Red Brick School
3 Halladay St, Elgin
This 1-storey, 2-room red brick school set on a stone foundation with a cross gable roof was built at the intersection of two new streets (Church and Halladay) in Elgin in 1887 by Fred Tabor of Morton. Matching side projections decorated with large wooden brackets feature boys’ and girls’ entrances leading into vestibules with washrooms vented through the roof (a luxury in 1887). The front façade (senior room) features large windows with movable sashes to provide abundant natural light and ventilation. with buff brick arched voussoirs, and buff brick quoining at the main corners. The junior room is slightly smaller with 2 large widows to the south and one to the east. Both classrooms were oriented and furnished so that natural light came over the students’ left shoulders. There are three triangular gables above the windows, a central chimney, and a small belfry with a hipped onion-like roof at the peak of the front façade roof. This rare architect-designed rural educational structure served as the village schoolhouse for nearly 80 years.

