ECI Demolition

Estevan Collegiate Institute
Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada

All Color pictures below, taken and submitted by Larry Preddy, Estevan

These pictures say it all, unfortunately these are not high resolution photos, you can click on them for a larger view but many may not be any larger.

The Building
1912-2005

The Start, Thursday Mar 24, 2005 The Gym is gone!

Then comes the Old East Wing

Then the East Side of the Original Section

Then the Front Entrance is removed, for re-use

Larry Preddy sent me this note:

“We got the Terrazzo Steps out of the Entrance, all of the structure around the Door
(before & after pictures above)
Including the Cornerstone and all of the Red Brick we should need for our Legacy Monument”

Cornerstone

The Tile Inlay Inside the Front Entrance of ECI

Down comes the original section

All that remains as of Apr 1,2005 is the Newer West Wing. No April Fool's Joke here!

This Section is proving to be a little tougher more rebar and newer construction style. These were the views up to Apr 9,2005. the pile of bricks in the last picture on the right, is the salvaged bricks for the ECI Legacy memorial. Not as many red bricks were saved as was hoped for, so the newer section bricks will be salvaged and used for the retaining wall.

The final blows

THE END.

Be sure to view the ECI Legacy Memorial Project for the Future of ECI !

My Personal Editorial on this is when are we going to learn from the European community that these old buildings are our Heritage, they can be used for tourist purposes and with proper upkeep, and new heating systems be turned into money making buildings not just a pile of bricks, or another Condo development.

We spend a fortune on a tin building for a museum but overlook a beautiful museum piece in itself. ECI the original part could have been saved with the gym west wing etc dismantled. The lots around it could have been sold. This money could have been used to update the building. This is the building the museum should have been in. Or the Library, or whatever. It would have been saved and an admission charged to enter and view the building. Over 1700 people came in 2000 to see the old building. And that was with nothing in it to draw them there.

Estevan demolished Valley View School, now ECI, and next will be probably Hillside School. Lets build another tin or concrete block building there too! Why do people visit England? For the Food? No, it's the old buildings and history. Would you pay to go to England to see a Condo complex? It's easy for a short sighted bean counter to see the savings by removing them. That is the easy, stupid way out. They probably don't know the history of the building, nor do they care (heck they are probably not even originally from the area). They see $$ saved now.

Turn the building into a tourist draw, and charge to view it. Sell office space in it. Lots of options, but most of all, start to save the history now. Soon there will be no elevators, no old schools, or old buildings in Estevan and in Saskatchewan. This is a real shame in my opinion.

When will the old Stone Church be torn down? Good thing it isn't a school, or it would have gone years ago!!!!

Wake up Estevan, you have something that will draw people and you are tearing them down. Form a Heritage Society, and fight to declare these old buildings Heritage sites, and save them from destruction. If you don't the Bean Counters will win every time!

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