Edith Cavell School

In 1908, a school building on this site was originally opened. In 1920, the school was named “Edith Cavell” after Edith Cavell, First World War British nurse, who while nursing in Belgium, was executed by the Germans in 1915.

The present building was opened in 1940. The architects were Twizell, Birds and Twizell, a firm renowned for institutional and ecclesiastical buildings. The building’s shape is in an unusual ‘H’ plan with formal vertical massing. Details include exposed wood rafter ends, raised parapet gable walls, buttresses, and a belfry ventilator.

The school is an example of the endurance of Late Victorian style, with Queen Anne Revival arches and raised Jacobean parapet walls. This blend of styles is typical of the Tudor Revival period. Edith Cavell is a unique example of this style for schools in Vancouver.

Edith Cavell Elementary is currently in the design phase of a seismic upgrade that is set to start in the summer of 2020. The main classroom building and the gym will undergo seismic upgrades but retain their heritage character.

Please check out the archival photographs in the Gallery section of this page.

Source

City of Vancouver Records, Edith Cavell School Website, D. Franklin. “Early School Architecture in British Columbia”. (1980), VSB Planning and Facilities

More information

http://cavell.vsb.bc.ca/about.html