Buildings
1777 Grant Avenue
| Formerly: | John Dafoe School |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1777 Grant Avenue |
| Use: | Daycare |
| Original Use: | Educational |
| Constructed: | 1957 |
| Other Work: | Planned addition in 1959 |
| Architects: | Winnipeg School Division, In-house |
| Contractors: | 1957, Louis Ducharme and Associates 1959, Semmler Construction Co. |
More Information
This small elementary school, closed as a school since 1991, honours the celebrated journalist and long-time editor of the Winnipeg Free Press. It is currently a large daycare and its former students were transferred to J. B. Mitchell on its northern side.
Design Characteristics
| Suburb: | J.B Mitchell, River Heights |
|---|
- Cost of Construction (1957): $176,942
- Cost of Construction (1959): $62,837
- Forming a low U-shape with its public face looking south across Grant Avenue, this is a fully modern design with emphasis on the practical and straightforward of a school division coping with a seemingly endless wave of young children
- That clarity of form following function here drifted into 'stripped-down' when the many windows were removed and the walls infilled but some of the wall areas do show consideration of waving textures, colour and shapes to good effect, especially in the main entrance and administrative portion on the southwest corner
- The building is inexplicably skewed slightly on its lot; the yard is on the north side; the play structure is tucked into the inside of the L of the sections