Our School


Williamson Road Public School is located in the Beaches area of Toronto. The building dates from 1913, with the third floor opened in 1919. From 1961 to 1965, Williamson Rd was a Junior/Senior school (J.K. - Gr. 8), but since the opening of Glen Ames Senior School next door in 1965, Williamson Rd has been a junior school (J.K.- Gr. 6).

The school offers both English and early French Immersion programs and the student population is almost evenly divided into the dual tracks. The school's enrolment is approximately 560 students and some classes are organized into multi-age groupings.

The school building houses a school age Daycare (416-691-8861) and shares gym and pool facilities with Glen Ames Senior School and the Beaches Recreation Centre.

On February 1, 2000, Toronto City Council approved the listing of Williamson Road Public School on the city's Inventory of Heritage Properties, for architectural reasons. The proposal for the listing made these comments about the building:

"The property at 24 Williamson Road is identified for architectural reasons. Williamson Road Public School was constructed in 1912 according to plans supervised by architect C. H. Bishop, Superintendent of Buildings for the Toronto Board of Education. The property also includes Glen Ames Public School; it is not identified as a significant feature.

Williamson Road Public School displays the monumental scale, axial planning and Classical detailing identified with Beaux Arts styling. The structure rises three stories over a raised stone base with window openings. The flat roof covering the building has brick parapets on the south and north elevations and a single chimney in the centre. Red brick is applied for overall cladding and for belt courses on the lower walls and patterned brickwork on the spandrels and parapets. Contrasting stone is used for base courses, multiple band courses, cornices, quoins, and door and window detailing.

The long principal (south) façade is symmetrically organized into seven sections. The centre bay projects slightly beneath a pediment with a stone ornament. An oversized segmental bay window fills the lower storey. In the second and third floors, a flat-headed opening contains five sliding sash windows with six-over-one lights. The pattern of fenestration is repeated in the adjacent bays. In the first bay from either end, three-storey projecting frontispieces contain entrances to the school. Doorcases with entablatures and round-arched openings contain double doors and single transoms. There are flat-headed three-part windows above the entries. The end bays are blank.

The side walls (east and west) display two flat-headed window openings in each floor. The rear (north) wall follows the principal façade with its seven-bay arrangement. At the centre, the lower floor has three round-arched window openings with brick and stone voussoirs and stone keystones. The openings in the upper stories, as well as those in the flanking bays, are flat-headed and contain five sliding sash windows with six-over-one lights. The frontispieces, found in the first bay from either end, have entrances at ground level. Double doors are surmounted by nameplates, entablatures resting on curved brackets, and round-arched three-part transoms with brick and stone detailing. The door at the east end is marked "BOYS", while the west door reads "GIRLS". The end bays are blank.

The property at 24 Williamson Road is located on the north side of Williamson Road, midway between Southwood Drive and Lee Avenue. The property is located on a rise of land that terminates the vista north from Queen Street East on Wineva Avenue. Williamson Road Public School is a good example of Beaux Arts styling and an important component of the Beach neighbourhood."