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Baxter House and Sprague House, below, have been destroyed (~August 21, 2009). You might recall the Philosophy and Political Science departments being in
 them. You can't tell from the map in The Record [since the map key was omitted], nor from the Facilities Master Plan map [which is too blurry to make out the dotted lines indicating planned demolition] but if you put the two together you see that Baxter and Sprague houses have had a date with the wrecking ball for some time, as the latest press release regarding the houses confirms. According to it, "These Craftsmen style houses no longer fill a function in the University’s facilities master plan". Supposedly, "the two lots will be used as green space, reducing Mount Allison’s environmental footprint." If it was truly concerned with the environment, it would, perhaps, have been more imaginative for the university to have used the two houses as test grounds for trials of various residential energy-saving and green technologies, with the participation of students, who would no doubt have been enthusiastic to give their time and energy to such a worthwhile project. Instead, they are couple of empty lots, a lot of wreckage in a landfill, and more press releases about green spaces and environmental footprints. |
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A rescue! During summer 2007, McGregor House, a 150+ yr old house on York Street, was purchased and moved by local resident Jim Throop, thus preventing it from being demolished by the university. Puzzlingly, the university is now simply selling off the empty lot where the house was, which makes the whole plan a little hard to understand. If the university didn't want to use the land for something else, why order the house moved or demolished in the first place? |
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 Doorframe stonework from Palmer Hall |
Palmer House demolished. See below for more photos of Palmer. |
 Doorframe stonework from Palmer Hall |
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 Cornerstone of Palmer Hall Mount Allison Academy Founded 1839 This stone was laid by Mrs Josiah Wood Niece of the founder July 15, 1933 |
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 Remember
Hillcrest House, at the corner across from the
Physics building, which was home of the Mount Allison History Department
(and later the Math and Computer Science Department)? Hillcrest House
was built in 1880 and survived for 120 years until...well until Mount
Allison demolished it. A pretty nice house really - lots of pleasant architectural
detail, and obviously the product of an era when some care and craftsmanship
went into houses. Now it's just a heap of kindling. |
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  How
about the French House, or as the residents called it, La
maison française ? No doubt many who took French at Mt.A have
some recollection of the French House; it used to be right next to Hillcrest
House actually, but now there's just a big empty lot. Adieu, la maison
française! It was demolished in 1998. |
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| Then there was Hess House at the end of
Rectory Lane, next to the parking lot
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 So,
when the Alumni office phones you up to ask for a  donation
this year, why not ask them if Mount Allison is prepared to commit itself
to preserving the community's architectural heritage instead of just bringing
in the wreckers and smashing it up. Help preserve Sackville's century-old
homes by encouraging Mount Allison to properly maintain them so they can
be passed on to another generation. If you liked your years on the Mount
Allison campus, let someone in the Mount
Allison administration know that you'd prefer that no more of the
campus is bulldozed into the ground.
Links: Mount Allison demolishes 2 heritage buildings (CBC)
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| If you have
any fond memories of Mt.A houses past, want to vent your outrage, or
even if you think we should just raze the whole town and start from
scratch, send an e-mail to : |
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Welcome
Mount Allison Alumni! Remember those old houses you used to take classes
in, where your professor's office was, or maybe you lived at one while
you were a student at Mt.A? Well, one by one they're getting smashed
to bits...
Reading the Mount Allison 
behind the Jennings meal hall. But one day, SMASH! and there was a mound
of splinters where it used to be.