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Friday, February 24 was a day of celebration for the many citizens, organizations and worker bees who made the opening of the new Guelph Civic Museum a reality. The museum is officially open — and it is spectacular. Multiple galleries, a children’s learning gallery, meeting and workshop space, collection storage and a public research and archives area are all part of the new facility.
All three levels of government were on hand to mark the occasion – as this was truly a collaborative project, with $6 million coming from the province and feds, $700K from local fundraising, and the remaining cost from the City of Guelph. An expanded museum need was first identified in 2004, and through the efforts of the community (along with serendipitous timing) the former Loretto Convent met all of the museum’s needs. Saving a pre-Confederation landmark building (in itself an artifact) was the perfect marriage of purpose and place.
On a personal note, my favourite part of the restoration was the retention of the solid stone “privies” located steps from the chapel on the outside of the building, nestled into the slope of Catholic Hill. History is about people, places and events. Buildings are the glue that links all three — the physical remnants that endure through multiple generations and keep the stories alive. The nuns’ privies tell a story of their own, built during a time before indoor plumbing and a reminder of a pious way of life long gone…
For museum hours, go to http//guelph.ca/museum.
Guelph Museum Privies
Guelph’s community spirit was alive and well at the Farmer’s Market today! Thank you to all the vendors who set up shop and to the many, many regular and new customers who came out to support them. Over 2,600 people came out between 7 am and 12 noon to show their Market spirit!
The City Hall venue was bustling with the sound of music, chatter and excitement. Market Square and City Hall are the roots of the market experience in Guelph, so the change of scenery was a “homecoming” of sorts. Although the relocation of the market came about through less-than-ideal circumstances, today’s event was a testament to how our community comes together when the going gets tough.
City staff, under the leadership of Derek McCaughan, Ann Pappert and Mayor Farbridge, have been working non-stop this week to troubleshoot every minor detail to bring the market to life in the halls of City Hall. THANK YOU!!!
See you all again next week!
Leanne
It will be a different kind of Farmer’s Market in Guelph this Saturday! Please come out and show your support for our Farmer’s Market vendors!
Dedicated city staff have been working non-stop to prepare alternate space for the temporarily displaced Market. City Hall (galleria and main floor meeting rooms) will become home to the Farmer’s Market until roof repairs allow for re-occupancy of the regular market building. In response to feedback from vendors, earlier reports that meat and produce vendors would be outdoors has changed — they will now be housed inside City Hall.
The City of Guelph media release follows:
Most Farmers’ Market vendors to be accommodated within City Hall
City finds a better alternative in response to vendor feedback yesterday.
GUELPH, ON, December 9, 2010 – Most Farmers’ Market vendors—including many meat and all produce vendors—will be able to sell their products in City Hall while roof repairs are undertaken to the market building at the corner of Gordon Street and Waterloo Avenue.
This update comes after more work by City staff to keep the market under one roof and accommodate as many vendors as possible during a temporary shut-down of the market building, and after the City announced Tuesday it would accommodate craft vendors within City Hall and produce vendors in the Wilson Street parking lot.
“Yesterday afternoon the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health Unit confirmed that meat vendors can sell from within City Hall as long as they meet certain requirements,” says Derek McCaughan, the City’s Executive Director, Operations & Transit. “This means we’ll be able to accommodate many meat vendors and all produce vendors within City Hall rather than excluding them or having them sell from the Wilson Street parking lot.”
Raw meat vendors will still be able to come to market and sell their product provided it’s frozen or pre-packaged, which would make it compliant with health regulations. “This was well-received by some of the market’s meat vendors,” said McCaughan.
To accommodate more than 70 vendors, the City is making all of its ground floor meeting rooms available, along with the lobby of City Hall.
The City only learned of the extent of the risk associated with continuing to operate the Farmers’ Market from its original building last Wednesday, creating an urgent need to relocate the market. City staff has been working diligently ever since to find a solution that would allow the market to continue to operate in an alternate location.
The Guelph Farmers’ Market will be open and operating from within City Hall every Saturday beginning this week until repairs to the market building’s roof are complete.
The City continues to liaise with market vendors to inform them of changing information and provide details about the transition.
Repairs to the market building’s roof are expected to take eight to ten weeks.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Derek McCaughan
Executive Director
Operations and Transit
T 519-822-1260 x 2018
E derek.mccaughan@guelph.ca
From the Community Design and Development Services department….
The City will be looking for suggestions from the public for naming new and unnamed parks, trails, bridges, squares, gardens, buildings, structures and rooms within buildings.
Early in 2010, the City will post a complete list and map of City-owned assets to be named. First consideration by the Naming Committee will be given to those names that have geographic, civic or historic significance of the neighbourhood/community where it shall be located. Second consideration by the Naming Committee will be given to those names that fall under at least one of the following criteria:
The individual will have demonstrated excellence, courage or exceptional service to the citizens of the City of Guelph, the Province of Ontario or Canada
The individual will have worked to foster equality and reduce discrimination
The individual will have risked or given his/her life to save or protect others
Where the individual is a current City employee, the individual will have made an outstanding contribution to the City of Guelph outside of his/her capacity and duties as a City employee or he/she maybe recognized for exceptional service once he/she is no longer a City employee.
For further information or questions please contact Rory Barr Templeton at 519-822-1260 ext. 2436.
John Galt portrait by Charles Grey
In October 2006, City Council enacted a bylaw creating John Galt Day, becoming the 7th municipality in Ontario since 1969 (when the Civic Holiday was created) to give a name to the civic holiday.
The impetus to name the civic holiday after our founding father, John Galt, came from citizens Peter Anderson and Gil Stelter, longtime advocates for recognizing Galt’s contribution to the thriving City of Guelph. Anderson was involved in the commissioning of the John Galt statue in front of old City Hall, and Stelter is a renowned scholar in Canadian urban history with an extensive knowledge of Galt’s legacy.
In the written history of Galt, he is called many things – writer, poet, entrepreneur, debtor, adventurer, land developer, etc. But my favourite moniker for our Founding Father was offered by his close associate, Dr.”Tiger” Dunlop, who called him “the woodland sovereign”.
Galt’s vision for Guelph was ambitious. He planned a radial design, with terminating vistas that led to the Church of Our Lady, St. George’s Square and Market Square. He carefully planned and executed a land settlement process that was not based solely on profit — he insisted on the inclusion of public works to attract settlement (roads, a school, a market) and gave shelter to the destitute La Guayra settlers when the British government had abandoned them. He dreamt of a centre of agriculture, culture and economic prosperity.
In 2009, Guelph was ranked the Most Caring community in Canada, the Safest Community in Canada, and the 4th Smartest City in Canada. We are home to Canada’s finest agricultural and veterinary university, an agri-food and biotechnology centre of excellence and home to world class musicians, writers, poets and musical festivals.
So yes, I think Galt’s vision has become reality. That’s worth celebrating! Happy John Galt Day!
The Conservation Review Board has released its decision with respect to 47-49 Alice Street. The CRB conclusion is:
“Based on the evidence heard, it is the recommendation of the Conservation Review Board that the property know municipally as 47 Alice Street and described at Lot 40 and Part Lot 39, Plan 244 in the City of Guelph be protected under s.29 of the Ontario Heritage Act R.S.O., Chapter 018 as amended 2006.”
Unlike the OMB, the CRB makes a recommendation on its findings as it relates to the Act, however, final decision on designation still rests with Council. City staff will prepare a report and the matter will likely find its way back to Council early in the new year.
A full copy of the CRB decision can be found here:
crb-decision_alicest
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An 1870′s farmhouse at 132 Clair Road West burned to the ground in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 21. The house has been vacant since 2006, and yes, it had heritage value. The land was originally part of Puslinch Township and was annexed by the City of Guelph. The land was first settled in 1830 by Simon Eustace (b. 1892) and his wife Bridget (b. 1807), immigrants from Ireland. They likely first built a log cabin on the site, cleared the land, and the later house was built sometime prior to 1877. The farm was later bought by David Maltby, and then John Clair.
It’s such a shame that the south end of Guelph is losing, or has already lost, much of its historic past. The Tolton farm on Clair Road East burned down (mysteriously) in 2005. The Hanlon and Clair farms were demolished, and “replicas” (nothing original) were built in the Westminster Woods subdivision. Luckily, the Carter-Moffatt farmhouse (the beautiful stone house on Coopers Court in the Clairfields subdivision) was saved.
The fire is still under investigation.
It’s official! MPP Liz Sandals announced today that the Province of Ontario’s MIII infrastructure program has awarded the $5 million request from the City of Guelph towards the restoration of the former Loretto Convent into the expanded Guelph Civic Museum.
This is exciting news, because it means the $6 million threshold in government-level funding has been reached, and the project can move ahead as planned.
The Civic Museum first identified the need for expansion over five years ago. The current site cannot be expanded on site and the museum is bursting at the seams with artifacts, storage and lack of programming space. The Diocese of Hamilton and the City of Guelph negotiated a 75 year lease term to use the Convent, a structurally sound Pre-Confederation limestone building, for the Museum.
This is great news!
Leanne
A recent commentary in the Mercury is critical of the concept of putting a civic museum in a building the city does not own. The writer compares it to building a swimming pool in your neighbours backyard. Personally, that sounds like a great deal.
The business case for adaptive re-use of the convent for a museum is quite brilliant. To use the swimming pool analogy: if I was planning to build a pool anyway, and my neighbour was not using his backyard, and he offered me full and exclusive use of his yard for three generations of my family, at a token $1 year cost, I would take up the offer in a millisecond. I would keep my own yard open for a garden and greenspace, and in effect, double my useable yard space with my neighbours blessing and support.
The convent is an empty building. The financial and environmental cost to demolish is significant (up to 1/3 of Ontario landfills contain demolition waste). The Diocese has no future planned use for the site and has offered it to the City for use as a civic museum for a nominal cost. They were not strong-armed – they fully understand the beneficial synergies that would come from this partnership. The current museum is bursting at the seams and will be moving forward to secure a new site at some point within the next five years. To buy or lease a new building at market value would be costly. A long-term lease with the Diocese (ie.50-100) years removes this expense.
If Council failed to act to secure the Convent site, the cost to relocate the museum will not disappear, it would just be deferred into the future. Past councils have done this with a number of capital projects which had led to a huge backlog of community needs – main branch library, south end firehall, civic administration centre, etc.
Losing the Convent would mean the City would have to relocate the museum by purchasing or leasing another building at market value. In order to meet the museums future needs, they will need a building twice the size of the current facility, at an estimated cost of $1,000,000. Leasing the convent for an estimated $2 per year means that million dollars can be spent on other things or invested.
I share the concerns expressed about the number of capital projects on the horizon. Guelph cannot lose its AA financial rating. But we cannot continue to defer capital projects in perpetuity. Our city as a whole suffers when we fail to act on identified needs. We must prioritize our projects carefully in order to finance them effectively – and we will do this.
If you haven’t been to visit our Civic Museum lately, I encourage you to drop by the facility on the corner of Dublin and Waterloo and experience this community gem.
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