Ontario Construction News staff writer
A revised heritage plan for the former Campanile Campus on Heron Road that would make way for 1,100 new homes while retaining key heritage features has received the support of an Ottawa committee.
The City of Ottawa’s Built Heritage Committee endorsed the plan Sept. 15 for the property at 1485 and 1495 Heron Road. City Council is scheduled to consider the committee’s recommendations on Sept. 23.
The proposal would preserve and repurpose the core of the former educational campus while allowing new residential development on the site.
Five existing heritage buildings would be preserved, while the façades of three other buildings would be preserved. Two six-storey red-brick dormitory buildings would be demolished.
Dormitories are considered difficult to adapt to new uses because of structural limitations, including small floorplates and low floor-to-ceiling heights.
The site is a designated heritage property recognized as a rare and intact example of a Modernist educational campus. The site is also associated with Catholic education and the expansion of the federal public service in postwar Ottawa.
Build Canada Homes, a federal agency established in 2025 to increase the supply of mixed-income housing across Canada, revised its concept plan to balance heritage conservation with redevelopment and additional housing.
The committee also directed city staff to approve future changes to the project, allowing the redevelopment to proceed without requiring the committee to consider every subsequent modification.
The Heron Road project was one of several heritage matters considered by the committee Sept. 15. The committee also designated two properties in West Carleton-March as heritage sites: 1837 Maple Grove Road and 756 Kinstead Private.
The properties were originally part of the historic Hartin farmstead and meet three of the nine criteria for heritage designation under Ontario’s heritage framework.
The property at 1837 Maple Grove Road, known as Patrick Hartin House, is a 19th-century Ontario farmhouse with Gothic Revival elements. The farmhouse was built around 1886, and the Hartin family occupied the property for more than 170 years.
The original house at 756 Kinstead Private was built around 1840 and is an example of an early Eastern Ontario stone cottage. After the farmhouse was constructed at 1837 Maple Grove Road, the original house became an ancillary building and later served as a blacksmith shop.
Both properties are associated with Patrick Hartin and his descendants, who were among the Irish Protestant settlers who arrived in the Huntley and Goulbourn townships area during the early 19th century.
