Connor Thompson , Sarah Carter - Yesterday
Following a year-long and courageous battle with the University of Alberta administration against their demolition and removal, the four Ring Houses have passed away. We are to be comforted by the fact that their walls will be kept and these skeletons articulated and on display as at a charnel house at some unknown location and time. But this is cold comfort; the buildings are no longer alive. These sentinels of the university’s history will be gone, and their bones placed in storage. Their once-vibrant grounds are derelict, evidence of the slow death by neglect to which the university administration has condemned them.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal
Ring House 4 at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton Monday Feb. 8, 2021.
The houses lived long and illustrious lives with many accomplished inhabitants and organizations that helped shape the university we have today. They could have continued to live on but were diagnosed with being too expensive to maintain, of no use to faculty and students, and in too deteriorated a state to save. Despite a team of specialists who disagreed with this diagnosis, and the loving support of over 2,600 citizens who lent voice to their cause, they have been allowed to die. All of these mourners believed there were new ways to breathe life into these houses in situ.
The eldest and most venerable of the four sibling residences was Ring House 1, built in 1911. It was home of the founder of the U of A, Henry Marshall Tory, and four subsequent presidents. This was the oldest presidential residence on a Canadian campus. Yet, this was not enough to save it; it was treated as purposeless and valueless scrap by administration.
Ring House 2 also had a venerable history beginning with the U of A’s first engineering professor Muir Edwards and family. He died in the Influenza epidemic in 1918 while volunteering to help the afflicted. Later residents included the Van Vliet family for many years. Maury Van Vliet was the former head of the physical education department, and an Order of Canada recipient.
Ring House 3 was occupied by a cast of interesting and influential characters, including the dean of arts in the 1940s, as well as the first kindergarten in Alberta (the Child Study Centre, run by the Faculty of Education from 1969 to 2010).
Ring House 4 was home to the first dean of law, John Alexander Weir, in the 1930s and was long the home of artist Henry G. Glyde, who was a multi-decade leader in the painting division at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts. The U of A Press, art museum, UAlberta North, and the Canadian Encyclopedia were also residents of the Ring Houses.
As the current U of A Administration pursues its goal of “building on our history” (in the words of President Bill Flanagan), the void where the houses once were will be converted to green space while administration “considers future development.”
Ring Houses 1, 2, 3, and 4, were beloved by many who learned about the vibrant and complex past of the university through their presence on campus. As historian Ellen Schoeck has put it, they contain the very DNA of the U of A. Among the chief mourners are the thousands of people — U of A students, faculty, alumni, donors, and staff, but also concerned Edmontonians, Albertans, and Canadians — who lent voice to their cause. Also mourning their loss are members of the Ring House Coalition, who fought for over a year to keep these brick-and-mortar teachers on campus.
Despite their honoured status as great-grandparents of the U of A landscape, they died long before their time.
Connor Thompson and Sarah Carter on behalf of the Ring House Coalition.
The houses lived long and illustrious lives with many accomplished inhabitants and organizations that helped shape the university we have today. They could have continued to live on but were diagnosed with being too expensive to maintain, of no use to faculty and students, and in too deteriorated a state to save. Despite a team of specialists who disagreed with this diagnosis, and the loving support of over 2,600 citizens who lent voice to their cause, they have been allowed to die. All of these mourners believed there were new ways to breathe life into these houses in situ.
The eldest and most venerable of the four sibling residences was Ring House 1, built in 1911. It was home of the founder of the U of A, Henry Marshall Tory, and four subsequent presidents. This was the oldest presidential residence on a Canadian campus. Yet, this was not enough to save it; it was treated as purposeless and valueless scrap by administration.
Ring House 2 also had a venerable history beginning with the U of A’s first engineering professor Muir Edwards and family. He died in the Influenza epidemic in 1918 while volunteering to help the afflicted. Later residents included the Van Vliet family for many years. Maury Van Vliet was the former head of the physical education department, and an Order of Canada recipient.
Ring House 3 was occupied by a cast of interesting and influential characters, including the dean of arts in the 1940s, as well as the first kindergarten in Alberta (the Child Study Centre, run by the Faculty of Education from 1969 to 2010).
Ring House 4 was home to the first dean of law, John Alexander Weir, in the 1930s and was long the home of artist Henry G. Glyde, who was a multi-decade leader in the painting division at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts. The U of A Press, art museum, UAlberta North, and the Canadian Encyclopedia were also residents of the Ring Houses.
As the current U of A Administration pursues its goal of “building on our history” (in the words of President Bill Flanagan), the void where the houses once were will be converted to green space while administration “considers future development.”
Ring Houses 1, 2, 3, and 4, were beloved by many who learned about the vibrant and complex past of the university through their presence on campus. As historian Ellen Schoeck has put it, they contain the very DNA of the U of A. Among the chief mourners are the thousands of people — U of A students, faculty, alumni, donors, and staff, but also concerned Edmontonians, Albertans, and Canadians — who lent voice to their cause. Also mourning their loss are members of the Ring House Coalition, who fought for over a year to keep these brick-and-mortar teachers on campus.
Despite their honoured status as great-grandparents of the U of A landscape, they died long before their time.
Connor Thompson and Sarah Carter on behalf of the Ring House Coalition.
J.D. Irving's efforts to demolish Saint John heritage building one step closer to reality
Tue, July 12, 2022
The five unit apartment house owned by J.D. Irving dates from 1941. A 2016 application to demolish it was rejected by Saint John's Heritage Review Board. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC - image credit)
In a marathon session, Saint John City Council tentatively agreed to allow three J.D. Irving properties to be removed from a heritage designation.
The controversial properties at 111-119 King Street East include two vacant lots and a large, dilapidated post-war home.
J.D. Irving purchased the properties in the mid-1990s, and they are adjacent to the company's Saint John headquarters.
The company has been seeking the change since 2016, and wants to demolish the building, which has been vacant, unheated and boarded up for six years.
Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC
The company has argued the building, known as the Brown House, does not fit into the streetscape with neighbouring buildings, mostly built in an earlier period, and therefore isn't historically significant.
But, the Heritage Preservation Board did not agree with the argument and refused to make the changes.
In the meantime, the building continued to degrade, and in early 2020, Mayor Donna Reardon, who was then a city councillor, questioned the company's motives.
"My concern is that neglect is happening there." Reardon said.
"The building will be lost over time. It looks like there's absolutely no intention of trying to save it or salvage it or do anything with it."
The public hearing on Monday night was to consider a proposal by the company to turn the site of the building into a playpark in exchange for the removal of the heritage designations on all three properties.
City of Saint John
J.D. Irving would agree to maintain the park for 20 years.
When asked why the company has no interest in selling the property. Irving spokesperson Douglas Dean said it was considered important because of its proximity to its headquarters and the company did not want to lose control of the land.
Public opposition voiced
There were many people who opposed the project at Monday night's council meeting.
Greg Patterson, a resident landlord, told council he pushed the idea of a heritage area on King Street East starting in 1998, until it became a reality.
"Seven buildings specifically were torn down in King Street East in six years. So we designated the streetscape in 2005." Patterson said.
"Since that time, there were no demolitions on King Street East. There's been hundreds of thousands of dollars of historic restorations done to properties in my neighbourhood."
JD Irving
Patterson said, if J.D.Irving wants to build a park, the company could do it on the vacant lot it owns next door and fix the building instead.
"So let's do both. Let them keep the property for the restoration and repurpose. Let them build the park," he said.
John Fraser owns property on nearby Princess Street.
He told council he had spoken in favour of the removal of a heritage designation on two different properties, including his own, and was turned down.
Both of those applicants involved people who restored buildings, people who maintained buildings, people who paid for the electricity, people who kept the heat on, people who housed people who work in the city and pay taxes in the city." Fraser said.
"And now there's a building that someone, because of their own choices has neglected, has become more derelict than it previously was. And they're asking to be let out under special circumstances. To me that is wrong."
The Heritage Preservation Review Board also opposed the project..
Jennifer Brown of Dillon Consulting spoke on behalf of J.D. Irving. Her company was asked to inspect the building.
She said the engineers report deemed the cost of restoration was not feasible, stating the rear section of the building was structurally unsound and the front section, while in somewhat better shape, would have to be stripped to bare timbers to remove mold damage and hazardous materials.
There were others who spoke in favour of the idea, including real estate agent Bob McVicar and historian Harold Wright.
Many councillors expressed concerns and said they could not support the plan.
Coun. David Hickey pointed to a clause in the contract which would allow J.D. Irving to stop maintaining the park if vandalism becomes a big issue.
JD Irving
Council asked staff to take a second look at whether that should remain.
Coun. Paula Radwan said she couldn't support the plan and expressed disappointment at J.D. Irving's handling of the issue.
"You buy a building, you own it, you look after it. If you can't, sell it to somebody who will," she said.
Coun. Joanna Killen, Coun. Greg Norton and Hickey also voted no.
But the slim majority voted in favour.
Coun. Gary Sullivan seemed to sum up what many of the others on that side were thinking.
"We have no power to compel them to do anything with the building except what they are doing with the building right now," he said.
"It's currently a horrible eyesore in a prominent location uptown. Do I as a councillor want to have it sitting there as a dilapidated eyesore for the next X number of years?"
The proposal still has to pass third reading.
Tue, July 12, 2022
The five unit apartment house owned by J.D. Irving dates from 1941. A 2016 application to demolish it was rejected by Saint John's Heritage Review Board. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC - image credit)
In a marathon session, Saint John City Council tentatively agreed to allow three J.D. Irving properties to be removed from a heritage designation.
The controversial properties at 111-119 King Street East include two vacant lots and a large, dilapidated post-war home.
J.D. Irving purchased the properties in the mid-1990s, and they are adjacent to the company's Saint John headquarters.
The company has been seeking the change since 2016, and wants to demolish the building, which has been vacant, unheated and boarded up for six years.
Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC
The company has argued the building, known as the Brown House, does not fit into the streetscape with neighbouring buildings, mostly built in an earlier period, and therefore isn't historically significant.
But, the Heritage Preservation Board did not agree with the argument and refused to make the changes.
In the meantime, the building continued to degrade, and in early 2020, Mayor Donna Reardon, who was then a city councillor, questioned the company's motives.
"My concern is that neglect is happening there." Reardon said.
"The building will be lost over time. It looks like there's absolutely no intention of trying to save it or salvage it or do anything with it."
The public hearing on Monday night was to consider a proposal by the company to turn the site of the building into a playpark in exchange for the removal of the heritage designations on all three properties.
City of Saint John
J.D. Irving would agree to maintain the park for 20 years.
When asked why the company has no interest in selling the property. Irving spokesperson Douglas Dean said it was considered important because of its proximity to its headquarters and the company did not want to lose control of the land.
Public opposition voiced
There were many people who opposed the project at Monday night's council meeting.
Greg Patterson, a resident landlord, told council he pushed the idea of a heritage area on King Street East starting in 1998, until it became a reality.
"Seven buildings specifically were torn down in King Street East in six years. So we designated the streetscape in 2005." Patterson said.
"Since that time, there were no demolitions on King Street East. There's been hundreds of thousands of dollars of historic restorations done to properties in my neighbourhood."
JD Irving
Patterson said, if J.D.Irving wants to build a park, the company could do it on the vacant lot it owns next door and fix the building instead.
"So let's do both. Let them keep the property for the restoration and repurpose. Let them build the park," he said.
John Fraser owns property on nearby Princess Street.
He told council he had spoken in favour of the removal of a heritage designation on two different properties, including his own, and was turned down.
Both of those applicants involved people who restored buildings, people who maintained buildings, people who paid for the electricity, people who kept the heat on, people who housed people who work in the city and pay taxes in the city." Fraser said.
"And now there's a building that someone, because of their own choices has neglected, has become more derelict than it previously was. And they're asking to be let out under special circumstances. To me that is wrong."
The Heritage Preservation Review Board also opposed the project..
Jennifer Brown of Dillon Consulting spoke on behalf of J.D. Irving. Her company was asked to inspect the building.
She said the engineers report deemed the cost of restoration was not feasible, stating the rear section of the building was structurally unsound and the front section, while in somewhat better shape, would have to be stripped to bare timbers to remove mold damage and hazardous materials.
There were others who spoke in favour of the idea, including real estate agent Bob McVicar and historian Harold Wright.
Many councillors expressed concerns and said they could not support the plan.
Coun. David Hickey pointed to a clause in the contract which would allow J.D. Irving to stop maintaining the park if vandalism becomes a big issue.
JD Irving
Council asked staff to take a second look at whether that should remain.
Coun. Paula Radwan said she couldn't support the plan and expressed disappointment at J.D. Irving's handling of the issue.
"You buy a building, you own it, you look after it. If you can't, sell it to somebody who will," she said.
Coun. Joanna Killen, Coun. Greg Norton and Hickey also voted no.
But the slim majority voted in favour.
Coun. Gary Sullivan seemed to sum up what many of the others on that side were thinking.
"We have no power to compel them to do anything with the building except what they are doing with the building right now," he said.
"It's currently a horrible eyesore in a prominent location uptown. Do I as a councillor want to have it sitting there as a dilapidated eyesore for the next X number of years?"
The proposal still has to pass third reading.
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