M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E

To / Destinataire	Chair and Members, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee	File/N° de fichier: G06-37-09-05-21
From / Expéditeur	Coordinator, Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee
Subject / Objet	Recommendations concerning the Heritage Designation of St. Isidore Church	Date: 28 May 2009

The Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) is mandated to advise City Council on matters relating to Ottawa’s Heritage (pursuant to the Ontario Heritage Act), specifically on issues of built heritage, including cultural heritage landscapes. This would include identifying properties and areas in the City of Ottawa that may deserve protection; providing City Council with advice on applications to alter designated heritage properties and new construction in heritage districts; advising property owners on appropriate conservation and maintenance practices; promoting heritage conservation within the community and advocating on behalf of threatened heritage resources. As such, the committee’s mandate involves recommending properties for designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.

At its meeting on 26 May 2009, the LACAC considered the staff report concerning designation of St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church, 1135 March Road, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (ACS2009-ICS-PLA-0043). As the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee (ARAC) is considering the report on March 28^th, the LACAC did not have sufficient time to submit its recommendations on this matter to the ARAC in the normal reporting method. Consequently, the recommendations of the LACAC are contained herein and the committee respectfully requests that the following be taken into consideration by the ARAC at its meeting on May 28, 2009.

Having heard presentations from both staff and representatives of St. Isidore Church, the LACAC gave serious consideration to both sides. While sympathetic to the time, effort and financial constraints of the property owner and parishioners of St. Isidore, the LACAC is mandated to make its decisions based on the criteria for heritage designations specified within the Ontario Heritage Act, which it deemed are met by St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church. The committee unanimously approved the staff recommendation to designate the church, as follows:

That the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee recommend that Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee recommend that Council approve the designation of the St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church, 1135 March Road, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Cultural Heritage Value, as revised, attached as Document 4.

The suggested revisions to the Statement of Cultural Heritage Value, which the committee felt were necessary in order to strengthen the statement of reason for designation and more accurately reflect the current state of the building, are appended to this memo.

The committee felt strongly that the church should be rehabilitated and would be acceptable for adaptive reuse, and it expressed concern that the estimates for rehabilitation received by the property owner to date seem overly inflated. The LACAC suggested that the property owner reconsider the offer made by Historic Ottawa Development Inc. (HODI) on May 6, 2009 to pay for a heritage consultant to produce a heritage report (including cost estimates) on the feasibility of retaining, rehabilitating and expanding the existing building, in order to facilitate efforts to preserve the historic church.

Furthermore, with respect to the church steeple, which was removed from the structure on May 19^th for safety reasons and is now lying on the ground beside the church, the committee noted that, pending approval of the designation, it may possible to repair and remount it and consequently suggested that the property owner protect it by elevating it from the ground and covering it with a tarp or storing it in a protected area.

Should you have any questions for the committee, you may direct them though me via email at Melody.Duffenais@ottawa.ca or by calling 613-580-2424 extension 20113.

Melody Duffenais

Attach. 1

cc: Members of Council

Chair and Members of LACAC

Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability

John Smit, Manager, Development Review-Urban Services, Planning and Growth Management Department

Sally Coutts, Heritage Planner, Planning and Growth Management Department

Document 4 of Report ACS2009-ICS-PLA-0043, with LACAC’s suggested revisions

Description of property – St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church, 1135 March Road

St. Isidore is a gable roofed, stone church, completed in 1887, and located on the west side of March Road in the historical township of March, now the rural sector of Ottawa.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest

St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church’s cultural heritage value lies in its being a good example of a stone rural church, built on land donated by a member of the early Roman Catholic community of March township, and its simple symmetrical design with a steeply pitched gable roof, round-arched windows, open steeple and unadorned front façade.

St. Isidore’s cultural heritage value also lies in its association with by being a rare Ontario example of the work of priest-architect Georges Bouillon of Rimouski, Quebec, who was active throughout eastern Ontario and western Quebec in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Although he never became an accredited architect, Bouillon had a long and successful career designing churches, additions to churches and chapels throughout Quebec and Ontario. His work shows the influence of a European tour he undertook in the 19^th century to learn more about architecture and design. His most famous work, the Rideau Chapel, has been reconstructed inside the National Gallery of Canada. St. Isidore’s setting beside the Rectory (built 1899) and the cemetery, with access from March Road along a tree-lined driveway, evokes the rural character of the area, makes it a local landmark and a reminder of a former way of life in 19^th century rural March Township.

Description of Heritage Attributes

Key exterior attributes that embody the heritage value of St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church as a good example of the work of Georges Bouillon and a 19^th century, rural Roman Catholic Church include its:

· Steeply pitched gable roof

· Rectangular plan

· Symmetrical front façade featuring round arched openings with voussoirs including semi-circular, central entrance door flanked by two smaller doors

· Three semi-circular windows and a round window in the gable end on the front (east) facade

· Five semi-circular windows along the north and south facades with simple stained glass

· The open steeple and bell (1891)

· Tree-lined driveway with median

· Exterior craftsmanship and materials, particularly the masonry walls

The small addition at the rear (west) end of the building, the detached church hall, the interior and the rectory are not included in the designation.