The gymnasium, which opened on 15 September 1804, was given two stone buildings connected to each other: the so-called Princess's House and the old post house.

The position of the school’s land lots was recorded in a 16th-century account book by Wybers, the town clerk of Tartu. At the time, the block consisted of six or seven plots, which were later merged in the middle of the 17th century to form three estates.

 

PRINCESS'S HOUSE ...

... is located in the corner between St John's Street (Jaani tänav) and the west portal of the church (Picture 1). It was where the girls' school of St John's Church operated between 1601 and 1626. Across the street from it stood the predecessor of the University of Tartu, the Academia Gustaviana (in 1642). In 1734, a stone house was built on the eastern side of the plot, which was destroyed by a fire in 1775. This house stood on the site of the present classroom 102. The so-called 'Princess's House' was described in the 1734 census as being of a larger size, but in a generally poor state of repair. In 1784, the house was bought by Baroness Tscherkassow (the former Princess Hedvig Elisabeth Biron of Courland). After her death in 1800, the house belonged to the care institution for the noble ladies of Livonia founded by Paul I. Soon the institution was transferred to Viljandi and the house was given to the newly founded Tartu Governorate Gymnasium by the order of Emperor Alexander I on 10 December 1804.
 

POSTHOUSE ... /POSTIMAJA/

… was located in the southwest corner of the school quarter, the area of the present canteen (Picture 2). In the 1680s, a distinguished house was built on the south side of this quarter. The house had a 9-bay front, with a double-leaf staircase leading to a door in the centre. The building was destroyed along with the town during the Great Northern War.
Between the years 1751 and 1756, land councillor Mannteuffel built a one-storey stone house with a small wooden hut next to it on the site of the old house. At the request of the Tartu postmaster Frisch, the owner sold the building along with the household inventory to the army in 1782. The building served as a post office until 1804, when the office relocated to the former courthouse, which now houses the Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum. 

 

KNIGHT STREET PLOT

In 1827, a plot of land was purchased along Knight Street (Rüütli tänav) for the construction of a new school building with classrooms, a main hall, archives and a library (Picture 3). The main construction work took place between 1827 and 1830. The project was developed by the architect J. G. Kranhals senior, and the construction permit was given to the local merchant Reinhold in November 1827. 
The main part of the new building was finished on 17 May 1829.  On 15 September of the same year, the house was roofed over and the opening ceremony took place exactly one year later.

The committee of the national schoolhouse inspection in 1864 decided to consider all buildings in the school block as two-storey buildings, with the exception of the school servant’s one-storey apartment. The area of the school complex was measured to be 3,000 square metres at the end of the century. 

The following renovations took place in the years 1880-1881. In order to build an indoor gymnasium on the second floor, the first floor downstairs had to be expanded. This allowed for walking corridors to be built and the doors between classrooms were no longer needed (the last remaining doors were sealed shut in the 1960s). 
The next major renovation was the construction of the school canteen to replace the post-war boarding rooms. In 1962, a central heating system was installed in the school building, prior to which more than fifty stoves had to be heated every day. In 1964, the schoolyard was tarmaced. The basement of the school building was finished between 1974 and 1977.

On 16 November 1998, the wing of the school building facing St John’s Street (Jaani tänav) burnt down. Renovations of the school building started in June 1999. This meant that lessons had to be held in different institutions of the city of Tartu during the following school year.

At the beginning of 2000, the school moved back into the partially renovated school building and a new modern sports gymnasium, built on the site of the former schoolyard, was opened in September 2001.

The fully renovated school building was opened on 26 August 2002.
The renovation work has added about 2,100 m2 to the school building, which makes the total area of the school about 7,000 m2.

 

1. Princess House
2. Old Post Office
3. Rüütli Street Plot
4. Old Sports Hall
5. New Sports Hall