Cathedral Boys building could get special status

The former Cathedral Boys’ High School will always be a landmark in the lives of those who learned and made friends there. Now it’s being groomed for recognition as a landmark on the list of Hamilton buildings protected and prized for yet other virtues.

The main building, built in 1928, has long impressed with its Gothic Collegiate combination of gravity, elegance and light.

The facade is arrestingly handsome with its distinctive receding lancet archway, giving an appearance of a mouth opening into the building. The portal is flanked with rocketlike stone elements tapering to pinnacles. It is topped with the decorous upper window treatment and the whole central front features ornate detailing, crests and wall-mounted lamps.

Extending to either side of the central facade are the solid, stately east and west walls of the school, with all that light-capturing glass in symmetrically vertical panes, balanced by the heavy horizontal sandstone laid in broken courses.

Who hasn’t stopped to look and admire? The future hasn’t, yet. It’s now up to city council, but admirers of the old school on Main East have been trying to ensure the future gets to see it.

To that end, they’ve won the recommendation of the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee to designate Cathedral Boys’ High School a heritage structure.

“This (designation of heritage status) will ensure it’s protected,” says Alissa Denham-Robinson, chair of the committee that will meet on May 10 to consider the recommendation.

In case the ownership of the building changes, any attempt to demolish or alter the building will be red-flagged, she says.

There are two parts to the school. The main building and the 1951 wing, and both are being recommended for special status.

The 1928 building was designed by architects Gordon Hutton and William Souter, who designed the Delta and Memorial schools and the Royal Connaught Hotel.

Aside from the architectural relevance of the school, there is the historical and social context. Cathedral was a huge step for the city’s Catholic diocese and its school board when it was built, said Denham-Robinson. The goal was for it to be the equal of any public high school.

It is vacant now, but is being kept conditioned in the seasons so that it is not “undergoing any undue strains” that might compromise its stability, she said.

Thursday’s meeting begins at noon in Room 264, at City Hall.