By Pepper Parr
January 7th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Budgeted at $11 million with much of the money coming from the federal government, some from the province and a more than decent amount from the Joseph Brant Museum Foundation the task of creating a much different museum site is about the begin.
One of the first tasks was the removal of the time capsule – which is now with the museum administration, perhaps on the desk of Barb Teatero, the Director of Burlington’s museums.
The brutally cold weather keeps crews off the site.
In this portrait Joseph Brant is seen wearing the gorget given to him by King George III. That gorget is the most important piece in the collection at the Joseph Brant Museum.
The current Joseph Brant Museum is a 1937 replica of the house Mohawk native Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, built on a 1798 Crown land grant. A modern addition to the museum will be built into the grassy area under the current museum.
The expansion will add more than 12,000 square feet to its current size. This will allow the Joseph Brant Museum to become a cultural destination and a place to host national exhibitions and the collection of artifacts.
The current 5,000-square-foot museum will be expanded to provide barrier-free space for gallery displays, interactive programming, the storage of collections and community outreach.
Architect’s rendering of what the transformed museum is expected to look like when completed.
– Construction will take 18 months, depending on weather
– The total project amount is approved at about $11 million, which includes a contingency fund and allows for cost increases due to winter construction period.
Funding includes:
– $2.9 million from the City of Burlington
– $4.4 million from the Government of Canada
– $1.5 million from the Province of Ontario
– $2.5 million from the Joseph Brant Museum Foundation
Wow! This thing is going to cost almost as much as our wonderful pier and about a third the cost of the Performing Arts Centre….neither of which came in anywhere near budget.
I believe in a museum that allows our children to see exciting exhibits in their home town. So, I believe in the museum expansion.
Unfortunately, at a cost of $650 per square foot, to add on and renovate, the cost for this complicated and demanding build is too much. A house in Millcroft can be purchased for $500 per square foot and that includes the land.
Does any one on Council just ever grab a calculator?
Think 11 million plus is an outrageous amount of money for this museum, location, no parking, etc. Do believe that the Feds, Prov., and City could have used their portions for a better lifestyle for the seniors with fixed incomes that have been the real pioneers of Burlington and are left struggling today with all the rising costs. When seniors have slowed down on their independence it is like they are no longer on any priority list. Sad, the tunnelling mind set of the newbies running our city today!
Let’s take bets on how long the museum bunker becomes a private space like the taxpayer funded Discovery Landing has.
The museum folks and city hall are not the brightest when it comes to delivering economically viable projects. They’ll soon realize – as we already know – they have no sustainable market that will create traffic to their museum.
They’ll need to rent out the taxpayer funded space in short order to create a meaningful revenue stream.