Increased cost of storing city archives worth it: mayor

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This article was published 17/01/2025 (265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The price tag to restore a vacant heritage building to house irreplaceable City of Winnipeg archives has jumped by $6.6 million.

The city’s preliminary 2025 budget proposes to cover the added cost to renovate the Carnegie Library for that purpose, pending a final budget vote. Earlier, city council approved $12.69 million for the project.

The higher cost is due to a more refined estimate, construction inflation and unexpected expenses to remove asbestos and update protected heritage elements in the structure, such as windows, said city archivist Konrad Krahn.

“There has been inflation, (those) pressures are on all the city projects…(and) as there always are with old buildings, there have been things that have come up,” said Krahn.

Construction to renovate the 380 William Ave. site will begin this year and likely wrap up in 2027, he said.

Carnegie Library opened in 1905. It was home to the city’s archives in 2013, when flooding from a rainstorm forced the historical documents to be moved. Since 2014, the irreplaceable photos and documents have been stored in a leased warehouse at 50 Myrtle St.

Krahn said the warehouse lacks temperature and humidity controls required to best protect the archives. He said some items have been damaged while being stored there.

“Any time you have huge swings (in) temperature (and) humidity… there is damage to those older records… We’ve had some documents that we have repaired, such as the first council minutes. And that is quite, quite expensive to do,” said Krahn.

He said the city will spend about $3,000 to $5,000 to repair the meeting minutes, while any reconstruction changes the original documents.

The Carnegie Library is expected to make the archives more publicly accessible because of its central location, with space for storytelling and film screenings.

Despite warning repeatedly that the city’s budget is extremely tight this year, Mayor Scott Gillingham said creating a suitable home for the city’s archives is a key legacy project that must be completed.

“It really is important to all of council, certainly important to me, that we prioritize this investment. The gift of preserving Winnipeg’s past is really an investment in Winnipeg’s future… Right now, to be frank, we are not treating our archives like they should be treated,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said the city has enough “debt room” to finance the investment.

At a news conference at Carnegie Library on Friday, city officials sealed a time capsule that honours Winnipeg’s 150th birthday, which was celebrated last year.

The time capsule will be stored with the city’s archives until it is opened on Winnipeg’s 200th anniversary in 2074.

Gillingham noted the capsule will contain a small piece of concrete from the barriers at Portage and Main that prevented pedestrians from crossing the intersection. The barriers are being removed to prepare for the reopening of the intersection to foot traffic.

“It’s certainly probably one of the most unique pieces. There are letters in the box and photos, which would be expected, but the piece of concrete, to me, is meaningful because it represents change,” Gillingham told reporters.

“Hopefully, it’s a bit of inspiration to the community of Winnipeg 50 years from now, to the people of the city, to always take risks and continue to grow and evolve with the times and continue to be a city of resilience,” he said.

City council will cast a final vote on the archives funding, as part of the 2025 budget, on Jan. 29.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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