Stratford councilor plans to revive Avon Crest heritage designation debate

At least one politician in Stratford wants to reopen a previously settled debate about the future of the city’s first public hospital, a privately owned 130-year-old building on John Street heritage advocates are trying to save from the wrecking ball.

count. Cody Sebben, the chair of city hall’s planning and heritage committee, is planning to reintroduce on March 27 a previously defeated motion to formally designate the Avon Crest Hospital lands as a heritage site.

“Since it was voted on by council, we’ve had an election and the majority of councilors are new,” Sebben said Friday. “To me, it’s really important because since last fall … there’s been quite a bit of public interest. A lot of people have been reaching out hoping to save the building. Once the site is demolished, there’s no turning back, so I think it’s important that this council have the opportunity to make that decision.”

Heritage Stratford, a volunteer advisory committee, recommended to councilors last year that Avon Crest be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. That designation would have placed a number of restrictions on the historic building’s redevelopment, including a requirement that its owners, the Huron Perth Health Care Alliance, seek approval from city council before moving forward with plans to tear it down.

The recommendation, opposed by the hospital group, was put in front of the planning and heritage committee last July but failed to gain enough support. At the time, Sebben and former city councilor Dave Gaffney were the only ones who voted in favor.

A group of heritage advocates in Stratford have since launched a public campaign to try to save the building.

Save Avon Crest, which includes Jayne Trachsel, president of the Stratford and District Historical Society, and Allan Tye, president of the Architectural Conservancy Ontario branch in Stratford and Perth County, launched a website in September outlining the hospital’s history and the arguments behind its effort to preserve as much of the building as possible.

More recently, the group sent a position paper to Stratford councilors, the Heritage Stratford advisory committee, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and the healthcare alliance outlining what they believe to be the cultural, environmental and economic benefits of preserving the building.

According to Save Avon Crest’s paper, keeping the building would prevent more than 130,000 kilograms of embedded carbon from being released into the atmosphere, and the group is urging city hall to direct its climate change program manager to investigate further. They also believe the city should explore whether or not the site might be suitable for development similar to the housing project happening on the old Victoria Hospital grounds in nearby London.

The former chair of Heritage Stratford, Cambria Ravenhill, and architectural historian Howard Shubert, both members of Save Avon Crest, said Friday they were pleased with Sebben’s decision to bring the matter back to city hall.

“If you want to save a building and see that it’s repurposed, which is what we want, then the only tool really available is heritage designation,” Shubert said. “It’s not just about saving the building, it’s about doing something with it. The hope is that … puts some pressure on the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance to reconsider their plans.”

The alliance isn’t budgeting, however.

“We remain resolute in our view that the track we’re on is the absolute right track for this community,” Andrew Williams, the hospital group’s chief executive, said Friday. “Our view is that this particular issue was settled by the previous council in a very strong way. If council deems this needs to be reopened and discussed, then obviously we will follow the processes that we’re required to follow.”

The alliance manages hospitals in Stratford, St. Marys, Clinton and Seaforth. Williams has said in the past the organization’s attempts to find partners interested in redeveloping Avon Crest had been unsuccessful because of the building’s location and the amount of money it would take to refurbish it – previously estimated to be around $25 million.

A bid the hospital has posted for the demolition of Avon Crest remains open. Its deadline was recently extended to March 14.

“There was some additional details we needed to provide to ensure that we got the best, most comprehensive bids,” Williams said. “It’s not an uncommon part of a tender process, so we have extended it a little bit for those who are interested.”

Once the bid closes and a contractor is selected, the alliance can apply for a demolition permit from city hall. Typically, those permits are considered by staff and are not subject to a vote at city council.

Avon Crest, designed by renowned London, Ont.-born architect George F. Durand before his death in 1889, opened two years later and offered inpatient services for nearly a century before those began being transferred to the modern Stratford General Hospital across the street.

An extension was added to Avon Crest in 1910. Avon Crest’s two-hectare campus is also still home to a gardeners’ cottage built in 1904 and a nurses’ residence built in 1929.

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