Sanford Ave. School

I thought that this location was already in the DB but I can't find it using Search.

So here's a few pics of Hamilton's Sanford Ave. School which has been demolished since I took these photos of it back on March 16, 2013 when demolition had already started.

The original school (then called Hamilton "Central High School of Commerce") was built in 1937 at a then whopping cost of $680,000. The school became known as "Sanford Avenue School" in 1985 when it began to serve as an elementary school.

The school was emptied of students in 2011. The City of Hamilton had cited use of asbestos in the building and had it closed. The City also stated that many parts of the building were unsound.

Upon learning that the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board had succeeded in obtaining a demo permit, a large movement consisting of local residents, concerned Hamiltonians and politicians quickly developed to try and save the school, that City Officials had actually deemed to be safe, and have it listed as a Heritage site in an effort to try and avert it's possible demolition.

The only problem was that the School Board had built a new school (Cathy Wever Elementary) almost right beside the older Sanford school in 2006. Can't build a new one without bringing down the old one.

In Dec. 2012, City trustees voted 7-2 in favour of continuing with the plans to demo the older school.

I wasn't able to get inside (no POE and lots of neighbouring activity) so these are just exterior shots.