Experts recommend demolition of Hotel Wellington
the Granada Theatre in 1996, the firm classified the heritage value of the hotel as average. This comes as a result of the state of the structure, the quality of materials used in the construction, the lack of proper maintenance and repairs over many years and the functional obsolescence of the premises.
The report specifies that while the building does have historical value, it is focused more on the intangible heritage of the site’s influence on the Sherbrooke community. It also notes that there is value of to some architectural aspects of the façade, although conservation of these carvings is not guaranteed because of the likelihood that they would break in the process of being removed. Despite that challenge, however, an effort to preserve parts of the facade for inclusion in the Well Inc. redevelopment program is recommended.
Jubinville et ass. also recommended the enhancement of the current archives to bear witness to the intangible heritage value of the building.
"We welcome the recommendations
made in the Wellington Hotel Heritage Notice,” ,” said Sherbrooke Mayor Bernard Sévigny, explaining that an effort will be made to preserve the building’s intangible history. “We will keep the hotel signs as well as the sign for the bar Le Coude. They will be stored in the short term to eventually be reinstalled in the neighborhood as part of a particular project. We have also taken care to take a series of photographs to preserve a visual archive of the building as it is now for the Sherbrooke Historical Society. In the coming months, it would be interesting to invite the citizens of Sherbrooke to retrace the highlights of the Hôtel Wellington using the hotel’s personal archives. A project to enhance these archives in the Quartier would be a very interesting gesture. Finally, with regard to the preservation of heritage elements of interest on the façade, we will do what is necessary to preserve them during the demolition of the building. However, the condition of these ornaments is precarious and breakages are possible."