Going back to school
For more than a year, I have been busily documenting state school buildings in Victoria as part of a photographic project.
For more than a year now, I have been busily photographing state school buildings in Victoria.
No, I have not been focussing on those lovely old Victorian-era school houses, nor the modern constructions arising from Building the Education Revolution. Rather, I am photographing specimens built between 1952 and 1977 in the Light Timber Construction (LTC) style.
Most Victorians will recognise LTC’s, even if they don’t realise that they have a specific name.
LTC’s are those school buildings characterised by long corridors flanked with classrooms on either side. Small courtyards are formed by occasional gaps in the rows of classrooms which are illuminated by rows and rows of white-painted, wooden-framed rectangular windows. A distinctive profile of the building is formed by rising classroom roof-lines, supported by zig-zag rafters that give way to a low-set corridor in the centre.
Many people will associate LTC’s with bitumen. Lots of bitumen bordered by narrow garden beds.
Be it in the city or the country, a primary school or a high school, this design from the Public Works Department was used extensively across the state in a one-size-fits-all approach to educational architecture. In fact, if you’ve been educated within Victoria’s state school system you’ve almost certainly spent some of your time inside one.
Despite their name, LTC’s weren’t usually clad in wood. Prefabricated cement tiles of an uninspiring shade of grey or encrusted with variously-coloured pebbles were the material of choice.
It’s fair to say that LTC’s aren’t too popular with the teaching profession these days, nor with school principles or even students. After a long period of savage budget cuts in the 1980’s and 1990’s and the normal wear-and-tear that would be expected over many years, a lot of LTC schools are looking quite shabby and have come to symbolise government neglect. Approaches to learning have changed too and the buildings have proven ill-suited to many modern educational methods.
With the Global Financial Crisis and the subsequent stimulus funding as well as generous State Government budget announcements, money has suddenly become available to do something about the state of these buildings. As a result, LTCs are being demolished or substantially altered at a rapid rate and what was ubiquitous only a few years ago is now suddenly becoming much rarer.
Good riddance, many will say.
As someone who’s interested in architecture and photography (and who spent his entire school life being educated in LTC classrooms), it seemed worthwhile photographing them before they’ve disappeared. And disappear they will, because the State Government has promised to rebuild or refurbish every state school by 2014.
The project
When I started this project in January 2010, I wanted to be very specific about what I photographed. My aims were:
- To photograph LTC school buildings that were unmodified, with as many original fittings as possible.
- To photograph a representative selection of primary and secondary schools that were built in the style and have been maintained in good condition.
- To generate a collection of images that show the various adaptive uses of the style.
- To photograph evocative images that capture some of the atmosphere and aesthetic that the buildings convey.
- To show the beauty and the blandness that can be seen from LTC school buildings and their landscapes.
Trying to find schools that hadn’t had their central corridors raised, been painted in unusual colours, had their external cladding replaced or otherwise been significantly altered proved to be rather difficult. Google Maps and Nearmap saved me from a lot of fruitless travel as well as helped me to identify candidate sites.
Nevertheless, I still ran into problems. There was more than one occasion when I turned up only to find a recently-installed secure fence out the front or worse still, a rather large patch of freshly levelled earth!
I have chosen to take the vast majority of my photographs on black-and-white film. Aside from the superior qualities of film, I felt that B&W photography would show the schools in their best light and focus the eye on the aesthetics and design of the architecture.
Already, I have posted a large selection of photos on Flickr and the response from people has been terrific. Perhaps because of the ubiquity of these buildings, they speak to the many of us who were educated within their walls. Regardless of whether the memories are good or bad, I have discovered that these photographs evoke many strong feelings in people and I have been encouraged to continue with this ‘project’.
Now that my photographic project has come to near completion, my long-term plan is to create a website with a more detailed analysis of the architecture.
Until then, please have a look at my “State School Architecture” set on Flickr. If you’ve been educated in Victoria, something is bound to look familiar!
Comments
9 responses to “Going back to school”
Reading this blog with the usual interest, I realise once again, the dedicated work you put into your projects. Well planned, and of course, extensively researched, then the amount of time and travelling needed to complete the task!
I did not attend one of these schools as a student, but spent many hours over the years visiting one particular school of this era, as a “mothers club” worker, and school lunch helper. They were good times, and your blog brings back quite happy recollections.
This series of photos should make you feel very satisfied with the time spent.
School architecture fascinates me also. I grew up on the NSW North Coast at a time when the population was expanding rapidly (still is) and the solution for many schools was “the demountable” as they were known. Although they were supposed to be temporary accommodation, my primary school had one permanently, even when the school was rebuilt. Former NSW politician, Rob Oakeshott talks about them here…
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20030918011
Hello Adam,
I was fascinated last night to discover your Flickr photo series documenting the “Light Timber Construction” (LTC) genre of Victorian government school building. This style of building, something that Victorians can call unique to their State, must have figured in the lives of most who attended a government school during the second half of the twentieth century, so I thank you for documenting this disappearing Victorian icon for posterity.
I only learnt by chance while surfing last night that there was a name for this style of school building, and it was that information that led to me finding your photo series.
I attended several LTC schools not far from your schooldays stomping ground: Blackburn East State, Heatherdale State, and Vermont High. The first two have since been demolished and replaced by housing developments. Before those, I spent a few months at Edithvale State — a mixed-architecture school — in a classroom in its LTC wing.
I saw a variety of renditions of the LTC model. The LTC wing at Edithvale State was clad with timber planking; Blackburn East was clad with the plain grey tiles; Heatherdale State was clad with pinkish-coloured brick; and Vermont High was clad with the newer pebble-encrusted tiles. Heatherdale State was a small single-corridor school, and the classroom walls forming the end of the building (the opposite end from the toilet block and breezeway) were clad not with brick, but with (I think) some sort of fibro sheeting — obviously with a view to future extension. I don’t think it was ever extended, though.
I spent my schooldays until mid-Grade 5 at an inner-suburban school built in the traditional Victorian-era style. It had windows set high in the wall — too high to see out through. When I transferred from there to my first LTC classroom (at Edithvale State), I thought it was a pleasant improvement. It had the three rows of outward-facing windows that extended surprisingly low towards the floor. The LTC classroom seemed to let in more natural light than what I was used to. You could see out the window, so it didn’t feel as confined. Back then (1963), airconditioning for classrooms wasn’t a consideration. However, in an LTC classroom on a hot day, every second column of outward-facing windows could be opened wide, allowing some ventilation. For our expectations at the time, it wasn’t too bad.
Thanks for the memories.
Mark
Hi Adam,
Think I might have commented on some of the actual pictures, but now Im doing a bit of research myself into the works of Percy Everett, Public Works Chief Architect 1934-1953. Someone told me ages ago that he designed the first LTC, but the only schools he claimed responsibility for are the interesting timber framed but brick faced hexagonal ones built at North Balwyn, Moorabbin West, Red Hill, and a few other places. He started designing these in about 1949, and they were built between 1950-53, which is when he retired. If the first LTC’s were built in or after 1953, then he probably had nothing to do with them, which I think is likely. Do you have any information as to who is credited with the design ?
Nice post, I attended one of these LTCs in 1958-59. I have many fond memories of this, I can blink my eyes and still see it. I think it was Amsleigh, or Mount Waverley. I’m trying to figure it out. I remember learning two new words on the play ground there, with my match box cars, “convertible”, and “shooting break” (that’s Australian talk for station wagon). I even remember some of the lessons, …er um uh, I think. I also attended Lloyd Street School in Melbourne, that was not an LTC. I now live in Florida, U.S.A. Thanks for the memories.
Thank you for the pictures of the LTC schools. I attended Blackburn Lake PS which had two wings clad with the pebbles. One wing still exists but most of the original wing, before the extension was destroyed by a fire in, I think the early 1980s. It is now a mix of new architecture and LTC design. I was there in 2014, the schools 50th anniversary and I noticed a sign warning of asbestos. They were repairing part of the older section, hence the sign.
The school design may not be cutting edge on today’s school standards, but the education obtained within its walls was excellent. Great emphasis was placed on the core subjects of reading, writing, mathematics, library and research. Music and art was taught too and several sports were offered. We had netball courts made with asphalt and an oval with AFL goal posts and a cricket strip. There was a toilet block at one end of the long building with stainless steel hand washing troughs and also long stainless troughs with bubblers (popular on hot days). Our school also had a large number of trees and bird baths scattered through the grounds. The classroom floors were timber planks but the corridor had linoleum. If the principal wasn’t watching some kids would get a bit of speed up and then slide to a stop on the lino. Fun times. Our 5th grade teacher had us make ginger beer in class and then we stored it under the school building while it fermented or whatever in glass drink bottles donated by the kids. Some bottles exploded and we all rushed to save our stash. Sporting goods were stored under the buildings too especially athletics ewuipment and footballs, basketballs, softball and cricket equipment was stored in a small cupboard off the corridor.
The canteen was non existant. On Mondays, the mothers club would set up trestle tables in the shelter sheds or sometimes the corridor. Our menu choices consisted of sandwiches with a choice of white bread or white bread. Fillings consisted of a choice of Vegemite, peanut butter or baked beans. If you brought your own plastic drink bottle you could also get water and cordial (different flavour each week).
The 60s and 70s were mostly great memories. No way would I want to attend state of the art schools with every digital device known to humanity.
Only just discovered that these types of school buildings had an actual name via wikipedia, I knew the style was typical for their time but had no idea that they were so uniform and common in design and layout. Looking at your pictures I swear I was seeing my own high school being shown until I looked closer and noticed slight detail differences and unrecognizable surroundings. As derided and neglected as these buildings have become I look at them with rose tinted glasses and see more positives rather than negatives.
Nearly all the schools in benalla Victoria are made up of the LTC architecture (if that can be used to describe them) and were well preserved but are currently being redeveloped and demolished under new education reforms which is saddening as they have potential to be restored and updated.
Thank you so much for your photos. I would love it if you published a book.
I went to Strathmore High 1984-1989. Last week I went for a walk through the grounds on a quiet Sunday, hoping for a trip down memory lane. It found it utterly soul destroying to see the hotch potch collection of crude jarring modern architecture. So little of the old character left. We used to joke about the ugliness of LTC but what I wouldn’t give now, to turn back the clock and see a school that actually looks like a school 😏.
I used to work for the Public Works Department Victoria. This department no longer exists. In my capacity as “Plans Officer” in the department’s Plan Room, I was involved in the storage of the departments contract drawings (plans) for about 10 years. Without any help or direction, I assembled and standardised a complete set of working drawings (now stored in the Laverton Repository). My knowledge of Victorian schools is still not bad, but I’m getting old. If you want to talk to me call me on XX XXXX XXXX and as for Nik.