Saint John house needs to lose heritage status to make way for larger museum, city says

City of Saint John staff are supporting the New Brunswick Museum in its expansion project by recommending the "de-designation" of a heritage property standing in its path.

The growth and community services department says the house at 241 Douglas Ave., next to the museum site, should be removed from the Heritage Conservation Areas By-Law, allowing the museum project to go forward. The plan is to then give the original part of the museum a heritage status.

The department is making the recommendation to the city's heritage development board.

The 1881 building is designated as a heritage home under the Douglas Avenue Heritage Conservation Area. It is currently occupied by Steven Gray and his partner, who previously expressed disappointment at being forced to vacate.

According to a staff report to council at a recent meeting, the heritage designation serves the function of "retaining character of historic architecture" and also protects historic buildings from demolition.

In this case, it was serving as a roadblock to the museum project.

"In order to move forward with the project that site would need to be what we refer to as 'de-designated," city community planning manager Jennifer Kirchner said.

"And in exchange the museum has committed to designating that original 1934 museum component as a heritage property at the end of the day."

Jennifer Kirchner, community planning manager with the City of Saint John, says the de-designation of the property would allow the museum project to go forward. (Nipun Tiwari/CBC)

Removing the heritage designation from the home, Kirchner said, opens doors.

"It essentially allows that existing house to be demolished so that the expansion can occur.

"That site is part of their vision for the overall property for what they need to make their proposed development functional."

The heritage issue could be settled at the end of May, allowing the building to be demolished along with four other properties on the street, so work on the museum can begin during the summer.

The demolition of the building will accommodate the museum's parking infrastructure. The application to remove the property from this designation was submitted by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the company that designed the expansion.

Municipalities decide what matters

Lawren Campbell, president of Association Heritage New Brunswick, says a "heritage" place can be a building, landscape, graveyard or any other site or feature that has heritage value for a community.

"The New Brunswick Heritage Act from 2010 allows municipalities to create heritage boards that in turn assist the municipality in creating heritage conservation areas," Campbell said.

"The reason this was in the act is it's really not up to the province to determine what's locally important."

Lawren Campbell, president of the Association Heritage New Brunswick, says a 'heritage' place can be almost any site or feature that has heritage value for a community. (Ian Bonnell/CBC)

Municipal councils ultimately make decisions on the advice of these boards, Campbell said, as is the case with the  Douglas Avenue property. Decisions on "de-listing" heri.'tage sites for demolition are carefully weighed, although "it's never good to tear down a heritage building," he said.

"Somebody balanced the request for demolishing this particular building, which had met criteria for designation in the first place … against the request [for de-designation]" he said.

Kirchner said it's difficult to look at a project and what the implications would be for heritage, and the question came down to broader public benefits.

The New Brunswick Museum expansion is slated to begin construction in the coming months. (New Brunswick Museum)

"I guess the uniqueness of the situation is that it's to facilitate a project that has broader benefits not only to the city from all the things you could name — economic, tourism, etc.," she said.

"But also the broader benefit to the heritage area by adding such a prominent structure to what is designated."

The report approved by Kirchner said it recognizes the "unfairness of comparing broader public benefits of a prominent, cultural use facility to a private residence" but also noted that conserving prominent heritage architecture adds to the social benefits.

"Obviously, in the perfect world, the layout of that street might have been different and maybe the house, if it was located further down, we wouldn't be having this kind of consideration," Kirchner said.

Property going through ownership transfer

Last year, the owners of five privately owned properties were sent offers by the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to buy. The only one still with occupants is the 241 property.

The staff report says the property is going through an ownership transfer.

Gray declined a request for an interview this week.

The New Brunswick Museum will create "architecture recordings" in the form of "3D scans" of the buildings before they are demolished and any known associated history will be summarized.

The information will be made available to the public, the report says.