Preservation Issue #3: The Site

We've spent a lot of time talking about the Providence Academy building, but it is important to think about the Providence Academy site as well.  The Vancouver Municipal Code states that one of the purposes of the Academy's Heritage Overlay District is:
C.  Retention of unique character. To retain, conserve, and improve historical, cultural, and architectural environments attractive to residents and to visitors, thereby promoting the economic health of the City while retaining its unique historical and architectural features.
 It's that "historical, cultural ... environments" that concerns us here.  When the Providence Academy site - not just the building, but the whole site - was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places, the nomination emphasized the significance of the site.  According to the nomination:
Practically and aesthetically, the Academy grounds were once as important as the main building.
They were important because of their relationship to the building and how the grounds established the prominence of the Academy in the district.  But they were also important in and of themselves, again according to the nomination:
Reporting on the formal ceremonies which marked the start of construction on the site, the Catholic Sentinel of September 26, 1873, remarked that the landscaping on the Academy grounds was such that "beauty as well as utility will combine to make the orphan's home a temple of happiness".
 Just as it is significant that formal architecture like the Academy would be dedicated to the poor and needy and the orphan instead of just the wealthy, it is significant that green and garden space like this would be dedicated to them as well.

The grounds were an integral part of the Academy.  Again, as the nomination states:
The Academy grounds were an integral part of the institution in terms of design and function.
 It is bad enough that these historically significant grounds have been paved and graveled over, but that can be reversed and the grounds restored.  But if the grounds go under a building, then they are lost.  This does not mean that construction is not possible.  Mother Joseph and her successors continuously built on the site to support the Academy.  But the proposal's location is an issue.  The location on the downtown-facing side of the site means that this proposal is going to destroy one of, if not the most, public-facing parts of the contemporary grounds.

But it goes beyond this.  When Mother Joseph bought this land, it is because the US Army had begun the process of forcing Catholics out of the St. James mission, and Mother Joseph saw that she was going to have to move.  She chose a plot of land between the Army Fort and the nascent City of Vancouver.  But the site was divided by street paths and the City initially refused to allow Mother Joseph to join the four lots together tot build the Academy.  Mother Joseph had to fight a male-dominated City government who doubted that a woman could pull off such an ambitious plan.  She eventually prevailed.

This is just one more reason that the proposed development is so problematic.  The unity of the site is a historically significant feature.  A simple reading of the National Register Nomination would have made this obvious.  It is one thing to build on the site, it is another entirely to legally and physically divide the site, destroying this historically significant aspect of the site.  It is all the more problematic when we consider how under-represented and under-respected the contributions of women are in historic preservation today.

In this way, the Trust's current proposal does not tell Mother Joseph's story, it disrespects her story and her legacy.



And don't forget to sign the Petition if you haven't already!

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