Historic Holbrook sculptures to stay on former federal building
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...deral-building
Plans for the former federal government offices at Main and Caroline streets no longer call for razing the entire building — a change that will keep six relief sculptures by Hamilton artist Elizabeth Holbrook in place.
Downtown Councillor Jason Farr says the newest designs include keeping the facades along Caroline and Main streets intact and demolishing the remainder of the building.
“There’s been somewhat a change of heart, and I think that change of heart will appeal to those who protested the demolition in the first place,” said Farr.
However, the federal building project, led by high-profile developer Darko Vranich and his company, Vrancor, is still in its conceptual stages and is closely tied with the same company’s plans for a Staybridge hotel development at George and Caroline streets.
Vrancor spokesperson Tyler McDiarmid says the hotel project — expected to break ground this summer — is the first priority.
“When we have renderings of the completed plans, I very much look forward to sharing them,” McDiarmid wrote in an email. “Until then, our focus will be working with the city to get construction of the new Staybridge started this summer.”
Gunther Bluesz, a designer working with Vrancor on the project, said initial plans called for a joint underground parking lot between the hotel development and the federal building. This would have required the building to be totally demolished.
“At that point in time, we thought tearing it down was the best thing,” Bluesz said.
The new plan will allow Vrancor to maintain the heritage facades of the federal building while creating underground parking in the areas where the remainder of the building will be demolished.
The future of the bas relief sculptures and of the building itself caused contention among arts and heritage advocates earlier this year after Vranich filed a demolition permit for the building.
In late January, the municipal heritage committee tried to block the demolition by endorsing an 11th-hour proposal to designate the building under the Ontario Heritage Act. However, the planning committee rejected the request, arguing it sent the wrong message to the development community.
In February, the Ontario office of Public Works and Government Services Canada sent a letter to Vranich reminding him that he signed a covenant when he bought the building from the feds in 2004. In the document, Vranich promised to “conserve, protect and maintain” the heritage features of the building.
Vranich had agreed to protect the sculptures and vowed to foot the bill for removing and storing the art.
Holbrook was born and raised in Hamilton and died in 2009. She has sculptures in more than 50 public collections around the world, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and the Parliament building in Ottawa.
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