Burnaby South and Burnaby North were Burnaby's first high schools. The first rooms of the school were built in 1922 on the same grounds as the Kingsway East Elementary School. In 1940, a two-storey building was erected and additions were made in 1963, 1967 and 1972. Kingsway East closed in 1925 and its buildings were used by the high school for Industrial Arts and Home Economics. In the early 1990s, a new "urban education centre" (Burnaby South/B.C. School for the Deaf) was opened, replacing the old Burnaby South High School.
The Kingsway East School is a two-storey wood-frame Arts and Crafts styled building. The school, and the adjacent cenotaph and memorial tennis courts, comprise Burnaby South Memorial Park.
The Kingsway East School is a two-storey wood-frame Arts and Crafts styled building. The school, and the adjacent cenotaph and memorial tennis courts, comprise Burnaby South Memorial Park.
Heritage Value
This school structure completed in 1913, the oldest surviving public education building in the city, was intended to be the auditorium and gymnasium for Burnaby’s first high school. However, because of the 1913 recession and the outbreak of the First World War, it was utilized as the Kingsway East Elementary School for the Edmonds District until 1921. Burnaby South High School opened here in 1922, and after it relocated this building was used for a variety of school purposes until it became redundant. The school was rehabilitated for community purposes in 2002-03 and renamed the Alan Emmott Centre to honor a former Mayor of Burnaby.
The impressive scale of the Kingsway East School is indicative of the relative size of the community and its growing demand for schooling at the time of construction, illustrating the value that early community residents placed on education. Built to plans of the Burnaby School Board architect, Joseph Henry Bowman (1864-1943), it also indicates the individual values and design control exercised by the school board during this era.
It is also significant for its Arts and Crafts style, allied to the typical Craftsman residential vocabulary, which was employed locally for school buildings of the Edwardian era. By using a common architectural vocabulary, this allowed the institution to reflect the values and aspirations of the local community. The Arts and Crafts style also demonstrated an allegiance to British educational antecedents and a demonstration of loyalty to the Mother Country.
Photograph of members of the 51st Burnaby Brownie Pack with Scouts, leaders and other guides for the "Baden Powell Sunday" event which took place at Burnaby South High School. The 51st Brownies are on the far left of the photograph.
Photograph of members of the 51st Burnaby Brownie Pack with Scouts, leaders and other guides for the "Baden Powell Sunday" event which took place at Burnaby South High School. The 51st Brownies are on the far left of the photograph.
Note in black ink to the right of the photograph reads: "Badon - Powell Sunday" / "Feb. 22nd, 1970 / Burnaby South High / School". "Those are 51st Brownies / (on the far side)"
Photograph of members of the 51st Burnaby Brownie Pack with Scouts, leaders and other guides for the "Baden Powell Sunday" event which took place at Burnaby South High School. Special guests are standing on the stage while the rest of the Girl Guides and Scouts look on from the audience. Father D. …
Photograph of members of the 51st Burnaby Brownie Pack with Scouts, leaders and other guides for the "Baden Powell Sunday" event which took place at Burnaby South High School. Special guests are standing on the stage while the rest of the Girl Guides and Scouts look on from the audience. Father D. Monroe was the officiating clergyman at the ceremony.
Photograph of the honour guard standing at attention during the "Baden Powell Sunday" event which took place at Burnaby South High School. Three Sea Rangers are dressed in uniforms with the one in the centre holding a Canadian Flag. Two members of the 51st Brownies are standing behind the Rangers a…
Photograph of the honour guard standing at attention during the "Baden Powell Sunday" event which took place at Burnaby South High School. Three Sea Rangers are dressed in uniforms with the one in the centre holding a Canadian Flag. Two members of the 51st Brownies are standing behind the Rangers and are holding the Guide flag.
Survey plan of "Kingsway East School Site" "Burnaby Municipality" / "Lot 10, of the Subdivision of Lot "D" of... Lot 96, Group 1, New Westminster District"
Survey plan of "Kingsway East School Site" "Burnaby Municipality" / "Lot 10, of the Subdivision of Lot "D" of... Lot 96, Group 1, New Westminster District"