A couple of weeks ago, a historical landmark, Alma College, in my home city (St. Thomas) due for demolition burned down to the ground during protests to protect this great building. Of course, due to the timing of such a fire, the current owner who was in favour of tearing the building has come under a bit of scrutiny. In the end, two teenagers were arrested for burning down Alma College.
It is defintely a sad day for St. Thomas, especially when you consider just how few of these landmarks still exist in this once thriving city. There is still a great number of people that feel that the owner of the Alma College property is somehow linked to the fire.
I recently got to talking with a friend of mine who had a friend who knew the owner. Apparently, the owner of the land simply felt that tearing down the building and putting a similar looking one for a retirement home was far less expensive than restoring the current building. It makes sense, but in such an extreme circumstance where there was such opposition, could this really be the best option? Could there not have been enough outside funding to help restore the building? I’m pretty sure the answer is yes. Anyways, I am going to do some research on the cost and benefits of restoring a historical building versus building a new one.
For a complete overview of the Alma Collefe fire, follow the link below:
