The Victoria School-house, of which an illustration is given, was begun in the spring of 1875, and was occupied in the following May. Messrs. McKean & Fairweather made the design, and it was erected under their supervision, by Messrs. Flood & Prince. It cost $46,000; heating, $4,000. The workmanship and materials employed in its construction were of the most substantial character. The foundation was on piles, capped with Georgia pine; and the basement above ground was faced with granite. The fronts were of pressed brick, relieved with Preston bands, window heads and cornices. The slope of the roof was slated and the deck was gravel roofed. The building was 82 feet on Duke Street and 68 feet on Sydney Street, three stories with high French roof, and a basement 12 feet high. The basement contained two play-rooms, janitor's apartments and furnaces and fuel. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors contained four rooms each, 28 x 32, with clothes-rooms and teachers' closets. The top floor had two rooms, 26 x 30, and a large Exhibition Hall, 16 feet high, 26 x 75. These rooms were separated by folding doors and could be thrown into one room on occasion. The building was heated by hot water, and ample provision was secured for ventilation by means of tubes carried between the floors and entered through a main central shaft through the centre of which the wrought iron smoke pipe was carried. A central projection on Duke Street of 4 x 24 feet was brought up as a tower, above the main roof and finished with a steep high roof. This
roof and the main roof were finished with a cast iron cresting. The lot was enclosed with a neat iron railing set in a free stone wall. The school-house was well equipped with furniture.
VICTORIA SCHOOL HOUSE, CORNER OF DUKE AND SYDNEY STREETS.
In Duke Street the meeting-house of the Disciples of Christ (Christians) was situate. This church was built of wood and of course burned very rapidly. The members had their first place of worship in Charlotte Street where Mr. Jack's buildings were. About twenty years ago they removed to this building in Duke Street. Brother Tuttle was the first pastor and Mr. Eaton was the second, Bro. Patterson the next, and Elder Geo. W. Garrity was the fourth and last. A few years ago a division took place in the church, and a new edifice was built at the head of Jeffrey's Hill, and about half of the members of the old congregation linked their fortunes with the new order of things.
The old Madras School on the south side of Duke Street, and the Roman Catholic School-house on Sydney Street, adjoining the Victoria School and which was formerly taught by the Christian brothers were burned also.