Hillcrest Junior High School
16400 80th Avenue1962-63John McIntosh, Architect
Hillcrest Junior High was one of a half-dozen experimental schools built by the West Jasper Place School Board in the early 1960s.
Architect John McIntosh was responsible for its “unusual characteristics.” Described as the “Circular Compact School Plan,” the building’s layout placed a ring of classrooms around a central, circular gymnasium. Ostensibly, the unique layout intended to significantly reduce non-instructional space, such as corridors. In turn, this allowed for larger classrooms and the accommodation of more students — Hillcrest planned for 850 pupils, and a more conventional design would have required another 6,000 square feet to meet that number.
Practically, however, the main goal of Hillcrest’s design was cost-savings. The W.J.P.S.B., and Town of Jasper Place more generally, had always been pressed for money, and their new school strived for economy of construction. By centralizing valuable space within its layout, Hillcrest had a smaller footprint, and required less land to be purchased.
Future cost-savings were also found in the exclusion of windows. No more drafts, no more excessive heating, no outside distractions. It was touted as a “total energy concept” where natural gas generators provided light, heat, and air conditioning evenly throughout the whole building. Said “Rip” Klufas, Hillcrest principal:
“For 10 years as a teacher, I had always searched for a classroom that would have west windows in the morning, and east windows in the afternoon. Whenever a principal assigned a class to me, I always asked for an inside room; but always without success.
There are now windows in Hillcrest School in which ventilation is almost as artificial as the light and heat.
The school was ‘for me.’
This school has no blinds that did not work and no windows that ‘sucked in’ the hot outside air.
The school had something for which I as a teacher and principal had searched for 20 years.”
Despite their best intentions, the school met cost overruns at every turn, and by June 1963, its projected budget rose by $60,000. Construction costs were one factor, as were changes in education more broadly. The Board decided Hillcrest would become home to its first “special adaptations” class, and a slate of trades options. Specialized faculty were needed, as was nearly $20,000 worth of equipment for various technical laboratories, including gasoline and diesel engines, model engines, photographic equipment, a printing press, and, new for 1963, electronic computers.
Jasper Place’s town council had been more than happy to fund the expense. The town’s school system was undeveloped for its growing population, and radical change was needed. But in conjunction with several other high profile projects — such as Jasper Place High, Britannia Junior High, and Meadowlark Elementary — the W.J.P.S.B.’s budget rose by an unprecedented $2,800,000. It nearly drove the town into bankruptcy.
Construction on Hillcrest was largely complete by the beginning of the 1963-64 school year. When it was all said and done, however, the school remained part of the independent West Jasper Place School Board for less than a year. With mounting debt, Jasper Place Town Council, on the back of an earlier plebiscite, moved to amalgamate with the City of Edmonton. The decision took effect on August 17th, 1964. Upon annexation, the W.J.P.S.B. and all its property was absorbed by Edmonton Public.
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Sources:
“Town School Budget Increases By $590,000,” Edmonton Journal, April 4, 1963, p.21.
“J.P. School Board Institutes Special Adaptations Classes,” Edmonton Journal, May 15, 1963, p.73.
“School Ready Sept. 1,” Edmonton Journal, May 23, 1963, p.19.
“School Costing Extra, But Will Save Funds,” Edmonton Journal, June 12, 1963, p.3.
“Trustees Approve Purchase of Equipment Worth $19,715,” Edmonton Journal, July 17, 1963, p.32.
“School Enrolment Paced By Building,” Edmonton Journal, August 9, 1963, p.3.
Mike Lavoie, “Architects Interested In School,” Edmonton Journal, September 4, 1963, p.47.
“Registration Staggered at Jasper Place School,” Edmonton Journal, September 4, 1963, p.58.
“Better and Cheaper Schools,” Edmonton Journal, September 5, 1963, p.4.
Rip Klaufas, “The Windowless School is Here to Stay,” Edmonton Journal, August 27, 1964, p.6.
Lawrence Herzog, “When Jasper Place Joined Edmonton,” YEGisHome, October 3, 2002,
