School's Out: A Pictorial History of Ontario's Converted Schoolhouses

Beverley B. Endersby was a Toronto-based editor and writer.

The author’s captions for this brief photographic history of 59 schoolhouse conversions (full-colour photographs with some interior shots) reflect, foremost, her love of the subject, and include (unfortunately without uniformity) such information as date of original construction (where known), unique architectural features, restoration or modification decisions made by the current owners, and anecdotal material relating to original and subsequent uses of these charming buildings. The author’s brief introduction places the schoolhouse in the context of the history of Ontario’s education system and the specific stipulations that were evolved to govern the construction and maintenance of school buildings and to serve as the groundwork of the province’s laws of education. The idea that education began in the home and these schoolhouses have frequently ended up being converted to homes supplies a comforting sense of completion to this aspect of local cyclical history. A simple index, unfortunately set out in page rather than alphabetical or geographical order, is included.