🏫 Toronto Normal School

The Toronto Normal School was a teachers college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1847, the normal school was located at Church and Gould streets in central Toronto, and was a predecessor to the current Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The Royal Ontario Museum, OCAD University and the Ontario Agricultural College all originated at the Normal School's campus and the provincial Department of Education was also located there. Officially named St. James Square, the school became known as "the cradle of Ontario's education system". The school's landmark Gothic-Romanesque building was designed by architects Thomas Ridout and Frederick William Cumberland in 1852. The landmark building was demolished in 1963, but architectural elements of the structure remain on the campus of Toronto Metropolitan University.