111-113 Queen St. & 106-116 Sparks St., Cultural Heritage Impact Statement
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The proposed development for 106-116 Sparks Street. 111-113 Queen St. & 106-116 Sparks St., Cultural Heritage Impact Statement PREPARED FOR ASHCROFT HOMES BY CONTENTWORKS INC. JUNE 2013 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 CULTURAL HERITAGE VALUE 6 DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL 10 CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPACT 14 RECOMMENDATIONS 16 CONCLUSION 16 APPENDIX A: APPROVAL FROM NCC 17 APPENDIX B: NCC STATEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE SPARKS STREET PROPOSED HERITAGE CONSERVATION DISTRICT, OTTAWA, ONTARIO 18 APPENDIX C: HERITAGE SURVEY AND EVALUATION FORM 19 APPENDIX D: GUIDELINES FOR THE SPARKS STREET HERITAGE CONSERVATION DISTRICT 20 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 2 Figure 1: Site plan for the proposed development at 111-113 Queen St. & 106-116 Sparks St. Source: Roderick Lahey Architects Inc, 9 August 2012, annotated by Contentworks. 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 3 Figure 2: Aerial photo showing 111-113 Queen St. and 106-116 Sparks St. (shown at the arrow) in relation to Parliament Hill to the north. Source: City of Ottawa emaps, www.ottawa.ca, accessed 29 August 2012. Introduction Contentworks Inc. has undertaken a review of a proposed development at 111-113 Queen Street and 106-116 Sparks Street to assess its impact on the cultural heritage value of the Sparks Street Heritage Conservation District designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act. This review has given regard to the following key policy documents: Central Area West Heritage Conservation District Study and Plan, December 1999 A Guide to Preparing Cultural Heritage Impact Statements, March 2012 Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, Second Edition, 2010 The review is based on the following design proposal documents: Architectural renderings and plans prepared by Roderick Lahey Architects Inc., 9 August 2012 Statement of Conservation Approach for the Restoration of the Façade of 108-116 Sparks Street for the Canlands A Project, 2 October 2006 The development includes an 18-storey mixed-use structure facing Queen Street that will contain retail space, condominiums and a hotel, and a 6-storey mixed-use structure facing Sparks Street. The development will be organized around a two-storey plaza that will provide an exterior pedestrian connection between Queen and Sparks Street. The plaza sits at grade on Queen Street. A stairway leads up to a courtyard, which is then connected by means of a gently sloped arcade to Sparks Street. A small one-storey link hidden behind both buildings at the Sparks Street level is part of a lobby that bridges the hotel’s entrance on Sparks Street to the Queen Street portion of the hotel. As discussed in more detail in 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 4 this report, the historic façade of an existing building at 106-116 Sparks Street will be retained in-situ as part of the development. The property proposed for development is comprised of three city lots that total 32 metres wide by 61 metres deep, covering a total area of 2,408 square metres. The assembled property bridges a grade differential of 3.5 metres between Sparks and Queen streets. The difference in grade and the depth (north to south) of the property has been fully exploited in the development’s configuration and design, allowing the much taller Queen Street portion to be partially obscured when viewed at grade from Sparks Street. The north portion of the development site currently contains two buildings – 106 Sparks Street and 108- 116 Sparks Street – and empty lots on Queen Street. 106 Sparks Street is a three-storey modern bank building erected in the 1960s. It will be demolished for the redevelopment. 108-116 Sparks Street was originally constructed between 1870 and 1875 as a commercial and retail building, and was extensively remodelled in the 1890s. Subsequently, parts of the interior were renovated as a theatre in the 1910s when an auditorium was added to the building. The auditorium was demolished in the 1970s, leaving the rear part of the property facing Queen Street for parking and the front portion on Sparks Street standing for commercial and retail purposes. All portions of 108-116 Sparks Street, with the exception of the façade, will be demolished for the redevelopment. Figure 3: 106 (left) is a former bank building that will be demolished in the proposed development. 108-116 (right) was built in 1873, with alterations to the façade in the 1890s. The proposal includes plans to retain the façade. Source: Contentworks, 2012. The developer holds an agreement with the current property owner, the National Capital Commission. Under the National Capital Act (amended 1988), the NCC is obligated to conform municipal land-use decisions and relevant provincial and municipal laws, by-laws and plans. For the purposes of the CHIS, the relevant provincial and municipal legislation and plans to be considered are the Ontario Heritage Act and the “Architectural Conservation and Infill Guidelines” for the district. The Sparks Street Heritage Conservation District was designated as a result of a larger study of Ottawa’s downtown core (1997-99) titled the Central Area West Heritage Conservation District Study and Plan. The guidelines for the district are found in study’s documentation. The CHIS is exclusively concerned with these guidelines. It does not 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 5 address any other design or site-plan requirements such as the project’s compliance with the NCC and City of Ottawa urban design guidelines or planning regulations. The NCC has given its approval for the project. The approval document is included in Appendix A. 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 6 Figure 4: The narrow properties and continuous commercial frontages contribute to the 19th-century main-street character on Sparks Street between Metcalfe and O’Connor streets. The Sparks Street development is located at the arrow. Source: Contentworks, 2012. Cultural Heritage Value The Ashcroft Homes project is located within the municipally designated Sparks Street Heritage Conservation District (SSHCD). The district includes city blocks bounded by Wellington, Bank, Queen and Elgin streets, but excludes seven properties (previously or currently owned by the Government of Canada) that are of sufficient heritage value to be designated as municipal heritage properties under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The seven excluded properties are the National Press Building, the Langevin Block, the Chambers Buildings, the Scottish Ontario Chambers, the Nova Scotia Bank, the Union Bank Building and the Poulin Building. The SSHCD was formally recognized under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Ottawa in 2000 but the by-law was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board. In 2007 the appeal resulted in a settlement addressing two issues – future heritage overlays and the heritage expectations for new developments. Neither issue is substantive for the purpose of this CHIS. The SSHCD was designated for its association with the development of Ottawa as both a commercial centre and the nation’s capital. The City of Ottawa has not yet proposed a Statement of Cultural Heritage Value for the SSHCD. In its place, a Statement of Cultural Heritage Significance for the SSHCD prepared by the NCC that summarizes the heritage values and attributes set out in the CHCD serves as as guidance for this CHIS. The full text of the NCC’s Statement of Cultural Heritage Significance is included as Appendix B. In summary, it advises that the district has value because it features a concentration of private and public retail and administrative buildings that are associated with Ottawa 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 7 history and have symbolic value to the Capital. The buildings represent a range of architectural styles, building types and periods of construction that co-exist to create a harmonious “main street” streetscape. Pedestrian movement contributes to the value of the district. Figure 5: The SSHCD (top) is bounded by Wellington, Bank, Queen and Elgin streets, just south of Parliament Hill. Source: City of Ottawa. The Ashcroft Homes development is centrally located in the core of the district in the middle of a block on Sparks Street that carries all of the district’s heritage values as described in the Statement of Cultural Heritage Significance. In spite of a range of architectural styles and periods of construction, both sides of the street feature a harmonious collection of narrow buildings with almost identical setbacks. While buildings vary in overall height and width, the ground floors are often similar in height. Ground-floor spaces were designed for use as banks, retail stores or restaurants; the upper floors served as offices. The Ashcroft Homes project includes a large structure on Queen Street. While the whole property is within the district, the Queen Street streetscape does not contain the historic attributes associated with Sparks and Wellington streets. 111-113 QUEEN ST. & 106-116 SPARKS ST. CHIS, JUNE 2013 CONTENTWORKS INC. 8 The SSHCD study examined individual properties in terms of their contribution to the heritage value of the district. Most of the Sparks Street buildings on the block between O’Connor and Metcalfe streets were evaluated at the time of the district study at the highest levels of heritage significance, namely, Group 1 or Group 2.1 106 Sparks Street, which was constructed in the 1960s for a bank, was evaluated as a Group 4 building, meaning that it does not contribute to the overall heritage character and value of the district. 108-116 Sparks Street was evaluated as a Group 2 building because it is built to the edge of the lot on Sparks Street and features architectural details that contribute to the historic, commercial streetscape and, therefore, to the overall heritage character and value of the district.