Art gallery a good fit for King George

The potential demolition of an historic school has been a frequent source of controversy in Peterborough.

Efforts to preserve those buildings inevitably consider remaking them as a museum or gallery. It happened with Central Public School, the original St. Peter’s High School, King Edward School and Peterborough Collegiate.

Fortunately only King Edward was lost to demolition.

But none became a museum or gallery, in part because no such institution was looking for a home when the buildings became available.

Suitability for conversion might also have been an issue but the discussions never got that far.

Now King George School’s future is up for consideration. The public school board will replace both it and Armour Heights Public School with a new building on the King George site on Hunter St. E.

There is no debate about its suitability for preservation. The 104-year-old school is important architecturally, historically and aesthetically. The school board recognizes its significance and city council on Monday agreed to help try to preserve it.

In this case, conversion to a gallery or museum could actually apply.

Coun. Lesley Parnell on Monday night suggested the Art Gallery of Peterborough could move into King George. Mayor Daryl Bennett replied that promoting a specific use is premature so early in the process.

In practical terms that is true. There is a lot to be done before the school board starts looking for tenants or a buyer. But the idea of moving in the AGP is worth considering.

The gallery has been looking for a larger home for some time. Three years ago a consultant recommended doubling the size of its Little Lake site at a cost of $12 million or moving to a new downtown space: price tag $16 million.

King George is not as central as the AGP’s current location and doesn’t fit with the notion of moving right downtown.

However, since that report was written the Canadian Canoe Museum has settled on a site below the Lift Lock and just down the street from King George for its spectacular new $50-million home.

A new AGP, the Canadian Canoe Museum and the Peterborough Museum and Archives would be grouped within easy walking distance, exactly the sort of cultural “hub” many cities promote.

The conversion would not be as simple or inexpensive as adding an elevator and doing some retrofitting at a cost of $300,00, as Coun. Parnell suggested. At the very least the interior would need to be redesigned to create open gallery spaces and air conditioning added.

But if the city is going to replace the AGP, King George could be a relatively low-cost solution that also makes good sense in the big picture.