Description of Historic Place

The handsome Brant Consolidated School, with its adjoining modern gymnasium, is located along a rural highway that also forms the main street in Argyle, a village in the southern half of Manitoba's Interlake region. Built in 1914, the two-storey brick structure is set within open grassed grounds that include sand lots and large shaded playgrounds. The provincial designation applies to the school and its large lot.

Heritage Value

Brant Consolidated School is a rare surviving example of the large and imposing centralized schools constructed in many small Manitoba communities during the early decades of the twentieth century. The facility also is one of the province's oldest continuously operated schools, providing over nine decades of community service. Expanded in 1929 to accommodate four multi-age classrooms, the reworked Georgian style school with its hipped roof, central hall plan and formal features is a good illustration of the level of sophistication reached in the development of larger schools during the period. According to standardized designs established by the Department of Education, the school's design incorporated large banks of windows along its sides and addressed fire prevention with escapes from the second floor. Constructed by John Morrison, the school and its large site remain a major focal point of the community.

Source: Manitoba Heritage Council Minutes, December 7, 1996

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Brant Consolidated School site include:
- the placement of the building on the north side of Road 323 in Argyle
- the school's east-west alignment, facing south, on extensive grassed grounds protected by large fir trees

Key exterior elements that define the building's vernacular Georgian style and original function include:
- the simplified but formal composition of the two-storey structure including its rectangular shape, basic symmetry, shallow-pitched hip roof and projecting frontispiece
- the projecting central front entrance, its double glass and wood doors with transoms accented by a tin-sheathed, bracketed canopy inscribed with the words 'BRANT CONS SCHOOL 1914'
- the generous fenestration, including the bank of six tall windows on the east side, four tall windows on the west side and tall front windows
- the basic materials and finishes, such as the buff-coloured brick walls and window heads, fieldstone basement, limestone sills and a tall plain brick chimney

Key internal elements that define the heritage character of the building include:
- the efficient division of space organized around a wide wooden central staircase with two large east and west classrooms on each floor, all with high ceilings and well-lit open spaces
- the use of large transom windows carried through from the exterior to the interior doorways, and the offices with glassed upper walls
- the fine finishes and materials such as the tin ceilings, a hardwood staircase and flooring, dark-stained wainscotting in the main floor hallway, etc.
- the basement spaces including an east side library and west side storage area