Somerset House [352 Somerset St] | 15m | 4f | U/C
 

Now that one of the few aesthetically-pleasing buildings on Bank Street in Centretown is going to be torn down, what do we do with that space? Surface parking? Something in a similar style to its predecessor? Should we try to liven up the corner with something truly modern or try to stay low-key? Thoughts anyone?

:(

I spent many a happy day at the Duke.

Whatever goes up there better not be an uninspired box. :mad:

Poor old Duke. I still miss the dank.

Since that intersection is basically the axis of Centretown, with loads of foot traffic, it would be a good spot for something that stands out. Something bright and a bit loud.

A bit of me died when I heard this was going to be torn down. Even more disappointing is that this building could be saved if people really wanted to save it. With the loss of the other building further down Somerset this summer, that's some significant heritage that street has lost.

I copied this off of Diane Holmes website. There is a whole page of Q & A dedicated to this building. Here are the answers to my own questions.

Why wasn't the building simply demolished?

352 Somerset Street W. is a heritage designated building and must be protected and preserved. Although, demolition would have allowed for the streets to be opened to traffic more quickly, the loss of a historically significant building would have been considerable and contrary to the Heritage Act and the City's Official Plan. There existed another option to address the immediate potential hazard to the public and that was the street closure pending the shoring and bracing of the building.

Could the owner opt to demolish the building?

No.

The City should not allow this building to come down. It's the type of building you spend whatever you need to spend to keep. I also have way too many memories from the Duke but, aside from those, it's too much of a landmark.

How much has the city spent keeping the intersection closed? last I heard it was some astronomical figure.

What really pisses me off is that all this time there has been a police car sitting on that intersection with an engine idling. How hypocritical when the city was thinking of passing an anti-idling bylaw. Just what we need, our tax money being spent to create needless pollution that causes global warming.

Unless someone steps in with immediate cash and a plan to save the building, it will be demolished. There has been no public outcry about this, instead all we got in the media were lamentations from merchants (which I understand). But it looks like we are going to lose yet another landmark, a pivot for this intersection, and a beautiful old building. The City has ordered demolition and the Ministry of Labour is now forbidding even engineers to enter the premises and evaluate conditions to prepare a stabilization plan for the facade. Say goodbye, folks. I'll be taking some pictures over the next few days. I'm very sad about this.

Are they even planning to remove the mural on the east side of the building? I love that painting! What about its replacement? Isn't it supposed to replicate whatever was there before? Maybe I should send an email to Diane Holmes.

Yes, that would be good. Right now it looks like it's all going to come down.

Man, the Duke is awesome and the mural is a work of art! :(

I'm happy to hear the owner is determined to save the structure. I'm equally angered to hear of councillors who care little about heritage (I'm pretty sure Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder can sleep at night), and want to see the building knocked down "as soon as possible." This building can be saved, but there has to be a will from all parties involved. It's unlikely the business community would support extension of this process...but a revitalized building such as this could really increase business in the long run - just look at the "Drake Effect" in Toronto. I hope to see people rallying around Mr. Kue...if I knew how to contact him I'd ask him how ordinary citizens could help his cause. More letters to Diane Holmes? The mayor?


Owner gets seven days to save heritage structure

Jake Rupert
The Ottawa Citizen


Tuesday, November 27, 2007


The owner of a partially collapsed downtown building has roughly seven days to convince city and provincial officials not to tear down what remains of the structure.

The 110-year-old building at the corner of Somerset and Bank streets used to house the Lockmaster tavern and the Duke of Somerset pub. For two years, owner Tony Kue has been trying to get it renovated.

But on October 19, the structure partially collapsed, injuring one worker. Since then, the area around the building has been closed to vehicles, and a city-provincial safety inspection last week found it to be in imminent danger of collapse.

This led the city's chief building inspector, Arlene Gregoire to issue Mr. Kue an order to knock the building down as soon as possible, but Mr. Kue has instead focused his efforts on saving the structure.

On Tuesday, Ms. Gregoire yinvoked her power to take the demolition into the city's hands.

"We are going to assume responsibility for demolishing the building because it's too dangerous to remain standing, and we are not confident the owner will do this quickly," Ms. Gregoire said in a update to the city's planning committee.

"It's no longer a question of will the building collapse. It's when will it collapse, and we want to control when and how it collapses. Up to this point in time, none of the orders we've issued have been complied with. That's why we are doing this."

She said once the building is down, the city will bill the owner for the cost of demolishing it.

But Mr. Kue isn't giving up on the structure.

His architect, Derek Crain, told committee members that engineers say the building's foundation can be repaired by sending workers into it in a protective cage, and that as soon as that is done, the whole structure can be secured.

"There are options, and if the city over-reacts, and doesn't explore those options, we will lose a heritage building," Mr. Crain said.

Ms. Gregoire said she would examine the suggestions by Mr. Crain to see if her mind can be changed, but that the city is moving ahead with demolition plans.

She estimated it will be done in seven days.

Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder noted that businesses in the area say they are losing thousands of dollars due to the road closures, and she urged city officials get the building knocked down as soon as possible.

"It's been 40 days since those streets were closed," she said. "This is getting silly and those business owners are suffering. Let's get this thing down and those streets open."

Looks like it's coming down. There are dumpsters in place at the intersection now to collect debris. Sad.

I may be mistaking, but I've heard on Radio-Canada that the demolition may be delayed again. And when it will happen, we have now a city camera at that intersection so that we may watch the demolition process

http://webcam.city.ottawa.on.ca/traf...eo/list_en.htm (see Zone 4 list at the bottom)

I heard a story about how the owner(A Lebanese immigrant) is fighting tooth and nail to try and save this building.

Can someone tell me how ****ed in the head the city is when the only person fighting to try and save a beautiful heritage building is a Lebanese immigrant?! :rolleyes:

Hell, I have half a mind to march out there and chain myself to the building...

Dude, there's a lot of people at the City who are upset over this. The one who issued the demolition order is the chief building official. Everyone in the heritage section is in apoplexy like the rest of the planning department. One major culprit as well is the Ministry of Labour, they condemned the entire site and they won't even let an engineer in to appraise the situation and determine the proper course of action to stabilize the structure. The real culprit is the province, actually. They are blind to anything but the lowest common denominator.

The longer the site sits stagnant with the surrounding streets blocked off, the less I care about saving this building. Let's preserve some of the classic finishings on the outside of the building and tear down the crumbling inner structure. Then we can build a new building, much in the same style, and incorporate some aspects of the old building. A good example of this is seen at the Toronto Public Library on College Street:

http://www.gosee.ca/computerstores/i...ts/Library.jpg

This building was built in 1993 and it has a lot of classic characteristics which blend in well with the surrounding architecture. That corner is too busy and offers too much promise to sit vacant or blocked off any longer.

No!
Build a 125 story building and call it the Aylmer Tower!!!

HAHAHA!

But I like your proposal!

I know, but I meant in terms of people who are actually openly saying this. Maybe I've missed it, but I have yet to read an article about a group of people or an organization coming to the side of the owner. :(

Can we tie him up and throw him in a basement somewhere? :P

I'll bet, but is there any way for them to go public or change this?

:hell:

Frickin government... :hell: