It’s not every day a city is able to take a historic 1850s landmark and retrofit it so that it may become a beautiful “new” home for historic collections. That’s exactly what’s about to take place atop the hill at Norfolk Street beside the city’s much-loved Church of our Lady. The New Guelph Civic Museum, located in the Loretto Convent, will be a cultural flagship for the City of Guelph.

Highlights:

• Approximately 24,000 sq ft - twice the size of the current location
• Larger children’s gallery
• Research room
• Appropriate storage for collection of 30,000 items and growing
• Prominent location in the downtown
• Designed to meet LEED Silver Accreditation

View site plan for new Civic Museum (PDF)

On Monday, November 30,2009 City Council approved awarding the construction tender to Harbridge & Cross of Concord, ON.  Initial meetings have been held and it is anticipated that the contractors will be on site in January.  Watch for an announcement of an official groundbreaking ceremony.   Completion date of the construction project is March 31, 2011.

This is an adaptive reuse project designed by The Ventin Group Architects. The total cost of the project is $12.7 million with $5 million from the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Intiative, Province of Ontario, and $1 million from Cultural Spaces Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage.

Guelph Museums Board of Management is committed to raising $500,000 to contribute toward this important civic project.