Description of Historic Place

The Old Grammar School is located at 327 Queen Street South, on the east side of Queen Street North, south of Alpha Mills Road, in the City of Mississauga. The one-and-a-half-storey red brick structure was constructed in 1851.

The property was designated, by the City of Mississauga in 1977, for its heritage value, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, By-law 478-77.

Heritage Value

The Old Grammar School is a reminder of the development of public education in Ontario, as it was the first high school in Peel County. It served the Township of Toronto, parts of Halton County and Etobicoke. The building was used for a school for over 100 years. In 1966 it became Streetsville Town Hall and in 1974, a Police Station. Some of the school's more famous graduates include John Wesley Cotton, a renowned artist, and Judges Benjamin Justin and J.J. Mahaffy.

The Old Grammar School reflects a vernacular style that speaks to Streetsville's small town, agrarian past. The original schoolroom built in 1851 is simple, classical and elegant, with its treatment of decorative buff brick frieze and buttresses.

In 1877 the school had to be enlarged and two front rooms and a tower in an Italianate style were added, helping to create a “T” shaped plan. The tower is a particularly good example of Italianate style with its paired brackets, frieze, paired windows with drip moulds and two circular windows. The new additions were constructed of red brick, with added details such as quoins, window and door surrounds all detailed in yellow brick. The two front rooms have semi-circular windows that are four-over-four paned and double hung.

Source: City of Mississauga By-law 478-77.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Old Grammar School include the:
- one-storey red-brick exterior
- side gable roof with projecting frontispiece on façade
- two-and-a-half-storey tower
- mansard roof on tower
- paired brackets and frieze on tower
- four over four paned and double-hung windows with vousssoirs
- twin semi-circular two over two paned double hung windows on Tower
- window and door surrounds in yellow-brick
- four hooded dormers on mansard roof of Tower
- main door with semi-circular opening
- voussoirs and keystone above entrance