Tamarisk School
SW 29-24-23W,
Grandview area

Designation Date: August 9, 1995
Designation Authority: The R.M. of Grandview
Present Owner: Grandview (M)

The striking design used for the former Tamarisk School was selected from a set of three standardized designs prepared for the Department of Education in 1903. These plans were the first effort by educational authorities to ensure that students throughout the province received their schooling in the most up-to-date facilities. The schemes fulfilled rigorous requirements for the health and comfort of the students, but were also designed to meet three different budget requirements. The designs (simply identified as No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3) were the work of Samuel Hooper, who was later to become Provincial Architect. Tamarisk School was a Design No. 2 and was distinguished by a projecting vestibule, bell tower and round-arched door. A number of school districts used this particular design for their buildings, but only a few examples remain. Tamarisk, which was built in 1909, is one of the those and is one of the best-preserved.

Tamarisk school was closed in 1967, during the school district consolidation program of the 1950s and 1960s (which saw the demise of local one-room schools). Today, the building is being repaired by a local group.