St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts seeks to create 500-person events space in former Catholic church

October 28, 2024

In an application filed last month, St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts says it needs to raise more revenue to fund work that would address what it calls the building’s “growing heritage infrastructure deficit.”

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The owners of a historic deconsecrated church in Lowertown are seeking the city’s approval to remove the 135-year-old heritage building’s pews and turn the ground floor into a meeting and events space. In an application filed last month, St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts says it needs to raise more revenue to fund work that would address what it calls the building’s “growing heritage infrastructure deficit.” The building’s owners say they want to remove the pews in the former worship area and transform it into a “flexible events space” with a capacity of up to 500 people. They argue that repurposing the venue would offer “an opportunity to somewhat increase revenue by meeting the market demand for an iconic, distinctive, flexible, usable space for social events, weddings, exhibitions, performances, conferences and corporate gatherings.” Patrick McDonald, who owns the property at 310 St. Patrick St. near the ByWard Market with three other partners, did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. Originally constructed in 1889-90, St. Brigid’s was designated a heritage site under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1981. The distinctive limestone building served as a Catholic church until 2006, when it was deconsecrated and shut down due to rising repair costs and a shrinking congregation. The Archdiocese of Ottawa sold the building the following year to a group of private investors, who formed St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts. The organization has managed the former church ever since. Since then, parts of the building have been used for public and private events such as plays, concerts and corporate gatherings. The basement has been converted into a small concert hall, pub and commercial kitchen, while a removable stage has been installed on the south end of the ground floor. In 2022, St. Brigid’s owners agreed to sell the property to a group called The United People of Canada (TUPC). However, the deal fell through after the controversial organization linked to that year’s “Freedom Convoy” allegedly failed to make deposits totalling $100,000 and provide proof of $5 million in liability insurance. TUPC went to court in a bid to regain control of the church, but the Court of Appeal for Ontario turned down the group’s appeal last December. Now, its owners say the aging structure requires a laundry list of repairs and upgrades to remain viable. According to the application filed with the city on Sept. 15, an architectural and engineering report commissioned by the city last year estimated it would cost more than $18 million over the next decade to address the “urgent, short term, medium-term and long-term actions needed to conserve the building’s deteriorating heritage infrastructure.”

New revenue streams

As a result, the owners say they need to find new revenue streams in order to finance the required improvements. “In the absence of significant municipal, Ontario or federal heritage grant assistance, and notwithstanding the owners’ personal funding contributions, the limited revenue from rental activities has not permitted the investments necessary to reduce the St Brigid’s Centre for the Arts’ growing heritage infrastructure deficit,” the document written by Ottawa conservation architect Barry Padolsky says. In a cover letter attached to the application, Padolsky concedes that removing the pews would “somewhat reduce the heritage value of St. Brigid’s interior.” However, he contends that converting the former worship space into an events venue “would have the benefit of creating a space that generates revenue that could be applied to conserving the building’s primary exterior and interior heritage character defining elements … whose conditions have steadily deteriorated.” The church’s owners note there’s already precedent for such a conversion in Ottawa at the former All Saints Anglican Church in Sandy Hill, which was sold in 2015 and later repurposed as an events space with a restaurant. St. Brigid’s says some of the wooden pews would be relocated to the basement concert hall and pub, where they would be preserved as “functioning exhibits.” The organization says it plans to donate or sell the remaining pews to faith congregations, the public and institutions such as the Canadian Museum of History.