History
In 1908, the English-speaking elite of Montreal were in need of a suitable preparatory school, and a certain Captain Algernon Lucas was seeking a career. A graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge University, he was given the job of educating seven boys. He had immediate success, and within two years, Lucas School had to move from Lucas' Crescent Street apartment to a larger house on Mackay Street. In 1912, Lucas turned to the business world and Colin Macaulay, who was a classmate of Lucas' at Selwyn College, took his place at the helm.
The School quickly developed a character of its own and relocated two more times. Its aim was to provide a solid grounding in basic subjects, and to equip boys for the boarding schools from which they would proceed to university. The School was modeled after English preparatory schools, and the staff was largely recruited from the United Kingdom. The calibre of students from Selwyn House was highly respected at their subsequent schools and scholarships were won regularly.
In 1985, William Mitchell became the headmaster. The School's needs and demands for added facilities reached a point where one building was no longer sufficient. When St. Andrew's United Church across the street closed, Selwyn House purchased and renovated it, where it is now currently known as the Macaulay Building. In 2002, the School built the Speirs Building which housed a new double-sized gym, a spacious high-tech library, numerous classrooms, offices and an Agora for student assemblies and various other functions. This was followed by a massive renovation of the original Lucas Building, including converting its gymnasium into a large, modern dining hall and fully equipped auditorium, dubbed Coristine Hall.
In January 2009, Hal Hannaford took over as the school's new headmaster. Mitchell, a member of the Bishop's University Sports Hall of Fame, retired after the school's hundredth year came to a close. In the winter of 2010, the school completed renovations of the aging Macaulay Building. There is now a wall, on the main floor, of students dating back 100 years ago.
Read more about this topic: Selwyn House School
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