Higher Education (1988)

 

Directed by John Sheppard

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Higher Education is a Canadian comedy that was largely filmed on the Lakeshore Grounds. The exterior shots of the Lakeshore Campus are particularly recognisable yet not exactly as they appear today.  A year following the release of Higher Education, the grounds were granted heritage status with Humber College beginning extensive renovations in 1991.

Filming on the Lakeshore Grounds

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One of the cottages on the North side of Lakeshore Campus stands in for the fictional college campus building, Hayes Hall.

Filming in the Gazebo

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Higher Education - Gazebo.png

Several scenes in the film take place in the original 1893 gazebo from the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital that still stands today in Colonel Samuel Smith Park. Note the white painted pillars in the film stills that contrast with the reddish brown paint that is on the gazebo today.

 

The scene also shows the original shoreline prior to the land expansion that was put in during the creation of Colonel Samuel Smith Park 

Stepping Inside?

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Much of Higher Education takes place indoors. Based on the transitions from the exterior shots to the interior, we suspect that they filmed in the spaces inside the former psychiatric hospital. The interiors were renovated heavily through the 1990's and early 2000's  to create classrooms and offices for the college.