Formal Recognition Type

City of St. John's Heritage Building, Structure, Land or Area

Heritage Value

The former St. Patrick’s School has been designated a Municipal Heritage Structure by the City of St. John’s for its aesthetic and historic value.

The former St. Patrick’s School has aesthetic value as a good example of mid 20th century institutional construction in St. John’s. Built of brick and concrete, this building is laid out much like any school, with a regular fenestration of windows. It is three storeys high and has a central passage way for pedestrian traffic. This passage is decorated with two gothic pointed arches. The building has banded string courses delineating each floor and concrete pilasters which span all three floors.

The former St. Patrick’s School has further aesthetic value due to its environmental setting. It is located in what was once a compact ecclesiastical area in the Riverhead neighbourhood of St. John’s. It sits next to the former St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, a provincial Registered Heritage Structure and National Historic Site. Next to the church is The Deanery, also a provincial Registered Heritage Structure. On Convent Square, the street behind the school, are the former St. Patrick’s Convent and School, also municipally designated buildings. These groupings of ecclesiastical buildings were typical in St. John’s in the era when schools were run by different denominations.

The former St. Patrick’s School has historic value due it its connection to the history of education in the Riverhead area of St. John’s. The first St. Patrick’s Girls School was built in 1856 and was one of the first schools located in the Riverhead area of the city. It was a Catholic school operated by the Presentation Sisters within St. Patrick’s Church parish. The present-day structure, constructed in the 1950s, was the third Catholic girls school on Patrick Street. In its last years of operation it was a co-ed junior high school. It closed in 1999 and Lakecrest Independent School purchased the building in 2002.

Source: City of St. John’s Archives, unnumbered property file, St. John’s – Lakecrest Independent School

Character Defining Elements

All those elements that define the building’s 1950s stone design including:
-the concrete facade of the building;
-double arched gothic revival passageway;
-projected centre section of the front facade;
-three storey pilasters;
-cross in the centre of the front facade eave line;
-eaves bracketing, and;
-size, massing and dimensions of building.

Community

St. John's

Municipality

City of St. John's

Civic Address

058 Patrick Street

Construction (circa)

1953 - 1954

Builder

Unknown

Style

Rectangular Long Façade