1916 – High School of Commerce & Finance, Toronto, Canada

Founded in 1911 as an offshoot of the Central Technical School offering eight commercial classes. In 1916, the classes were moved into a permanent home when the Collegiate Gothic Central High School of Commerce building opened as a school of business and commerce. Now known as the Central Toronto Academy.

The High School of Commerce and Finance, recently erected by the advisory commercial committee of the Toronto Board of Education, is of the solid block tj’pe, a large assembly room being placed in the centre of the building, with spacious corridors at the sides. The class rooms are arranged along the outside walls, which allows for excellent non-obstructed lighting for class work. The assembly room, which has a seating capacity of one thousand, is one of the present high school essentials. It is used for special lectures, concerts, and opening and closing exercises, etc….

….The design is an adaptation of Gothic. The building is faced with selected red stock brick, having special recessed joints, and trimmed with white stone. The building cost $300,000.

The school accommodates eight hundred pupils, and the equipment, though not expensive, consists of the most modern appliances for demonstrating business methods and systems of accounting, and for presenting the various aspects of business life. The equipment includes special desks and filing cabinets for the business practice rooms; typewriters and typewriting desks; duplicating machines; adding machines and dictaphones.
Construction, April 1917

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