18 Years Since Gallery Collapse

THE DAY OF THE COLLAPSE

On Monday, March 19, 2007, at 10:00 am the historic 1929 Grande Prairie High School that was the home to the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (previously Prairie Art Gallery) suffered a collapse of the southern wing of the building. No one was injured and no artworks were significantly damaged. The building was built in 1929 and is one of the oldest brick buildings still standing in Grande Prairie. The building was designated a historic site in 1984.

It was the quick thinking of Executive Director/Curator Robert Steven that helped the Gallery avoid even further loss that day. Early that morning, Robert saw the cracked beams in the ceiling of the Gallery’s south side exhibition space. He immediately notified Gallery staff and the teachers of the pre-school class of 20 children not to enter the building. He moved the artwork on display in the south gallery room to the north side, evacuated the site, guarded the door to ensure no one entered, and then called the City to investigate.

City staff arrived on site to inspect the building, both inside and out, and shockingly only moments after City workers left the building and staff looked on from the road, a third of the roof began to sag and the walls came crashing down.

At the time, deputy fire Chief Harvey Pearson said, “They had left to take another look at it from a different point of view and, boom, it came down.”

Nearby buildings were evacuated in the event of further collapse, and gas and power were cutoff to the site. Only six months after moving with his family to Grande Prairie and starting his new position as Executive Director/Curator, Robert Steven stood alongside his staff and community and watched as the historic building’s walls fell.

FOLLOWING THE COLLAPSE

In the days following the collapse, there were discussions about safely securing the site and retrieving the art collection. The Gallery sought advice from the Canadian Conservation Institute and connected with Tara Fraser, Senior Conservator of Paper and co-founder of Fraser Spafford Ricci Art & Archival Conservation. She arrived from Surrey, BC on March 22 to set up a recovery plan. Tara’s extensive experience and knowledge in the conservation and preservation of fine art paper was critical in preserving the works onsite and later during restoration of damaged works.

Also, during this time, engineers, City staff, and crews from local companies worked to remove the snow from the area and made plans to remove the 3,000 kg heating and ventilation unit to prevent further collapse to the structure.

On March 26th, one week after the collapse, artwork in the basement vault was removed by Gallery staff and board members under the supervision of the Grande Prairie Fire Department. All materials in the classrooms directly below the collapsed roof and in the upstairs gallery had to wait for removal of the debris from the surrounding building and were not removed until April 3. On March 28, a controlled demolition was carried out to safely remove the eastside wall of the south wing. At this time, it was debated whether the historic building would be restored.

Many concerned individuals in the community advocated for the preservation of the historical integrity of the collapsed Art Gallery of Grande Prairie and to continue action of the plan to integrate it into the architectural design of the new Montrose Cultural Centre (MCC.)

The groundbreaking for construction of the soon to be built multimillion-dollar Montrose Cultural Centre was scheduled that spring. After years of planning and fundraising, everything was in place to begin construction in May 2007, only two months from the time of the collapse in March. The project would attach the new home of the Grande Prairie Public Library and the expansion of the Gallery on 103 Ave, right next to where the collapse occurred.

Construction of the Montrose Cultural Centre moved forward, the Gallery staff found temporary offices and collection storage in the Station 97 area downtown, and truckloads of Gallery’s materials were stored in several areas throughout the city. The historic 1929 high school building sat empty and boarded up while its future was unknown.

RESTORATION PROJECT

In an eight to one vote in June 2007, City council recommended the building be demolished, but because the building had heritage status, they needed to wait for provincial approval.

In December 2008, the Minister of Cultural and Community Spirit, Lindsay Blackett, sent the City of Grande Prairie a letter supporting the repair of the provincially designated historic site. This support from the Government of Alberta led to the 2007 decision to demolish the building being revoked when City council unanimously voted on December 15, 2008, in support of the building being restored.

While construction of the MCC continued, plans started for the restoration of the high school building, including working with architects on redesigning the interior of the Gallery and how it would connect to the MCC, securing the general contractor, and setting construction schedules.

In May 2009, the City of Grande Prairie received the news of a $5.6 million grant for the Gallery’s repairs from the federal and provincial governments through the Build Canada Fund. Construction began on the restoration of the historic Grande Prairie high school in the Fall of 2010.

Chandos Construction of Edmonton was the general contractor of the $6.7 million project. Teeple Architects (Toronto) who designed the MCC were tasked to redesign the restoration of the historic high school building and spaces the Gallery would call home again.

In somewhat of a blessing in disguise, the redesign was an opportunity to provide the building with a new steel structure and transform the existing two levels into three levels. The original designs from 2007 essentially kept the interior of the high school building the same while connecting to the MCC. By adding another level, the redesign provided more stability to the framework, more exhibition space for the Gallery, and a continued style of the MCC.

RESTORATION COMPLETED

Five years after the collapse, and after living in temporary offices or in the newly built MCC, (with only one exhibition room and no classroom, workshop or storage,) the Gallery finally reopened. The historic building was fully restored and fully integrated with the Gallery spaces in the Montrose Cultural Centre in 2012. A large grande opening was held in September 2012 during Alberta Culture Days.

The Gallery reopened with a classroom for programming, five addition spaces to host exhibitions, a second vault to store the Permanent Collection, storage space, and a workshop to build crates, not to mention the final home the Green Space. A program that started in 2009, became a pop-up space within the Gallery as it moved to different rooms during different exhibitions. The completion of the restored building allowed for the Green Space to find its permanent home on the second level of the Gallery.

ABOUT THE NAME

Since 1910, the land has been known as “Montrose” and the name was given by settler and community builder, Agnes Forbes. It was named after her home in a region of Scotland and was the site of the historic Grande Prairie High School that was built in 1929. The site was also the location of other schools, including the Montrose Junior High School, which was torn down and removed in 1994.