Description of Historic Place

This memorial comprises a cenotaph and three tennis courts: the former is a monument of British Columbia granite inscribed with the names of fifty-one students of Burnaby South High School who lost their lives in the Second World War; and the latter is a living memorial to these former students.

Heritage Value

This memorial is important for its spiritual, symbolic, and cultural associations for the former students of Burnaby South High School, and for all youth in the community. The cenotaph is of personal significance to the families of those who lost their lives.

The unusual combination of cenotaph and living memorial - the tennis courts - represents a rare statement of a community's commitment to not allow the sacrifice of its youth to be forgotten by providing an active facility which draw people to the place on a regular basis rather than just on occasions of remembrance. As such it is an important symbol of a humanitarian ethic.

In combination with the Kingsway East School, now rehabilitated as the Alan Emmott Centre, this memorial represents a valuable haven of green space and recreation in the high density urban development that now surrounds it.

Source: Heritage Site Files: PC77000 20. City of Burnaby Planning and Building Department

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Burnaby South High School Cenotaph and Memorial Tennis Courts include the:
- location of the cenotaph adjacent to the living memorial
- spatial association of this memorial and the remaining school building
- physical fabric of both the granite monument and the tennis courts