Report to/Rapport au :
Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee
Comité consultatif sur la
conservation de l'architecture locale
and / et
Planning and Environment Committee
Comité de l'urbanisme et de
l'environnement
and Council / et au Conseil
Submitted by/Soumis par : Ned
Lathrop, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
Planning and Growth
Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance
Contact
Person/Personne ressource : Grant Lindsay, Manage/Gestionnaire,
Planning and Infrastructure
Approvals/Approbation des demandes d’aménagement et d’infrastructure
(613) 580-2424 x13242, grant.lindsay@ottawa.ca
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee recommend that Planning and Environment Committee recommend Council approve the designation of Grant School, 2720 Richmond Road, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Reason for Designation, attached as Document 3.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que
le Comité consultatif sur la conservation de l’architecture locale recommande
au Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’environnement de préconiser au Conseil
d’approuver la désignation de l’école Grant située au 2720, chemin Richmond en
vertu de la partie IV de la Loi sur le
patrimoine de l’Ontario, conformément à l’énoncé des raisons pour la
désignation ci-joint comme document 3.
Local Architectural Conservation
Advisory Committee Recommendation - 9 June 2005
LACAC strongly supports the departmental recommendation and recommends the following addition to the Statement of Reason/Heritage Attributes:
· The lawn with its landscaping facing Richmond Road to the North of the school is integral to the heritage character of the site.
BACKGROUND
In March 2005 the President of the Queensway North Community Association wrote to Mayor R. Chiarelli requesting the Grant Public School be designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. This letter was a follow-up to an e-mail of February 2004, making the same request.
Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act gives municipalities the power to designate properties of cultural heritage significance. In order to be designated, the City’s Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) considers the designation and makes a recommendation to Planning and Environment Committee and City Council. The Act requires that a short statement of the property’s cultural heritage significance, including its heritage attributes, be prepared and published in a local newspaper.
The Official Plan has policies related to the Ontario Heritage Act, stating that "Individual buildings, structures and cultural heritage landscapes will be designated as properties of cultural heritage value under Part IV of the Heritage Act."
The future of the building is currently under review. At present, the school population is dropping and the building is in need of repair. The Ottawa Carleton District School Board is scheduled to consider the future of the building and its program at the end of June 2005.
ANALYSIS
Research conducted by staff confirmed that the building is worthy of designation because of its association with this area of the city when it was predominantly rural, and its link to the short‑lived, but influential, United Farmers of Ontario government. In addition, the building, although altered, is a good example of the type of school built in rural and semi-rural areas that had outgrown their one-room schoolhouses.
CONSULTATION
The owner of the building, the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, was informed by letter of the request by the Queensway Terrace North Community Association to have the building designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The Board replied on May 10, 2005 and stated that it had no objection to the proposed designation of Grant School but that it hoped that the safe and efficient operation of the school would not be impeded by such a designation. Staff assured the Board the Department would work closely with it to ensure that the function of the building as a school would not be impeded by its designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The cost of the one-time statutory advertising of the designation in the Citizen shall be paid from the 2005 operating budget of the Planning and Growth Management Department, Planning and Infrastructure Approval, Account Number 112762-502210.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 2 Historical Photograph
Document 3 Heritage Survey and Evaluation Form
Document 4 Statement of Reason/ Heritage Attributes
Document 5 Letter from Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
DISPOSITION
Corporate Services Department, Secretariat Services Branch to notify the property owner (Superintendent of Facilities, Ottawa Carleton District School Board, 133 Greenbank Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K2H 6L3) and the Ontario Heritage Foundation (10 Adelaide Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1J3) of Council's decision to designate Grant School under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act and to inform them of their rights under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Planning and Growth Management Department, Planning and Infrastructure Approvals Branch to advertise the Notice of Intention to Designate.
Corporate Services Department, Legal Services to prepare designation by-law and submit it to City Council for enactment.
HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH Document
2
HERITAGE SURVEY AND EVALUATION FORM
|
MUNICIPAL ADDRESS: 2720
Richmond Road |
BUILDING NAME: Grant
Alternative School |
||
|
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: |
LOT: CON 2 of Pt. N ¼ 21; 488-489 |
BLOCK: |
PLAN: 348 |
|
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: 1922 |
ADDITIONS: 1949 (annex); 1955 |
||
|
ORIGINAL USE: Consolidated School |
PRESENT USE: alternative
public school |
||
|
ORIGINAL OWNER: Nepean
Township |
PRESENT OWNER: Ottawa-Carleton
District School
Board |
||
PHASE ONE EVALUATION
|
POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE |
CONSIDERABLE |
SOME |
LIMITED |
NONE |
|
History |
3 |
|
|
|
|
Architecture |
|
2 |
|
|
|
Environment (landmark or design compatibility) |
3 |
|
|
|
|
Phase One Score 8 /9 |
Potential Heritage Building Yes/No |
Potential Heritage District Yes/No |
||
|
Phase Two Classification |
Group 1 2 3 4 |
|||
HISTORY Prepared By: N. Fairbairn / S. Coutts Date: 1991/2005
DATE OF
CONSTRUCTION (Factual/Estimated)
1922
TRENDS
Grant School, originally called Grant Consolidated School, was built by
Nepean Township in 1922 consolidating children from the one-room schools in
Nepean School Sections three and fifteen into one building. The school received special grants from the
United Farmers' of Ontario (UFO) government towards its construction costs
because a community centre was incorporated into its plan. The UFO had won 43
seats in the Ontario Legislature in 1919 and, with the support of Labour had
formed the government. They were the first Socialist government in Ontario. The
balance of the funding for the school was withheld after the UFO's defeat in
1923.
For many years, the school acted
as a country school, with children coming from farms and villages in the area
by bus and, in the winter, by sleigh. In 1950, it became part of the Ottawa public school system. It was
closed in 1988 but re-opened in September 1991 as an alternative school.
EVENTS
The school not only has been the site of many school celebrations over
the years, but it served as a community hall in the west end during its early
history.
PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS
MPP R.H. Grant, for whom the school was named, was the Minister of
Education in the UFO government. His
efforts were responsible for the special grants received to fund the community
hall within the school.
SUMMARY/COMMENTS
ON HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Grant School was the first consolidated school in Carleton County, and
is the only existing pre-1930 Ottawa public school built for that purpose. The school has a strong association with the
only UFO Minister of Education, from whom it takes its name. It is also a physical reminder of Ontario's
early experiment with social democratic government.
HISTORICAL
SOURCES
Datestone; A Brief History of Ottawa Public Schools, 1971; Viens,
Sue. "Grant Public School," 1971.
ARCHITECTURE Prepared By: N. Fairbairn/ S. Coutts Date: 1991/2005
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN (Plan, Storeys, Roof, Windows, Material,
Details, etc.)
Grant School is a two storey, red brick
structure with a high basement and a hipped roof. It has a rectangular plan, with the main entrances in pedimented
pavilions at either end of each long facade.
The metal cornice and gable ends are simply decorated and feature
dentils. There are decorative keystones above the windows.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
Grant
School is a simple, classically inspired school, typical of other schools built
in Ottawa in the first decades of the 20th century.
DESIGNER/BUILDER/ARCHITECT
1922: Richards and Abra,
1949: Cecil Burgess;
1955: Gilleland and Strutt
ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITY
The
character of the front facade was changed when its arches and main entrance on
the north façade were bricked over, and new entrances added in 1955 when the
community centre was converted into three classrooms. The original multi-paned windows were replaced by steel sash. The 1949 annex was not attached to the
original school, and does not intrude on the front facade. The large site is still intact, although
some of the original landscaping has been lost. The rear of the school has the original doors, transoms and the
decorative brickwork arched over the entrance.
SUMMARY/COMMENTS ON ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
Grant School is one of the schools owned by the Ottawa Carleton District School Board that were built by the township of Nepean. Because of this, it is unusual in both its style and design within the Ottawa context. It was the only school built with a community hall - earlier schools had assembly halls, and 1920s schools usually had gymnasiums. The design of the school accommodated this special use, and it was set into the front of the first floor.
ENVIRONMENT Prepared By: N. Fairbairn/ S. Coutts Date: 1991/2005
HERITAGE CONSERVATION DISTRICT NAME (if any):
COMPATIBLITY WITH HERITAGE ENVIRONS
Grant School pre-dates most
of the development in the immediately surrounding neighbourhood. Its large site enhances the residential
nature of the area. The spruce trees in front were planted by an early
custodian who brought them as saplings from the Gatineau Hills.
COMMUNITY CONTEXT/LANDMARK STATUS
The site has a very long
setback and the school is perched on a hill, affording it a distinct
presence. Several mature pine trees
further enhance the character of the site.
The site lends the school a certain rural aspect.
SUMMARY/COMMENTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Grant School site has remained intact from the time it’s setting was
semi-rural. It is now fronted by a busy
arterial road with very dense post-war development, high-rise apartment
buildings, etc. The school represents
one of the earliest structures in the area, and provides significant green
space.
