2011 Institutional Award

Glace Bay Heritage Museum
14 McKeen Street, Glace Bay, NS
Glace Bay Heritage Museum Society

The former Glace Bay Town Hall, now restored and repurposed.

The Glace Bay Heritage Museum, owned by the Glace Bay Heritage Museum Society, was the 2011 winner in the institutional category. It is the former Town Hall of Glace Bay and was facing demolition in 1998, when a citizens’ group came together with the sole purpose of saving it and putting it to community use. This Colonial Revival, 2½ storey (plus basement), five-bay, brick masonry structure with hip roof, dormers, and bell tower, designed by Sydney architect George Edgar Hutchinson, was built in 1902-1903. It housed all of the municipal functions, from offices, Council Chamber, Court House, and Police Department, to the Fire Department and the stables which sheltered its horses.

The museum is a municipally designated heritage property and one of the last remaining public heritage structures in the Town. A multi-phased strategy was devised for the building’s rehabilitation and 2003 saw the opening of the ground floor (Phase I), followed by the completion of the second floor in 2010 (Phase II).  Phase III of the project, involving the basement and former jail, is ongoing. Research and community memories have paved the way for an accurate restoration of the building’s exterior and of many interior spaces. Exterior rehabilitation included replacement of much of the brickwork, sourced locally, as well as replicating the bell tower.

The original layout has been maintained excepting areas where code required changes. The fabric of the interior has been restored where possible and sensitively reconstructed where required. The efforts of a dauntless team of volunteers have made possible the adaptive re-use of this heritage structure, which is now home to the Glace Bay Heritage Museum, the Marconi Museum, a gift shop offering local crafts for sale, a used book store and meeting place for community activities and private functions.