King Edward High School

Corporate body

King Edward High School

1890-1962

Vancouver's first high school, known as Vancouver High School, opened in 1890. Students met in a two-room wooden building until 1893, when an eight-classroom school was built at Cambie and Dunsmuir. As the school's population expanded, it was clear that a new facility was needed. In 1905, a new building was erected in Fairview, on 12th Avenue and Oak Street. The new campus was affiliated with McGill University serving both as a high school and college until 1907. The school was renamed King Edward High School in 1910 in honour of King Edward VII.

King Edward High School served as the first home of the University of British Columbia until the University relocated to the Point Grey campus in 1916. The High School continued to offer first year university classes until its last high school graduation in 1962.

For the next decade, King Edward High School assumed the role of a Community College. On June 20, 1973 the school building was destroyed by fire. The stone wall located at Twelfth Avenue and Oak Street remains the last historical monument to the High School’s existence. Architect Richard Henriquez, created a further memory of King Edward High School by incorporating a tile demarcation in the lobby floor of the building representing the west wall of the school structure.

Vancouver High School (1890-1910)

Revised 2020-08-26, LF

https://blogs.vsb.bc.ca/heritage/archives/lost-schools/king-edward/