It is the most prominent building in the Baker Hill Heritage District. There are still many who think of it as Tenth Ave. School, which it was for over thirty years. There are a few who recall it as the Cranbrook High School, which it also was for over thirty years. Although it is now home to the New Life Foursquare Church it actually began as the first St. Mary's Catholic School, a delightful Jonah of a building slowly swallowed by the ever hungry whale of development.

The construction of a parochial school was viewed as a daring venture at the time. The concept of a combined religious/educational institution was as yet untried in the district and subject to controversy and doubt. In Aug. 1913, despite a lack of committed funding, the Catholic school trustees choose to go ahead with construction based on plans by Vancouver architects Jones and Aspell at an estimated cost of $15,000.00, not including furnishings or landscaping.

Eight lots purchased by the trustees on the south side of 10th Ave. near the private King Edward School (now colloquially referred to as the Tower House) allowed for adequate space for the school and adjacent playground areas.

Local contractor George Leask was hired to carry construction aided by city engineer Mr. F. O'Hara. Mr. Leask went so far as to raise $700 for the project through his own contacts with local merchants and lumber mills. Additional funds from the Archbishop of Vancouver and the Fathers of the Oblate Order further aided the project. The Sisters of Charity of Providence, the well-trained and highly efficient religious order in charge of the St. Eugene Hospital, agreed to take command of the running of the school.

Work began in Aug. 1913, and by Christmas the wood frame structure neared completion. The overall dimensions of the new school were approximately 75 x 40 feet. The basement held a furnace room, play rooms, and a science laboratory. The main floor, raised above street level, included three class rooms approached by a large vestibule. The second story consisted mainly of a 70 x 30 foot parish hall fitted with a permanent stage at the east end. It was the intention of the trustees to rent both the hall and stage area for public functions. The stage itself was advertised as, "A most convenient supper room including all manner of first rate cooking appliances, hot and cold water and a side entrance which can be used without interfering with the guests on the floor. On this floor is also the teachers' room opening out on a sun-verandah and commanding as lovely a view of the Selkirks and the valley as one could find. Below, to the north and east, lies the city, to the west the railway yards and to the south west one can mark the trains toiling slowly up Loco hill until they disappear down towards Wattsburg [Lumberton]. This room can be availed of on the occasion of dances as an ante-room, palm-room, or card-room." It would appear that the Catholic trustees pre-dated the modern concept of "school for public use," by a century. Declared, "The first separate Catholic School in the interior of B.C.," it was hoped to be the forerunner of many to be built in the future.

It was indeed a forerunner but sadly the race did not last long. By 1916, due to a lack of students, the school was forced to close. The Cranbrook School Board, seeking additional public educational facilities, purchased the building in 1918 and re-opened it the same year as the Cranbrook High School. The 1920s saw the first of a series of renovations and additions that completely obscured the original exterior although the upstairs parish hall continued to function as the school gymnasium for many years.

As for landscaping, well, there was never much of that done throughout the history of the building. The stately old 1920s Lombardi poplar trees are almost all gone now, with no efforts made to replace them. Most of the original grass is covered in asphalt and the picturesque stone retaining wall - one of the oldest in the city, constructed by Jones & Doris in 1921 - is slowly crumbling.

The Tenth Ave. School/Church holds memories for thousands of our citizens through its many incarnations. If is not necessarily a classic example of a heritage building, it is certainly a classic example of a heritage building building heritage.