Photo by Steve Garecke / sg@stevegerecke.com
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s part of a blog post from Rideau-Rockliffe Councillor Tobi Nussbaum about the Bradley-Craig barn, after council approved demolition/relocation to Munster. He was one of three councillors to vote against the plan.
I consider the outcome a disappointing loss for the built heritage of our growing City… By moving the barn, Richcraft is missing an opportunity to repurpose it into something exciting and valuable, from both a financial and community perspective…
There are fewer sites designated as heritage in the suburban and rural areas, which further increases the unique value these buildings can lend to redevelopments. A re-imagined and repurposed Bradley/Craig barn could have made this into a landmark destination. There are many examples – both within our own region and internationally – of creative adaptive re-uses of barns… Richcraft acknowledged it did not actively consider such ideas, something Council should have required before permission to dismantle and move the barn was granted…
In light of the homogeny of much of the new retail and commercial plazas sprouting from the very fields where farmers once toiled, the importance – and the opportunity – of protecting outstanding examples of our rural heritage becomes that much greater. Today, Ottawa irrevocably lost a piece of its history in time and place…
https://twitter.com/joeboughner/status/692701875578114048