McCORD, Sask. Ñ Only in rural Saskatchewan could somebody pick up an 8,000 sq. foot house with three acres of land for $1, theorizes Darryl Ludwig.
Even with almost $40,000 worth of renovations it’s still a good deal.
It might be a tad large for him, his wife Tonya, and their four-year-old daughter, Quidje-Bo, but they could see the possibilities in the former McCord School.
Darryl got the movie theatre he’s always wanted Ñ The Incredibles recently filled the house Ñ and Quidje-Bo has a playroom any child would envy.
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Tonya, on the other hand, is still waiting for a real bathtub.
The school was a 1930 original with a 1960s addition and had been closed for three years when the Ludwigs came by two years ago.
Darryl teaches math, computer science and physics at nearby Glentworth School and went to McCord for a 4-H drama production.
“I saw that the school was abandoned,” he recalled. “We were renting, and we could get it for $1.”
So they did.
And they aren’t the only ones looking at the potential of former small-town schools.
People throughout the Prairies are using them as homes, manufacturing facilities and business centres. They house beauty salons, water bottling plants and exercise rooms.
About 20 kilometres west of McCord, in Mankota, artists Noni and Lorne Dornstauder purchased the former Our Lady of Fatima School as a millennium project.
While the Ludwigs’ school was in good shape aside from broken water pipes, the Dornstauders had a lot of work to do. The building had been vandalized, fire extinguishers discharged and cleaning supplies strewn about.
“It was chemical soup,” Noni Dornstauder said.
But she couldn’t pass up the chance to return to the area where she was born and where her First Nations ancestors are buried.
The Dornstauders renovated part of the school to become their home. They teach art classes in various disciplines and host the Mankota Artists Collective in some of the classrooms.
On any given day, six local artists are working on projects like the Heritage Highway signs they are painting for the tourism district thanks to a community initiatives grant.
“I can’t keep up to the demand,” Dornstauder said. “I wish my school was twice the size.”
As it is, they can sleep 13 extra people and have some artists stay for retreats. She said the land on the edge of Grasslands National Park has a spiritual quality that makes it the perfect spot for artists, photographers and writers.
“This is my dream and second career,” said the retired teacher. “It’s like someone gave me a special gift and I have to use it.”
A second purpose for their school is less clear to the Ludwigs. They’ve considered things like a bed and breakfast but are really fixing it up for themselves right now.
They find locals interested in what they are doing, and believe most are happy that the school isn’t sitting empty, but admit some question their sanity.
Tonya, who is trained in early childhood development, briefly operated a playschool when they first moved in.
They’ve hosted murder mystery fundraising nights for Darryl’s students and open their home every weekend for the movie nights.
The theatre is a classroom redone in wood paneling and outfitted with 40 theatre-style seats from a local hall. Quidje-Bo operates a concession stand. The movies are not a moneymaking proposition but they fit with Darryl’s earlier aspirations of a career in film.
Other rooms in the school include one that resembles a picnic place or campground, another for rollerblading, one for woodworking, and of course those for sleeping in. The former staffroom is now the kitchen, and there are still the boys’ and girls’ washrooms, which come in handy on movie nights.
Darryl added skylights in the long central hallway in the newer portion of the school, which is decorated with old-fashioned streetlights reminiscent of a village.
“Given the choice, I would’ve preferred to live in that part,” he said, referring to the 1930 structure.
But it was easier to heat the newer section, which costs about $700 a month.
The Ludwigs say they have realistic goals for the renovations they have yet to do, and it may be years before they tackle the yard, or meadow as they call it.
“So many dreams, so little money,” Tonya observed.
