First Avenue School
73 First Avenue
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
Built in 1898, First Avenue Public School is a good example of late 19th-century urban school architecture. It is one of the only three schools to survive the large building program the Ottawa Public School Board undertook in the 1890s. Originally a two-storey red brick structure, the building had a third storey added in 1907.
The school was designed by architect Edgar L. Horwood, who also designed Ottawa's Carnegie Library. In 1980, the Ottawa Board of Education threatened to demolish the school, but the community rallied against the proposal, successfully demanding that the board renovate the building instead.
Each Valentine's Day, First Avenue Public School students participate in “Project Love.” Along with thousands of children from across Canada, they send small kits of school supplies accompanied by personal letters to students in Africa and the Caribbean.
Neighbourhood
Like the rest of Ottawa, the area that would become known as the Glebe was originally a hunting territory for Anishnabe (Algonquin) tribes, principally the Odawa, whose name is commemorated ... read more
