If 60 buildings drop off the city's historic buildings inventory does anybody care ?

I've vented in the past that Manitoba's 'official' heritage groups simply aren't doing enough to make their information available to the public. While other jurisdictions have been busy digitizing collections and some even have archives that are open outside of bankers hours, most of our resources are stuck in the 1990's with little sign that they are going anywhere.

Here's a case of what little online content we do have moving in reverse. What's worse is nobody really cares all that much.

I came across the information while researching a house on Sargent Avenue. A Google search brought me to the 2010-2011 annual report of the Manitoba Heritage Association and the recap of the year's activities of the Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee. The HBC is a City of Winnipeg committee made up of: Councillor J. Gerbasi Council (member-at-large); Councillor P. Havixbeck (Property and Development Committee); Tim Worth (Manitoba Historical Society); David Kressock (Manitoba Association of Architects); Neil Einarson (Province of Manitoba - Culture, Heritage & Tourism); and Gregory Thomas (Government of Canada - Parks Canada).

The recap, written by Tim Worth of the Manitoba Historical Society, noted:

"In an ongoing review of the addresses included in the Inventory in 2010-11, the decision was made to remove 60 addresses and retain 288 of those that had been taken into consideration."

Sadly, this means that each of those 60 buildings' reports get removed from the city's online Historic Building Inventory database, thus disappearing from the internet.

Click the link above and you can check out some of these documents. "Overview" reports are usually just a page or two but contain valuable information about when the building was built, who built it, the original owners etc.. "Long" reports can be 5 - 10 pages long and contain a detailed description of the building, past owners, the architects and background information on the neighbourhood they are in and / or the industry that the building was built for.

I was already disappointed to know that when buildings are de-listed or demolished the reports disappear from the web rather than be placed in some 'past buildings' section. Until I read this, I didn't even realize that there was a regular 'cull' of the list.

Was anyone concerned about this removal ?

The MHS report notes no opposition to the removal. I emailed Heritage Winnipeg but got no response from their office. Jenny Gerbasi, the council rep on this board, just forwarded my email to the senior planner in charge of the inventory without comment or opinion.

To her credit, I did get a reply from the senior planner in charge of the building list. Yes, deleted buildings do get removed from their website (though the committee does publish an annual "Year in Review" but it's content is not searchable online so you have to know in advance that the building appears in one of the 30 or so editions of the publication.) When the city gets a new website, they'll consider a 'buildings of the past section'. Not exactly a ray of hope that these building reports will see the light of day again, still, it was the closest thing I could find to concern that these building reports are not available to the public anymore.

So continues the sad state of Manitoba's online heritage resources.

Here are the addresses of the buildings that are removed. If any of them are of interest you .. tough luck as their reports are not available online anymore:

566 Alexander Avenue – duplex
317 Alfred Avenue – R. Worobec House
476 Bannatyne Avenue – G. Stevens House
573 Broadway – M. Wright House
738 Broadway – Knowles School for Boys
127 Burrows Avenue – House
129 Burrows Avenue – Alfred Clarke House
153 Burrows Avenue – House
161 Burrows Avenue – House
169 Burrows Avenue – J. Westman House
471 College Avenue – C. Runge Grocery & Hardware Store
99 Furby Street – J. Saul House
407 Furby Street – D. MacDonald House
432 Furby Street – Dawson Court Apartments
441 Furby Street – S. H. Smith House
633 Furby Street – G. Garrow House
663 Furby Street – W. Milne House
665 Furby Street – A. Houghton House
255 Gunnell Street – W. W. Wortman House
47 Harriet Street – E. Green House
471 Henry Avenue – H. Kleon House
191 Inkster Boulevard – Christie Grocery Store
68 Isabel Street – Rev. J. J. Roy House
38 Kate Street – Williamson Block
998 Main Street – Westmount Apartments
186 Manitoba Avenue – Walman Apartments
604 McDermot Avenue – J. E. Briggs Duplex
612 McDermot Avenue – J. M. Scott House
202 Notre Dame Street – Gilbert House
212 Notre Dame Street – House
287 Redwood Avenue – A. C. Smith House
290 River Avenue – J. O. Smith House
351 River Avenue – Rosemount Flats
436 Ross Avenue – J. E. Fisher Terrace
448 Ross Avenue – Colin Campbell House
450 Ross Avenue – House
484 Sargent Avenue – A. Bright House
524 Sargent Avenue – Miller Block
561 Sargent Avenue – Peterson Block
637 Sargent Avenue – Connaught Block
130 Sherbrook Street – F. W. Henry House
370 Sherbrook Street – A. Mauer House
378 Sherbrook Street – House
382 Sherbrook Street – House
646 Sherbrook Street – E. B. Fink House
651 Sherbrook Street – J. Petke House
727 Sherbrook Street – B. L. Baldwinson House
379 William Avenue – Rannard Duplex
593 William Avenue – C. A. Hill House
421 Langside Street – E. J. Clarey House
452 Langside Street – Mrs. H. Stodgell House
356 Lindsay Street – H. Tait House
783 Main Street – City Machinery
813 Main Street – R. Bell Block
860 Main Street – Yale (Ontario) Hotel
597 William Avenue – W. K. Blair House
254 Young Street – J. R. Hitchings House
256 Young Street – House
263 Young Street – C. Harris House
285 Young Street – N. Boyd House