Building P-148 (School)

The Building P-148 (School), also known as the Alexander Dunn Public School is located at the heart of a residential subdivision at the edge of a military base. It is a low, flat-roofed building of steel-framed construction. The walls are clad in red brick and have large multi-pane windows. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

The Building P-148 (School) is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value

The Building P-148 (School) at the Canadian Forces Base Borden (C.F.B.) is associated with the introduction of family accommodation and services in support of a new conception of the military career. More specifically, the building is associated with the social transformation of military services after 1945. Named for the first Canadian-born winner of the Victoria Cross (in the Crimean War), the school is integral to the neighbourhoods at the eastern edge of C.F.B Borden.

Architectural Value

The Building P-148 (School) is a good example of a standard neighbourhood school design, constructed in phases to a standard Royal Canadian Air Force school plan. Characterized by its informal horizontal massing, rectilinear plan and palette of materials, the building is a low-slung late modernist hybrid of asymmetrically ordered simplicity. As such, it is characteristic of school architecture in the suburban baby-boom period of the 1950s, which emphasized natural light and airflow as well as areas for outdoor recreation.

Environmental Value

The Building P-148 (School) is compatible with the present character of its residential military neighbourhood setting at C.F.B. Borden and is a well known building.

Sources: Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ontario, Federal Heritage Building Review Office Building Report (SCR) 94-088; Alexander Dunn Public School, P-148, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ontario, Heritage Character Statement, 94-088.

The following character-defining elements of the Building P-148 (School) should be respected.

Its modern style and functionalism, for example:

-the overall asymmetry of the plan and the informal horizontal massing of the building;

-the functional elevations, reflecting by their relative locations and window arrangements the building’s program and activities;

-the rectilinear arrangements of the floor plan developed from a standardized understanding of school architecture;

-the consistent, simplified and robust palette of materials and block forms.

The manner in which the Building P-148 (School) is compatible with its residential military neighbourhood setting at Canadian Forces Base Borden and is a well-known building, as evidenced by:

-its overall design, orientation, and recreational landscape which contributes to the essential character of the neighbourhood as a whole;

-its visibility and familiarity vis-à-vis its large scale and location as well as its public use as a school for the neighbourhood.