Crumbling heritage school may be replaced with four-storey apartment building
Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 6, 2015 | Last Updated: December 6, 2015 6:00 PM EST
The decades-long saga of a derelict Lowertown school may be coming to a close.
But some people in the neighbourhood aren’t happy with the proposed solution, even if city heritage planners argue that a new four-storey apartment building across from the old St. Brigid’s church will “re-animate this corner for the first time since the school was closed decades ago.”
A report to the city’ heritage subcommittee has recommended that the city approve a number of measures that have to be taken to allow for the construction of the new building at the corner of Murray Street and Cumberland Avenue.
The former Our Lady’s School, where Lowertown’s anglophone Catholic girls were educated, has been boarded up and scrawled with graffiti for years. The proposal would leave two walls of the 1904 school standing as a facade for the new building. Because the two-storey school had a high basement and high ceilings, the new four-storey building would appear to be only one storey higher than the original school.
“By incorporating the walls of the former school and developing a new residential use into the subject property, the corner of Cumberland and Murray Streets will make a positive contribution to the cultural landscape of this sector of the heritage conservation area, instead of featuring a vacant building with no function,” said the city report.
The derelict school has been a long-running problem for the city. Last year, the city won a legal battle with landlord Claude Lauzon, who owns the crumbling school. Lauzon was ordered to stabilize and protect the west and south walls, and foundations of the school under the direction of a structural engineer as well as securing the rest of the site and removing barricades to allow sidewalks to be open. He was also ordered to pay $140,000 in legal costs and expenses.
The proposal would clean up a corner that has been an eyesore for decades. But some say the plan will also leave a tear in the fabric of the heritage district.
David Jeanes, president of Heritage Ottawa, says the crumbling school has been “the poster child for demolition by neglect.”
But he is also concerned about another element of the proposal, which demands that a modest 1870s double worker’s cottage be demolished to make way for the project. The report says the planning department “regrets” the loss of the cottage. While the city isn’t happy with tearing down the cottage, it sees new building as a compromise, he said. Tearing down 281-283 Cumberland St. would extend the “developable” area of the street.
But the point of having a heritage district is to leave as much of the urban fabric as possible intact. And that includes the cottage, said Jeanes.
“It’s not in bad condition. It contributes to the nature of the neighbourhood. You need to look at the buildings as a group,” he said.
“You could progressively lose a lot of heritage if you don’t draw the line.”
Liz MacKenzie, co-chair of the heritage committee of the Lowertown Community Association, says the school looks better since the walls have been stabilized and the graffiti has been cleaned up. But she said its windows have been left open for years, contributing to the damage.
She is also opposed to demolishing the cottage. Research shows the building was inhabited in the latter part of the 19th century by three francophone widows who survived by running small businesses. The story is part of the district’s history, said MacKenzie. “It’s a testament to women entrepreneurs in Centretown.”
The city’s built heritage subcommittee is to vote on the proposal Thursday. If approved, it will move to planning committee in January.
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