King Edward School

The Calgary School Board Purchased the land for the school in 1910. The three-story, 26-room school opened in November of 1913 with William Aberhart as the school’s first principle. The school was one of nineteen schools build from 1894-1914 made from sandstone. This school was made from sandstone quarried near present-day 17th Ave SW. While officially named King Edward School, it was more commonly referred to as South Calgary High School and later in 1918 Sunalta school when students from that school moved in. In 1931 a Junior High program was piloted at King Edward. The program’s success leads to it being adopted province wide in 1935. The school became too crowded in 1922, and some of the classes were moved to a nearby church. During the war, the Calgary Normal School and the Southern Institute of Technology were relocated to King Edward School to make way from the British Commonwealth Training Program that occupied their campus during the war. Much of the original structure remains the same, although two additions were added in the 1950s and 1960s. The first being a 1956 gymnasium addition, which also included home economic and art rooms. The second edition added in 1967 was the King Edward Elementary-junior high. The original west wing was demolished after a dangerous crack formed in the outside wall of the building. King Edward Elementary Junior High closed in 2001. The school stayed empty until it was eventually sold to C space and made into a private art facility. 

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