Portsmouth Olympic Building & Kingston Penitentiary Photography by

Jennifer McKendry Architectural Historian 1 Baiden Street Kingston KJM 2J7 mckendry@kos.net www.mckendry.net 613-544-9535 2 August 2017 Portsmouth Olympic Building & Kingston Penitentiary Photography by Jennifer McKendry Portsmouth Olympic Building: plaques do not equal buildings! It should be saved for architectural & historical reasons. 272 1

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Being built in 1922 does not justify demolition BOILER ROOM Is the West Workshop in danger? 274 3

The BOILER HOUSE of 1922, directly attached to the EXTENSION of the SOUTH WING OF THE SOUTH WORKSHOP, was designed in stone with classical forms to respect the earlier building. The workshop was designed in 1846 by William Coverdale (but built 1846-48 under the supervision of Edward Horsey) in the form of a cross (but with a short south wing), reflecting the 1830s plan for the main building. The wings, geometrically disposed and centered on a rotunda, were part of the reform penitentiary movement -- attempts to segregate the convict population by sex and severity of crime and for keepers to gain control by vision and hearing based on a regime of silence... a silence leading to penance and the renouncement of evil and crime. (In the case of the workshops, however, one suspects the wings were more of a convenience to separate various functions of work.) Essential to this school of reform, where the idle will be usefully employed and the vicious reclaimed to the good of themselves and of society at large (as expressed in 1834) was the need for labour, part of the process for a wrong-doer to gain the esteem of his keeper-guards, as well as ordinary citizens. The main building was a dormitory and an administration centre but the workshops were the heart of the institution. Working in silence during the long days and housed in single cells at night, the convicts must have felt deeply the solitude advocated by the new system of penitentiaries aiming to displace the errors of the old common wards and dungeon-like settings. There was a price to pay. Isolation broke the minds of many -- some of whom became insane creating the urgent need in the1850s for a new criminal lunatic asylum ( Penrose ). Ironically, the workshops were in place and ready to receive orders for the asylum stone and metalwork. And the convict labourers had been trained on how to erect their own madhouse. Do not demolish! Jennifer McKendry, 2 August 2017 mckendry@kos.net 275 4

Kingston Penitentiary STONEMASONS SHED (C9) c1910, compiled by Jennifer McKendry 17 Feb. 2015 mckendry@kos.net 613-544-9535 This building should be retained with the possible opening up of some of the walls between the stone piers. Potential uses include a garage, boat storage or display, sheltered outdoor seating area, displays of stone cutting, etc. 2011 aerial supplied by the City of Kingston STONE WAS AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF HARD LABOUR = REFORM plus AS A BUILDING MATERIAL FOR KP & PREPARING TO SELL FOR BUILDING PROJECTS ELSEWHERE 1919, southeast view, possibly the area between the stone piers are open, detail of the Barker postcard, coll. Jennifer McKendry 1928, southwest view, the areas between the stone piers are now filled and contain windows, note the roof ventilator (note that the Works Office of 1931 has not yet been built) (Warmington book) 276 5

1954 riot (facebook) 2015, above southwest view, left northwest view, photo by Jennifer McKendry 277 6

CONVERTING BUILDINGS TO NEW USES: a selection Compiled by Jennifer McKendry 2017 Woollen Mill, Cataraqui St PRESENT FUNCTION Commercial, newspaper office, restaurant, architect s office ORIGINAL FUNCTION Factory making cotton & wool 12 Cataraqui St Commercial, studios, workshops Ordnance depot, wholesale grocer 308 Wellington St residential Bajus brewery 27 Place d Armes offices Ship & boiler repairs 310 King St E. Municipal offices newspaper plant & office Steam Museum Steam museum Municipal pump house 165 Wellington St @ Brock residential, commercial commercial, Masonic Hall 2 Gore St, on the shore residential industrial Tourist Bureau Tourist bureau Railway station 328 King E @ Brock pharmacy bank Tett centre & other buildings, King W. Art, theatre, crafts, community groups Brewery & distillery Queen St United Church short-term commercial leases Methodist church 251 Ontario St restaurant Municipal fire hall School Museum, Barriefield School museum Township hall Day Care, Johnson @ Wellington Day care Congregational Church Smith-Robinson Building, Princess @ Ontario Restaurant, offices, commercial Wholesale grocer, warehouse 225 King E. @ William Bed & breakfast Bank & bank manager s residence 264 King E. @ Johnson offices house Murney Tower Museum museum Military stronghold Prince George Hotel residential, commercial hotel 20 Gore Street residential, offices industrial 278

181 Barrie St laboratory dairy school Francis St seniors centre public school 623 King St W. office space town hall 670 King St W. residential Orange Lodge 172 Ontario St at Johnson commercial, residential hotel 344-350 Bagot St shops, offices, lefts military barracks 119 Barrack St offices military guard house Church of the Good Thief archives church 279