November 8, 1999

Memorandum to: His Worship Mayor Wells and Members of Council

Re: Belvedere Property, Bonaventure Avenue (Ward 2)
Property Owner: Sisters of Mercy Generalate
Proposed Designation as Heritage Buildings

During the week of November 1, 1999, the Heritage Advisory Committee ("the Committee") met on two occasions and conducted a site visit to determine the importance of designating the existing buildings on the Belvedere Property as Heritage Buildings under the provisions of the St. John's Development Regulations.

On November 3, 1999, the Committee met with representatives of Myles-Leger Ltd. who have made application to rezone the site to accommodate a townhousing development. On November 5, 1999, the Committee met with Sister Charlotte Fitzpatrick of the Sisters of Mercy Generalate and their legal representative, Mr. Roland Snelgrove. The property owners were good enough to make the interior of the buildings available for a site viewing by members of the Committee. This took place on November 5, 1999.

There are three existing buildings on the site:

Belvedere Convent (or St. Michael's Convent):

This white, two storey building is approximately 170 years old.

Belvedere Orphanage:

This red, four storey building was built in 1885 and is attached to the Belvedere Convent. It was used as an orphanage until the 1960's, then used as offices of the Roman Catholic School Board for St. John's, for "The Monitor" Catholic newspaper and other purposes.

Groundskeeper's House:

This small white house behind the convent was used for the groundskeeper of the Belvedere property.  The house was constructed in the late 1800's.

Recommendation

The Committee recommends that Council designated St. Michael's Convent and Belvedere Orphanage as Heritage Buildings under the St. John's Development Regulations. It should be noted that both of these buildings scored very highly on the evaluation criteria.

The Committee has determined that although the Caretaker's House does not qualify for heritage designation as per the City's evaluation criteria, it does recognize that it is worthy of retention and restoration, especially in view of its long-standing historical association with St. Michael's Convent and Belvedere Orphanage.

For information purposes, it should be noted that Section 5.9.2 of the St. John's Development Regulations provides that Council may, by Resolution, designated any building within St. John's which is of architectural or historic importance as a "Heritage Building".

The Development Regulations state that, unless the request for designation is made by the owner(s) of such a building, Council must give thirty (30) days written notice to the building owner(s) of Council's intention to designated the building as a Heritage Building.  The purpose of the written notification is to give the building owner(s) an opportunity to make representation to Council with respect to the intended designation.

Section 5.9.3 of the Development Regulations states that "...no person shall remove, pull down, or demolish any designated Heritage Building except for life safety reasons or for the purpose of carrying out a public work, nor shall the exterior of any Heritage Building be repaired or altered without the express written permission of Council."

As the proposed designation of St. Michael's Convent and Belvedere Orphanage is being initiated by the Committee and not the property owner, it will be necessary for Council to provide the Sister's of Mercy Generalate with thirty (30) days written notice of the proposed designation of the buildings as Heritage Buildings if Council accepts this recommendation from the Committee.

It is recommended that Council direct staff to initiate action in accordance with Section 5.9.2 of the St. John's Development Regulations to designate Belvedere Orphanage and St. Michael's Convent as Heritage Buildings.