Winnipeg’s Carnegie Library is listed as one of the country’s most at-risk buildings.
The National Trust for Canada placed the building on its Top 10 Endangered Places list for 2018.
“We put out a list every year to try to draw attention to places that have challenges and where we can actually make a difference,” Chris Wiebe, Manager of Heritage of Policy and Government Relations, said.
“The Winnipeg library is a really iconic building in Winnipeg, and I know that it’s been teetering on the edge of finding some kind of a solution in recent years.”
The Carnegie Library was built in 1905 and existed as the city’s first functioning public library until 1994, when it became home to the city’s archives.
It was designated a heritage site in 1984, and closed for renovations in 2010, three years before a severe rainstorm caused significant water damage.
READ MORE: City archives in Winnipeg need to be relocated
“In the last ten years, we’ve spent considerable money on the building, for the purposes of refurbishing it,” Brad Erickson, Manager of Municipal Accommodations for the City of Winnipeg, said.
“In 2013, when that roof was being replaced, what happened was there was a rain event and there was significant damage done while the building was under construction and while the roof was being replaced.”
Wiebe said he became concerned for the building’s future after the City of Winnipeg mentioned several years ago that they were looking around for a new home for the archives, instead of planning to fix up the Carnegie Library and return the archives to their former home.
“It’s an iconic building, but often in these situations where there’s not an immediate solution or where they sit around unused for a number of years, concerns rise, because people tend to go to worst-case scenarios with these kinds of places,” Wiebe said. “We wanted to intervene early and really encourage the City of Winnipeg to think long and hard about this building and to bringing it back as an archival space and not think of some other thing for it.”
The library’s limestone exterior is celebrated as one of the most beautiful structures in Winnipeg, and Wiebe said he used to visit the building as a university student in the 1980s just to admire its interior.
“The national list can be really effective in terms of bringing attention and bringing focus in a city on places that matter and deserve to be brought up to speed.”
The city said it does plan to evaluate the situation and potentially return the archives to 380 William Street.
“We believe that in the fall of this year, we’ll have the corporate records management office functional, and utilization by city clerks of that facility will tell us whether or not a future for archives exists for 380 William,” Erickson said.
But even if the archives do not return to the Carnegie Library, it will remain in civic use once refurbishment of the interior is complete. Renovations on the interior will only take place once the city has decided on a future use for the building.
“We have every intent of re-utilizing that property,” Erickson said.
“We don’t see that building as one that we would be exiting any time in the near future — if ever.”
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