Description of Historic Place

Roseisle School, completed in 1921, is a tall one-storey brick structure on a large lot in Roseisle. The municipal designation applies to the building and its grounds.

Heritage Value

Roseisle School is an exceptional example of a modestly sized, though finely detailed, village school. The dignified design by Winnipeg architect E.D. Tuttle, which incorporates elements of the Classical Revival style, and the well-preserved brick finish, complemented by generous limestone accents, lend the structure formality and substance. Closed in 1992 due to declining enrolment, this impressive building, with its large, sheltered schoolyard, offers a glimpse of Roseisle's busier past and the importance which the community attached to meeting its educational needs.

Source: Rural Municipality of Dufferin By-law No. 1583, October 20, 1989

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Roseisle School site include:
- its location on 1st Avenue in Roseisle, adjacent to a park, and the building's placement, facing north from within spacious treed grounds

Key exterior elements that define the school's well-appointed Classical Revival style include:
- the wide, elongated rectangular form, one storey high on an elevated concrete basement, with a truncated hip roof and shallow hip-roofed entrance pavilions centred on the north and south facades
- the symmetrical arrangement of elements and the horizontal lines of the fine brick and limestone accents
- the elaborately detailed north entrance sequence defined by an elegant frontispiece and two-tiered staircase, with concrete steps and limestone-capped brick side walls
- the white-painted frontispiece with its fluted Doric columns, plain engaged pilasters, detailed entablature containing the name 'ROSEISLE SCHOOL' and arched pediment
- the buff-coloured brick walls with attractive brick and limestone highlights, including a decorative belt course, the angled corners of the north pavilion, the broad stone panels along the base, the shaped corner pieces, the date stone with '1921' in bas-relief, etc.
- the provision for abundant schoolhouse-style fenestration, including the retained outline of the original wide openings on the south, east and west sides, the tall windows on all sides of the basement, etc.
- details such as the well-defined eaves lined with narrow wood siding and closely spaced, scrolled brackets, the wood cornice on the north pavilion, etc.

Key interior elements that define the building's heritage schoolhouse character include:
- the centre-entrance plan incorporating a formal main-floor foyer and mezzanine area between two large classrooms, each with a full-width cloakroom accessed by two doors
- the fine materials, finishes and details, including wood floors, plastered walls, wood trim and doors, the dark-stained foyer woodwork highlighted by a glazed divider and entrance doors and the mezzanine balustrade and staircase, etc.