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Nobody wanted to see the 150-year old complex at Simms Corner
become a "vacant, neglected, permanent eyesore, least of all the
provincial government, which had to spend a fortune on heat."
"The prospect of the buildings being left as flat as a blank slate within a few weeks or months has upset local heritage groups". They wanted to preserve the original pre-1871 asylum, at least the 12 to 15 percent of the building that was Italianate-style. This, they argued to the government, should secure an important part of Canadian and New Brunswick architectural and cultural history.
This idea was turned down
by Common Council. Heritage Saint John argued that keeping part of the building
would have made future development more feasible. They also argued that
"preservation would exhibit a commitment to heritage stewardship, but
that's an observation, not at reason".
"Heritage Saint John has argued that a salvage strategy would not
only reduce the amount of material unnecessarily going to a landfill, but would
create a unique resource of building materials suited for heritage
projects".
In the sale agreement J.D. Irving offered to give
any significant artifacts to the New Brunswick Museum. "But we are
unsure just how far the word "artifacts" extends, and doubt it
encompasses the building materials that heritage groups covet". It
would be even better to get the new owners to sit down and try to hammer out a
way to salvage reusable materials.
"There is value in these materials. It would be wasteful to see them
all crushed and carted off."
In fact, individual members of Heritage Saint John salvaged an amount of
material that will be used in heritage restoration projects for years to come,
All pages © Heritage Resources and New
Brunswick Community College - Saint John.
