EDMONTON A group has presented the University of Alberta with a proposal suggesting ways its four historical Ring Houses could be restored and used. The proposal comes from the Ring House Coalition, a group formed in February that wants to see the historic, stately homes saved, rather than demolished as originally planned. “The Ring Houses are valuable to any redevelopment planned for the NW quadrant of North campus the historic anchors in under-utilized space, providing a friendly connection to the community and the river valley,” the proposal stated. Some of the proposed uses include art exhibition space, a boutique hotel and a microbrewery.
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The fate of the Ring Houses is still unclear. Will they all be demolished this month, as the University of Alberta has proposed? We know they are considering all options, and we appreciated being told that.
However, it appears that the university has plans to sell off the interior contents of the houses each piece is over 100 years old. What is happening here? Is the university stripping the houses of their valuable interior elements, like the fabulous fireplace surround in president Henry Marshall Tory’s home office to the clawfoot bathtub?
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It has been some two months since the alarm was sounded in the Edmonton Journal’s opinion page concerning the University of Alberta’s planned May demolition of the four remaining Ring Houses.
Since February, 2,455-plus members of the public have signed a petition urging the U of A to press pause on the demolition proposal for one year. And signatures keep coming in. What is the harm in asking for a year’s delay? None. This would allow these historic homes to be professionally assessed and evaluated for repurposing as was done in 1970 for Rutherford House, at the time up for demolition by the U of A.
Renewed calls to suspend demolition of University of Alberta Ring Houses edmonton.ctvnews.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from edmonton.ctvnews.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.