Developers
vs. history buffs: City heritage advocates concerned that
history Spring Park house could be torn down for apartment units
The Guardian
Weekend. Saturday, March 23, 1996
By Ron
Ryder
The
owners of a history Charlottetown building are considering tearing it down and
rebuilding, which has a well-known city heritage advocate in an uproar.
Catherine
Hennessey, currently visiting Boston, Mass., was so worried about the fate of
the home once called Spring Park that she phoned home to rally people behind
the building.
Looking
at the grew building that houses 8 and 10 Duvar Court, nobody would guess it
was once the manor house of a country estate. Decorated with peeling paint, a
sagging extension and garbage in the front yard, the house that gave its name
to an entire neighbourhood now looks like a textbook case of renovations gone wrong.
But Spring
Park has a history that belies its appearance. In fact, the home is believed to
be the birthplace of John Hamilton Gray, a former premier of P.E.I. and one of
the Fathers of Confederation.
Hennessey
says developers want to tear the home down and erect an eight-unit apartment
building in its place. She’s crying foul.
The
former city heritage committee chair says the building has been let go and hasn’t
attracted public attention because it’s on a side street and hasn’t been designated
as a heritage site.
Those
factors reduce the ability of history buffs to protect it, she added.
“This
building is not listed. That’s the problem.”
According
to local developers Hennessey’s panic is premature.
Before
the building can be torn down, developers will have to get a permit from
Charlottetown City Council. And the city’s planner says it shouldn’t even go to
council before May.
The
proposed new building is one of two multi-unit residences developers want to
build on Duvar Court and on an adjoining lot at 122 Spring Park Road.
Brooke
MacMillan, one of three partners behind the proposed development says they
haven’t definitely ruled out saving Spring Park.
“We’re
going to try to do what’s best for everyone in terms of heritage interests and business
interests and hopefully we can find a happy medium,” he says.
He said
people who want to preserve the old building ought to provide some incentive.
“If the
building costs more to save than it does of us to tear it down and put up another
one, then so be it. Unless someone’s going to pay the difference,” MacMillan
says.
The
project plans are far from finalized, he says.
“It’s a
long road ahead of us,” MacMillan says. “There’s no bulldozers going in tomorrow.”
Ed MacDonald,
curator of history at the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation, says Spring Park
was originally granted to Robert Gray, John Hamilton Gray’s father, by the
lieutenant-governor of P.E.I.
He says
the state was part of an area known as the common on the outskirts of the city.
It included extensive pasture land, orchards, a brook and gardens that were
famous in the city as a place to picnic.
“Local
Charlottetonians used to be able to avail themselves of the gardens at Spring
Park,” MacDonald says.
He says
the plain, sturdy original building has been undermined over the years.
“That has
been much added on to over the years, a lot of the renovations haven’t been (architecturally)
sympathetic,” MacDonald says.
The
building is one of the oldest in Charlottetown and would add to the
architectural history of the city, he says.
Christopher
Severance, executive director of the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation says
the loss of a historic building means the end of a concrete tie to the past
along with part of the city’s character.
“The
whole heritage of the Island, once you lose something like that, is poorer as a
result,” he says.
Coun.
Mitchell Tweel, chair of the city’s arts, heritage and culture committee, says
the idea of a new apartment building on Duvar Court came up last year but was
put off because area residents didn’t like the idea of a new complex.
He said
the new proposal hasn’t even come up for discussion with his committee yet.
“As far
as the Heritage Review Board goes, nothing has come forward,” Tweel said.
Tweel
added the board is working on proposals for ways to promote heritage
preservation in Charlottetown. HE says the city should look at options such as
tax breaks to encourage people to maintain important pieces of real estate.
But he
says heritage activists seem to be set on blaming developers rather than
encouraging them.
“They
always been in this confrontational mode,” Tweel said.
Hennessey
says the money spent demolishing the old structure and putting up a new one
should be put toward refurbishing Spring Park.
“If they
could experience the satisfaction of saving an old building they’d see how
wonderful it is,” she says. “We’ve been through that building it’s structural
fine. It looks like hell.”
ABOUT ROBERT GRAY...
Robert
Gray, came to Prince Edward
Island in 1787 as private secretary to Governor Edmund Fanning. Both
men came to British North
America as Loyalist
refugees in the wake of the American
Revolution. Robert Gray married Mary Burns, daughter of George
Burns, a prominent merchant and Island landlord. Gray was sent to England for
his education, and spent his 20s and 30s in the British military, including
service in South Africa
and India. He retired with the rank of captain in the 7th Dragoon Guards. While
still in the military, he married Susan Bartley Pennefather, step-daughter of
J.L. Pennefather, an officer in the 7th Dragoon Guards. Gray named his first
child Harriet Worrell Gray, in honour of the sister of Charles Worrell, a
resident Island landlord who at one time owned close to 100,000 acres,
including some once held by George Burns. The marriage of Gray’s sister, Jane,
to Artemas Cambridge further strengthened Gray’s ties with leading
entrepreneurs and officials who moved back and forth between Britain and Prince
Edward Island. When Gray returned to Prince Edward Island in the 1850s, he was
appointed to the Legislative Council, the upper house in the Island
Legislature. Gray rejoined the military during the Crimean War,
but did not see active service.
**To see a map of “Spring Park” refer to the Public Archives of PEI
http://www.gov.pe.ca/parosearch/archives/individual-archive-search/path/ajax.individual.phtml/recordId/50808
**To see a map of “Spring Park” refer to the Public Archives of PEI
http://www.gov.pe.ca/parosearch/archives/individual-archive-search/path/ajax.individual.phtml/recordId/50808
Map0642
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Host Collection
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Public Archives and Records Office
map collection
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Physical Location
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Public Archives and Records Office
of Prince Edward Island
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Caption
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A plan of Spring Park, the property
of Robert Gray
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Date (original)
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[ca. 1828]
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Creator (original)
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Unknown
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Description
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A plan of Spring Park,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the property of Robert Gray. Key shows a
breakdown of the condition of the land. Total acreage: 76. Also shows sketch
(lithograph) of dwelling house.
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Subjects
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BUILDINGS
COMMUNITIES
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Restrictions
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PERMISSION FOR USE OTHER THAN FOR
RESEARCH PURPOSES IS REQUIRED FROM THE PUBLIC ARCHIVES AND RECORDS OFFICE;
QUESTIONS REGARDING COPYRIGHT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER
|
