Horticulture Building makeover central to new plan, Historic structure to be shortened, include restaurant

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Laura Mueller

EMC news - A plan to make the historic Horticulture Building into a meeting space, restaurant and more is a good idea, heritage advocates say - if only the building didn't have to be moved.

Updated design plans for the Lansdowne Park redevelopment were revealed at city hall on Feb. 7, and most notable were changes to the Horticulture Building.

Julian Smith, the heritage architect in charge of that portion of the project, said a portion of the building will be permanently removed and the north facade, which faces Holmwood Avenue, will have a glass front instead of a brick wall.

Another big change will be the size of the building - a couple of "bays" will be taken out, reducing the length of the structure and allowing it to be set back farther from neighbouring houses along Holmwood.

The Horticulture Building will be the nexus of the transition between commercial and public spaces and gardens, so it will feature both commercial and public space.

The building will be turned into a meeting space that can hold up to 500 people, with space for smaller community events and a kitchen. There may also be an info booth and a restaurant in the Horticulture Building, Smith said.

That plan aligns with the new UNESCO guidelines that support adaptive reuse of heritage buildings - a policy Smith helped draft. But he confirmed that relocating heritage-designated buildings was not part of that strategy.

The plans sounded good to members of Heritage Ottawa, the advocacy group that fought the city's plan to move the Horticulture Building - and won.

In fact, if the building remained in its current location, "We could live with that," said David Flemming, who was president of Heritage Ottawa when the advocacy group objected to the city's decision to move the Horticulture Building to allow an underground parking structure and a cinema to be built.

Last June, the province's Heritage Conservation Review Board ruled that the city should not repeal all or part of the bylaw designating the building as heritage in order to move it.

Despite the decision, the city owns the Horticulture Building, so it has the final say about whether it will be moved, and the city has always maintained the building will be moved.

The city intends to seek re-designation for the Horticulture Building, Smith said, but Flemming wasn't convinced it would be possible, given all the changes to the structure and that fact that it will be moved - a process that's estimated to cost $6 million.

Still, Flemming and fellow Heritage Ottawa members said they liked the plans for the building, which dates back to 1914.

"What we're concerned about is that the cost is going to get more and more and somewhere along the way someone is going to say, 'Why the hell are we spending $6 million relocating this non-designated building when we can just tear it down?'"

Notably absent from the Feb. 7 presentation was any discussion of plans for the historic Aberdeen Pavilion, arguably the richest heritage building on the site. But Smith said in an interview that the 114-year-old "cattle castle" will mostly remain unchanged.