Western Ontario Normal School

The architectural aesthetic of my new neighbourhood is somewhat different from the one of the neighbourhood I just left. The Western Ontario (later London) Normal School opened in 1899, and was the third normal school in Ontario (Toronto and Ottawa having the first two). For some reason it was built facing north, so the front never gets the sun except on summer mornings and evenings. It sits in a large park, so they coulda built it facing south, eh, with a nice park in front of it.

Normal schools are teachers' colleges. They teach the norms of pedagogy. Canadian and American normal schools (and Argentine ones) only prepared teachers for primary school.

Teachers' college seems to be the preferred name in most places these days, but Paris still has the École normale supérieure.

The building is now the headquarters of the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario.

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I added some red to bring out the brick. I think that's what's showing up in the clouds. It's not as noticeable in the large version. Especially if you turn your head toward the left and up and look at the photo sideways -- anything for art, right?