Central Technical School

Central Technical School is a public secondary school located at 725 Bathurst Street in Toronto, Canada. The school traces its origins to the Toronto Technical School established in the late nineteenth century, while the present main building formally opened in 1915. Designed by the Montreal architectural firm Ross & Macfarlane, the building is an elaborate example of Collegiate Gothic architecture, with a large stone façade, towers and Gothic detailing. The campus was later expanded with several additional buildings, but the original main building remains its most distinctive architectural feature.

Central Technical School has appeared in Class of 1984 (1982), Good Will Hunting (1997), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Silent Hill: Revelation (2012). The school has been used both as a fictional educational institution and as other large institutional buildings.

In Class of 1984 (1982), Central Technical School appears as Lincoln High School, where much of the film takes place. New music teacher Andrew Norris arrives at the troubled inner-city school and quickly comes into conflict with a violent gang of students led by Peter Stegman. The school is used extensively throughout the film, providing the main setting for the classrooms, corridors and escalating confrontations between Norris and Stegman’s gang.

In Good Will Hunting (1997), Central Technical School was used for classroom scenes. Although the film is set primarily in Boston and follows Will Hunting’s connection to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, many of its interior academic scenes were filmed in Toronto. Central Technical School was one of the locations used to create these educational settings, alongside buildings at the University of Toronto.

In Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Central Technical School appears as Raccoon City Junior School. Jill Valentine, Carlos Oliveira and the other survivors travel to the school while searching for Angela Ashford, who has become trapped there during the zombie outbreak. The abandoned school becomes the setting for several horror sequences involving infected children and other creatures. Central Technical School was used as part of the fictional school location, with additional interior material filmed at other Toronto schools.

In Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), Central Technical School appears as Brookhaven Asylum. Heather Mason travels to the asylum in Silent Hill while searching for Leonard, who possesses the other half of the Seal of Metatron. The school is transformed into the dark and decaying institution that Heather explores as she searches through the building and eventually finds Leonard, leading to another encounter with the supernatural horrors of Silent Hill.

---