Heritage or not?

As many of you likely know, I have a strong interest in architectural heritage. In fact, when I started school, one career avenue I wanted to explore was to specialize in heritage renovations, and/or work for the government in the area of heritage.

Then, I began to learn what heritage was. In my mind, I thought, as many people do, that if a building was old, it deserved to be considered a heritage building, and therefore every effort should be made to renovate it, if not restore it to its original condition outright. I was also aware of people in this world who thought if it was old, it should be torn down, in order to make way for new buildings.

Well, a few classes, conferences, and site visits later, and I have begun to learn that there is a whole world of compromise between the two, and that assessing a building as to where it lies on the spectrum of "its heritage and should be restored" to "its junk and should be demolished" is no simple matter.

Take for instance the courthouse building in Wolseley, SK, that I referred to a couple of posts ago. Its over 100 years old, and is one of the first of its kind in the province. The town hired our class to do an assessment of it, and to make some recommendations in regards to renovating/restoring it so that they could have something to present to the government when they would apply for provincial funding. And, at first glance, I thought it was a sure thing to be a provincial heritage property.

However, after more in depth investigation into its history, usage, and present condition. I was surprised at what we concluded as a group. You see, it only functioned as an actual courthouse for less than a decade, after which point it was used for a host of different purposes, not the least of which was as an auxiliary building for the subsequently built adjacent seniors home. It was 'bastardized' over and over, and very little of it original stature remains. Nothing significant ever happened there, and there are no overly notable names associated with it. It now stands empty and unused, and while it is mostly structurally sound, and great deal of work (and money) would need to be poured into it before it could be used as a public building again.









So the question is, does this building warrant full restoration to its original condition, should it be renovated again to be made functional for a different purpose, or should it be torn down to make way for something newer and shiner?