Despite efforts to save it, University of Guelph's historic conservatory has been demolished

The D.M. Rutherford Family Conservatory has been demolished.

After months of back and forth between the University of Guelph and the City of Guelph and heritage advocates, the structure was demolished over the past week.

Construction fencing with black landscape fabric surrounds the site where the conservatory had been located on campus.

The city initially wanted to grant the building heritage designation after it was found that the structure met eight out of nine criteria set by the Ontario Heritage Act.

"That's more than usual." said Jack Mallon, heritage planner with the City of Guelph, "Usually properties meet around two to four criteria, so eight was an unusual number to hit."

In a report to city staff, Mallon stated the building was an "extremely rare and unique example of a glass conservatory."

Built in the early 1930s by the Lord and Burnham Company, the conservatory was one of North America's last standing pagoda-style glass greenhouses.

The university, however, said maintaining the building proved to be too expensive.

With a $5 million price tag to restore the structure, plus a potential $250,000 annual maintenance fee, the university said on its webiste that it was decided it could not "dedicate the resources required to keep the conservatory as it stands."

After several reports from independent engineers, the building was deemed unsafe. It had been shuttered to the public since November 2023 due to significant wood rot that had considerably weakened the structure of the building.

The university also cited that the conservatory "stopped serving its main function for educational or research purposes over 15 years ago."

Fighting for a piece of history

The fate of the Conservatory was up in the air for months as city council originally voted in favour of designating the building.

But after several public input sessions and council meetings throughout the year, city council unanimously voted in favour of the university's deconstruction plans during a council meeting in December.

The university was given the go-ahead to bring the structure down with the caveat that any salvageable steel from the frame be listed as "heritage attributes" and used in future design plans for a commemorative garden which will replace the building.

"This is the Heritage Act working as it is meant to," Mallon said. "Council had the opportunity to consider the future of this building and ... for different factors, they decided to ... limit what the designation applied to and to approve demolition."

Mallon said he understands that losing a long-standing building like the conservatory with so much history can make people sad.

"There's so many stories attached to it and so many people have different emotional connections to a building like this. But what what I'm hearing loud and clear is that the community does really value this building." Mallon said.

Future plans

In a statement sent to CBC K-W, the university said it is committed to preserving "the spirit of the conservatory by creating a commemorative garden in the current location."

The community will be invited to share their stories to help shape the garden's design.

The university will then launch a design competition in the fall of 2025 for students in the landscape architecture program.

Students who submit designs are required to include plans for re-purposing some of the salvageable steel.

Construction on the garden is expected to begin summer 2026.