U of A Ring Houses

[_Citizen_Dane_]

Four of the University of Alberta’s most significant heritage buildings are up for demolition this spring. Know as the "Ring Hoses", they originally functioned as staff residences. At one time there were seven of these homes — three were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Windsor Car Park. They're particularly notable for being some of the first local works of the University's first, and only, architecture professor, Cecil Scott Burgess.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1358134123336933376

 

[IanO]

Signed.

 

[Kaizen]

ditto

Very sad state of affairs!

- ``To add your name to the list of signatories, visit this link. New signatories will be added below once per day.

Running count of signatories: 100 (9:11 a.m. Saturday Feb 6); 217 (11:20 a.m.); 402 (3:30 pm)``

 

[Edmcowboy11]

Very sad

Signed

 

[archited]

It seems a simple effort to re-purpose these. Again, the ill-conceived clamp on post-secondary spending by the Provincial Government is bearing rotten fruit. Too bad the wait 'til 2023 is so long.

 

[IanO]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1358176422041247744

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

What makes this situation scary is that unlike a private landowner, if worse comes to worst there's nothing that can be done to save them. In nearly every other instance the City or Province has the theoretical power to plaster on a historic designation to halt a landowner from destroying their buildings — the University is exempt from that rule. A damn shame too given that they were designed by one of Alberta's most consequential architects.

Here's one of the original elevation drawings for the residences, dated to April 1914. Donald G. Wetherell writes of their designs in the book Architecture, Town Planning and Community: Selected Writings and Public Talks by Cecil Scott Burgess, 1909-1946: "[Cecil Burgess] designed seven detached houses for professors and staff. Later known as the Ring Houses, they were built on a cul de sac on the campus's west end. Rented to faculty, these were two storey, three-bedroom houses with basements and featured floor plans that were widely popular in the English-speaking world, especially in North America. Bedrooms were placed on the second floor, and living areas were on the first, with a kitchen at the back looking out onto the garden. The exterior of the buildings featured locally-made brick on the first floor and wood shingle on the second, which conveyed a welcoming, picturesque mood."

University of Alberta Archives No. UAA-1971-213

 

[kcantor]

^

i’m pretty sure demolishing a house - among other houses - designed and occupied by the university’s only professor of architecture doesn’t bode well for the desire to finally have a school of architecture.

 

[archited]

^^^^ "School of Architecture -- bah humbug -- what for -- I am the Premier of the Province and I have only a high-school diploma -- my 'dumbness' hasn't hurt me none (okay maybe its been a drag on the rest of the Province) so I say lets take away funds from post-secondary and help the oil mavens instead)".

 

[TAS]

It seems a simple effort to re-purpose these. Again, the ill-conceived clamp on post-secondary spending by the Provincial Government is bearing rotten fruit. Too bad the wait 'til 2023 is so long.

The education cuts are so frustrating.

Too bad the UofA couldn't strike a partnership with NAIT's millwork and carpentry program. The students could do their practicum work inside these homes restoring them to there former glory.
Probably not how things work but would be nice if something could be done to save these.

 

[archited]

^^^^ Excellent, Excellent, EXCELLENT idea: NAIT working in consult with UofA -- good suggestion @TAS!!!

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

I don't mean to spam, but that's what we get for having a thread specifically focused on some heritage buildings.

I'll issue a correction here: I'm doing some research into these properties and the architects for the first four homes (the ones still standing) seem to be the Strathcona firm Wilson & Herrald, who designed the old Strathcona Public Library, Princess Theatre, First Presbyterian Church, and Rutherford House, among other notable buildings.

An article by local historian Jac MacDoanld for any interested. The quote, “One University employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said the [original] six were victims of the ‘plaque generation’ — Those who though history was best served by the erection of a plaque to commemorate demolished campus heritage”, is pretty sad in retrospect.

 

[kcantor]

^
if that’s spam i’ll take more please.

 

[Platinum107]

I shared the petition with everyone at the CEYC (youth council), and a lot of members attend the U of A. Hope that can help!

 

[TimETown]

Where is the petition please? I would be interested in signing it and forwarding to others who are also former students and UAlberta employees.