Dominion Building as a museum?

The Guardian - EDITORIALS - published Dec 22, 2008
The old capital landmark is front-runner in search for provincial museum building.

The grand old lady of Charlottetown may have a lot of years left in her yet with suitors aplenty knocking on the door. The latest group to court the former Dominion Building, a landmark in the capital city for over 50 years, is a firm assessing the site for a provincial museum.

Lundholm Associates, a firm which specializes in planning and designing museums, is assessing the feasibility of converting the building into a museum site. It's important to stress that the future use for the former Dominion Building has yet to be determined. But when government said recently it was looking to locate a provincial museum in a central location, the first site on many minds was the six-storey structure on lower Queen Street. A Canada Lands Company spokesman said that many members of both the public and provincial government have commented the facility is "an absolutely perfect site" for a provincial museum. The huge building would certainly have other uses, yet to be determined.

The building was once the main post office for the city and housed most federal agencies and offices for many years. The structure was declared redundant and replaced by the new Jean Canfield Building. It needs a major facelift and modernization before it can be re-occupied. It's a huge structure of 53,645 square metres on a .72-hectare site, or 176,000 square feet on 1.5 acres.

And it will take a lot of money to bring it up to modern specifications. Who will be able to come up with the kind of cash needed to bring the building well into the 21st century?

When city heritage activist Catherine Hennessey held a 75th birthday party earlier this fall, she made a point of having the party on the top floor of the old federal building with a sweeping panoramic view of the city as the sun set. It was a special sight staged for the benefit of some key movers and shakers in the city and province, to hammer home just how special a location and building exists in the heart of the downtown, and how essential it is for the city to keep the building in use. Hennessey and her supporters would like nothing better than to have the building converted into a museum.

The province is stressing that proper planning is needed for a new museum facility to ensure it meets the expectations and needs of the people of P.E.I. But there can be little doubt that the building is among the front-runners as the location for the provincial museum.

Earlier this year, Canada Lands Company sent out 25 packages across the country to those companies and individuals expressing a desire to purchase and develop the building. So there is considerable interest in the building and care must be taken to ensure it's used properly in the future.

An open house held last January identified office, retail, institutional, hotel, residential and cultural uses such as a modern public library, archival and museum services. Other options include a hotel and condominiums but that would not necessarily complement the heritage district. The CLC is hoping to have people back in the building in 2010 which doesn't leave a lot of time to plan and to ensure the building continues to be an integral part of a vibrant downtown Charlottetown.