Winnipeg Construction VIII

[Only The Lonely..]

From today's Free Press..


Historic Dalnavert shuttered
Volunteers shocked to learn of closure of Victorian-era home

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/historic-dalnavert-shuttered-230315931.html

Quietly and without notice, Dalnavert Museum was closed over the Labour Day weekend.

And its devoted army of volunteers worries it may never reopen.

The Victorian-era home at 61 Carlton St., lovingly restored for $500,000 in the 1970s, seems to have fallen out of public favour, despite Christmas and Halloween tours that once drew hundreds through its historic doors.
When the front doors were locked this fall, few noticed. The website for the national historic site remained up and running, and the Manitoba Historical Society only notified volunteers of the decision as they showed up for their shifts.
Dalnavert, one of Winnipeg's finest examples of Queen Anne Revival architecture, is the restored 1895 home of Hugh John Macdonald, son of Canada's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald.

During his career, the younger Macdonald was premier of Manitoba and later police magistrate for Winnipeg.

By Halloween, the president of the society conceded the jewel of the city's Victorian-era architecture faced an uncertain future in the 21st century.

. . .

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

From today's Free Press..


Historic Dalnavert shuttered
Volunteers shocked to learn of closure of Victorian-era home

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/historic-dalnavert-shuttered-230315931.html

This is just disgraceful.

How poor is this country that it can't afford to keep up this home?

[Cyro]

^ Shame about the Dalnavert a truly magnicent historical gem..

>>>>> http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6324642&postcount=77

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Just an Update for Nov.1 st originally Sept.20th

St Regis Hotel site Redevelopment, 285 Smith St, R3C 1K9
$50,000,000 est
Note: Request for Expressions Of Interest (REOI) from Developers for the purchase and redevelopment of the land and building currently operating as the St. Regis Hotel, 285 Smith St closed 15:00 June 19, 2013 at the office of the owner. The Owner's Rep is reviewing options for the site and has issued an Invited Request For Proposals (RFP) to a select group. Negotiations are underway with a selected proponent. An award is anticipated late November/early December, 2013 pending approvals.

Hotel, Residential, Commercial?? Any clues on this one? ...parking lot /jk/

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by Cyrodill

Just an Update for Nov.1 st originally Sept.20th

St Regis Hotel site Redevelopment, 285 Smith St, R3C 1K9
$50,000,000 est
Note: Request for Expressions Of Interest (REOI) from Developers for the purchase and redevelopment of the land and building currently operating as the St. Regis Hotel, 285 Smith St closed 15:00 June 19, 2013 at the office of the owner. The Owner's Rep is reviewing options for the site and has issued an Invited Request For Proposals (RFP) to a select group. Negotiations are underway with a selected proponent. An award is anticipated late November/early December, 2013 pending approvals.

Hotel, Residential, Commercial?? Any clues on this one? ...parking lot /jk/

Going to be part of the Fortress project, from what I heard, at a Ross McGowan speech recently.

[Flavelle103]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Come to think if it. What have they built?

Um ... the big TV screen at P&M?

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Going to be part of the Fortress project, from what I heard, at a Ross McGowan speech recently.

Yeah heard that here, was more curious on what they had planned for it? Prime location and all.

[Cyro]

Here's the Book with accompanying article....
Great photos by B Scott, hope he posts a few on the forum..

Stuck in the middle
By: Bartley Kives

......................

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/stuck-in-the-middle-230315331.html

No Comment.

[yellowghost]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

This is just disgraceful.

How poor is this country that it can't afford to keep up this home?

With all due respect, put it on the market and unload it. I admit I don't follow politics so I don't know anything about this guy OR his legacy, but pay homage to it for it's architectual importance, not for it's connection to somebody who hasn't been relevant for years if it all. So sell it. If theres one thing thing that we know by now, it's that it will never get torned down to build some dynamic highrise. If theres interest, let somebody buy it, modernize the interior, live in it and enjoy it. Just my two cents.

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by yellowghost

With all due respect, put it on the market and unload it. I admit I don't follow politics so I don't know anything about this guy OR his legacy, but pay homage to it for it's architectual importance, not for it's connection to somebody who hasn't been relevant for years if it all. So sell it. If theres one thing thing that we know by now, it's that it will never get torned down to build some dynamic highrise. If theres interest, let somebody buy it, modernize the interior, live in it and enjoy it. Just my two cents.

But the house is so much more than just a pretty brick building.

Inside it's a time capsule from the Edwardian era, there's really nothing like it on the prairies.

If every old building in town were 'modernized' but sparred the facade, this city would look like a movie lot with real fronts but nothing behind them.

In any case, there's so many restrictions on this building that I doubt it would ever fall into private hands.

[yellowghost]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

But the house is so much more than just a pretty brick building.

Inside it's a time capsule from the Edwardian era, there's really nothing like it on the prairies.

If every old building in town were 'modernized' but sparred the facade, this city would look like a movie lot with real fronts but nothing behind them.

In any case, there's so many restrictions on this building that I doubt it would ever fall into private hands.

I respect that opinion. I am just curiuos to know how many people take the tour on a yearly basis. If its losing 100,000 a year, perhaps the edwardian era isn't as popular as it once was. I am by no means an expect on architecture but I believe a structure designed by say Frank Loyd Wright much attract a far greater amount of people. I took a tour of a Wright house in Arizona and to my eyes, even that looked a little gawdy. Interesting, but gawdy. But it seemed very popular. Maybe what this place needs is more advertising. I haved here my whole life and not know about it until today.

[trueviking]

If every museum had to be financially self sustaining without any support, there would be very few museums in the world. There would certainly be none in manitoba.

This is not just an example of a nice old house. It has an important history in its own right. It also had a significant $2m visitors centre attached to it a few years ago. It's not just a house. It's a museum.

Maybe it can be marketed together with the upper fort garry site.

[1ajs]

its never open when i have tried visiting it

[trueviking]

Pretty funny to suggest that museums must only be of people who are currently 'relevant'. Are there any such museums?...or that one would have to follow politics to be aware of a premier from 115 years ago and son of Canada's first prime minister.

Understanding these types of things are the precise reasons we have museums.

[1ajs]

Group chosen to guide development of U of M's Fort Garry campus, Southwood land
Thinking ahead
By: Bartley Kives
Posted: 11/4/2013

The University of Manitoba is one step closer to redesigning its Fort Garry campus and developing one of the largest uncontaminated plots of vacant land in Winnipeg.
The university has chosen a group of Winnipeg and Toronto architecture and planning firms to guide the future development of its 279-hectare Fort Garry campus and create a planning framework for the former Southwood Golf Course, a 48.5-hectare parcel of land that sits on its northern flank.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/thinking-ahead-230455641.html

[steveosnyder]

Originally Posted by yellowghost

Maybe what this place needs is more advertising. I haved here my whole life and not know about it until today.

I think people have a (unwarrented) opinion that non-for-profits shouldn't be "wasting" money on advertising, especially when it's tax-payer subsidized. I don't understand this because it should be a business decission and if a dollar in advertising returns more than investing it elsewhere then theoretically the museum would be more self-sufficient.

This is also the reason that you can't pay museum curators large sums of money even though they usually require a graduate/post graduate degree. Hence, they either get the people with real passion for the subject, or the people who couldn't find a job anywhere else with their Canadian History Ph.D.

[rrskylar]

Great article in the Freep today by one of the best poster's in here, as someone in the comments section following the article stated, maybe he should run for mayor, I concur!

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/think-like-big-city-neighbours-230455801.html

[trueviking]

Wtf is that u of proposal? That is the walkable model community they asked for? Towers in a park? Unbelievable.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by Flavelle103

Um ... the big TV screen at P&M?

You mean the digital advertising billboard, concrete plaza and driveway that replaced a mid-rise building in a highly visible location?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Wtf is that u of proposal? That is the walkable model community they asked for? Towers in a park? Unbelievable.

The U of M just cannot seem to resist the urge to squander its land resources on atrociously sprawled-out buildings and parking lots. In a place like Hong Kong you'd have close to a half a million people living on something the size of the U of M campus, while the U of M slaps up a one-storey Smartpark building on four acres and then has to buy a golf course because it's running out of land.

I especially loved this part:

transform the Smartpark area into something other than "a homogenous business park."

When I first saw the Smartpark plan a decade ago I, like probably everyone here at the time, knew it was going to be a homogenous business park. Why the sudden change in heart?

I love the concept for a tower schlepped right in the middle of the Pan Am Stadium field. Because there is nowhere else to put such a building.

Low density, unwalkable, no means of establishing a neighbourhood within the university campus... this plan, at least a conceptual level, flat-out sucks. It's just more of the same with flashier, more modern buildings compared to what's already there. I'm sure the defense will be that this is just a concept, but when this is the plan you're starting with, it probably isn't going to get much better than this best-case scenario.

But apart from that, I do like the marina idea.

[1ajs]

weres the u of m skyline sigh