Saint John's Little Red School House giveaway generates interest

Saint John's historic Little Red School House could soon have a new owner and location and be restored to "perform an education function," according to a local historian.

Harold Wright says he has spoken to two Saint John property owners who are interested in taking over the one-room schoolhouse from the city after learning the 19th century building is at risk of being demolished.

The city posted an expression of interest on Tuesday, saying the schoolhouse needs to be removed from its Loyalist Plaza location on the waterfront"whether by a third party or demolition," by Aug. 3, as part of site preparations for the new New Brunswick Museum.

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Wright declined to reveal any information about theinterested parties he has spoken to, but did say both of their proposed uses would be "very appropriate to the original story of this building."

One of them"has a history with this specific building, is very passionate about education and saving our heritage," he added.

A woman in the city has offered $5,000 toward restoring and/or moving the building, said Wright.

Now he's trying to findbusinesses that would be willing to move it.

"It would be real nice to have a coalition of Saint John companies and citizens say, 'We're very proud of our city and we want to save this.'"

Museum 'not in a position to take this on'

The schoolhouse, which originated from Pleasant Villa, about 10 miles south of the Village of Gagetown, was gifted to theto the city in 1969 by the Saint Johnbranch of the New Brunswick Teachers' Association.

It was initially used as a school museum, but has fallen into disrepair and is currently used as a storage space for patio umbrellas.

Bill Hicks, CEO of the New BrunswickMuseum, said although the schoolhouse "has heritage value,theNBMis not in a position to take this on due to our focus on new facilities."

"However, we would be available to provide any related expertise we might have to any community group or organization that is interested in the building," he said in an email.

Asked about the possibility of incorporating the school house into the new museum building, Hicks replied:"I rarely say never, but I do believe there are better solutions in this case. Let's see what happens with the city's proposal call."

Gagetown proposal

A Saint John couple, who own an acereageof waterfront property in Gagetown, isalso looking into "rescuing"the school house.

Renea Leskiesaid she saw a story about it pop up in her Facebook feed on Wednesday and immediately sent it to her husband, who contacted the city.

The school house "actually comes from Gagetown and we thought, 'Wow, wouldn't it be great to take it back to where it was originally from,'" she said. "We just thought it would be fitting."

It's just a nice piece of history.- David Leskie, interested property owner

Gagetownresidentswould be able to see and "enjoy the schoolhouse" on their property because it's adjacent to the village's walking trail, her husband DavidLeskie said.

Renea, 45, who is from Petitcodiac and works at the University of New Brunswick, and David, 44, who is from Edmonton and works for Ocean Steel & Construction, have no connection to the schoolhouse.

"It's just a nice piece of history," and would save itfrom being torn down, said David.

Up to $20Kto move it

The Leskieswent to see the school house and David, who has some experience working on heritage buildings, said it "needs a lot of work," but "it's all stuff that can be done."

City spokeswoman Lisa Caissie has said the building is structurally in poor condition. The floor is rotting, the roof needs repairs and theclapboard siding is "in rough shape in several spots," she has said.

All costs and work associated with relocating the old school housewould be the responsibility of the new owner.

The Leskies, whohavebeen busy getting quotes, said it could cost as much as $20,000 to move,which is more than they bargained for, but they're looking into whether any grants might be available through heritage organizations.

"We just heard about this yesterday so it's all happening quite fast, but there's a limited timeline [for] when they want the buildingremoved, so we can't be too slow on this," said Renea.

David thinks the height of the buildingis the biggest hindrance to transporting it, but believes the chimney could be dismantled brick by brick, numbering them along the way, and rebuilt on site.

Similarly, the roof shingles, slat boards would need to be removed and the rafters disassembled, marked and reassembled on site.

He suspects the building might also need to be squared up before being moved and would want to get a structural assessment done first, but said they're caught in a catch-22.

It's difficult to hire someone to do such work and spend the money before having possession of the building, but equally difficult to agree to take possession without knowing exactly what they're getting into, he said.

The Leskiesare hoping some companies will come forward and offer to do work in-kind.

They're also willing to do whatever they can to help anyone else who's interested in the old school house, said David.

"The main thing is that it doesn't get torn down or moved to a storage facility where it's forgotten and neglected."

The Water Street property the schoolhouse sits on is part of the former Coast Guard site the provincial government plans to purchase from the city for the new museum building.

Although the land deal with the province isn't expected to close until "on or beforeSept. 30," possibly after the Sept. 24 provincial election, and federal funding for museum construction has not yet been secured, the city has contractual obligations to have the site ready for development under the option of purchase and sale agreement.