

The Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association says it's concerned for the fate of the historic, century-old Riverside Bungalow School building as the Calgary Board of Education looks to sell the unused landmark.

The CBE is in the process of subdividing the property that is home to the Bungalow School — largely unused by the CBE for more than a decade — along with the present day Riverside School, which was renamed earlier this year following student advocacy about its former namesake, Hector-Louis Langevin.

The school board has plans to eventually sell the subdivided lot containing the Bungalow School.   

"The most recent use for the building was for administrative purposes, but it has not been occupied for a number of years. There is no instructional need for the site," the CBE said in a statement.

"The Bungalow is located on non-reserve lands. It occupies the same lot as Riverside School, and the lot is being subdivided to increase the options available to the CBE for the property."

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Deb Lee is the lead of the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association's heritage committee. She said the building is considered a staple in the area.

"It's an iconic presence in our community, it's a classic heritage building," she said. "It has a lot of really cool features that are quite unique in a city that always builds new."

The arts and crafts style building was one of three identical schoolhouses built after the First World War to accommodate a post-war student boom in the city. 

"They needed at the time, quote, 'temporary schools to house all of these students.' So they built cottage schools and bungalow schools, and then they started building all the big sandstone schools," said Josh Traptow, executive director of Heritage Calgary.

"It is a well-preserved example of the later phase of the bungalow school that was done by architect William Branton, and it's the only remaining building from the grouping of three educational buildings on that original site."

In an emailed response, the city said that when the CBE determined the Riverside Bungalow School was surplus to their needs, they formally asked if the city was interested in purchasing the school building.

"The city looked at whether there was a municipal need for the building. It was circulated to city departments in August/September 2020 and no need was identified so we didn't proceed with a purchase."

Pointing to the identical Cliff Bungalow School building, now home to the neighbourhood's community association and a preschool, Traptow said the city does have a history of purchasing similar buildings.

"In the case of Riverside and Balmoral school, the city has not exercised their right of first refusal, so that's why they're going to market with the sale of these buildings," he said.

"We don't have a lot of examples of former schools being sold. There's only a couple … I think these would probably be the first schools that are being put on the market in the last number of years."

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Lee said the community recognizes the building isn't suitable to be used as a school any longer, and doesn't fault the CBE for selling it, but is disappointed that the city didn't take this opportunity to protect a part of the city's past.

"The city does not have a great record for preserving heritage. When you look along Fourth Street in our community, that's where most of our heritage buildings are, and for the most part, these are privately owned," she said.

"I think there is a great opportunity in the Riverside Bungalow School," she said. "There's been a lot of talk about heritage and supporting heritage, and I say, 'hey, here's a chance for you to step up and put your money where your mouth is.'"

Lee said the roots of the Bridgeland-Riverside community go back to 1903, when Riverside was established as a village.

"It's one of the very, very earliest communities, and I think investing in heritage would be a very timely and worthwhile endeavour by the city," she said.

Traptow said that, depending on the buyer, they might decide to bulldoze the building because it is not designated as a municipal heritage site.

"Meaning that it can be demolished, significantly altered and that can be done both by the Calgary Board of Education and by any future owners," he said.

But if it does end up being purchased by a private owner, Lee hopes they see the value in getting the property designated, meaning it couldn't be demolished, and parts of the building would need to be preserved or maintained.

"I'd say, 'look at the value that a heritage building like that brings to our community,'" she said. "It's got good bones. It's in a great location, too, and it's something that will really add to the community and preserve the history."