Demolition of most of the Kingston Penitentiary

The walls at the Prison for Women, pictured here, were destroyed and at least 5 buildings. Now they are going to do the same at the Kingston Pen, located directly across the street.

THE GUARD TOWERS, WALLS AND HERITAGE BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED, TO FACILITATE A MASSIVE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

The Kingston Penitentiary will be "comprehensively redeveloped":
Page 16- Repurpose and Residential (Central)

"Elements of the southern cruciform (workshops) should be conserved and adaptively re-used for commercial and/or residential purposes. The West Workshop is an important heritage building, however in considering future redevelopment opportunities, it may be necessary to substantially alter or remove this building. The guard tower is also an important heritage building that should retained into new development if possible. The rest of the wall in this area may be considered for demolition.

Residential (South)

While this area is supportive of the heritage value of the former penitentiary, it is considered the least important with respect to retention and adaptive re-use of existing structures. The guard tower, and potentially some elements of their adjacent walls, should be retained and integrated into new development if possible.
Other portions of the southern cruciform building may be removed to facilitate new development
The lake and harbour are not visible from within the former penitentiary. In order to create a residential community that is open, accessible and connected to the waterfront, removal of the walls and many of the existing buildings is required in the southern part of the former penitentiary.
 "Portsmouth Visioning - Former Kingston Penitentiary and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour" 
Most of the former Kingston Penitentiary will be comprised of new housing. I can understand why the walls, guard towers and heritage buildings have to be removed. There has to be room for the:
25-storey condominium towers 
four-storey townhouses
stacked townhouses
New roads that connect with adjacent public roads will be built. and large parking lots will be created.

According to documents, the City of Kingston planned to designate Portsmouth Village a Heritage Conservation District.Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing approved the City of Kingston Official Plan (2010).

Section 7 of the City of Kingston Official Plan- Cultural Heritage Resources (2010): The City will use all measures possible to protect its "significant cultural resources" which includes the Kingston Penitentiary and Rockwood Asylum.
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June 30, 2018
 The Kingston Penitentiary and Prison for Women are national landmarks, and they should be untouchable.
Kingston is called The Limestone City because many of its public buildings and landmarks were built with limestone.  The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, created from limestone and granite, is 4,000 years old.
Limestone Buildings in Kingston, Ontario
The Kingston Penitentiary
Prison for Women
Frontenac County Courthouse
Fort Henry
The Martello Towers
Royal Military College
Kingston General Hospital
Rockwood Psychiatric Hospital
Kingston City Hall
Queen's University
The Armoury
Sisters of the Providence of St. Vincent de Paul - 1200 Princess Street

Prison for Women (Wikipedia photo)

The Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario may be sold to a developer.

A 2007 letter I received from the Hon. Peter Milliken, Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands. Peter Milliken stated that "I am sure that CLC has consulted with the proper heritage authorities...and that any structures with historical significance will be preserved". (Emphasis mine---ASC, creator of this blog savecfbrockcliffe.)

The Prison for Women in Kingston was a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. Then it was transferred to the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation that privatizes publicly-owned real estate. Canada Lands Company owns the Kingston Penitentiary, which is directly across the street from P4W; in fact, a tunnel connected the buildings.
Kingston City Councillor Bill Glover is trying to save the Kingston Penitentiary:

      "It's very, very important that City Council designates Kingston Penitentiary under the provincial legislation to give Council the power to protect this historic property...because federal designation as a National Historic Site of Canada, while it's important, does not protect the property after it passes from public ownership to private hands." From: Frontenac Heritage Foundation, Volume 40, Number 1 - January 2013. 


The Prison for Women cellblock may be converted into condominiums:

National properties transferred to the Canada Lands Company include:

Toronto's iconic CN Tower - Walt Disney Corporation and Viacom wanted to buy the CN Tower. At one time there were plans to remove the words "Canada" and "Canadian" from the word mark CN Tower. And CN Rail changed its name from The Canadian National Railway to CN Rail,to distance itself from any association with the word "Canada".   "The People's Railway" is now a multinational corporation, "North America's Railroad".

Canadian military properties including Ottawa's CFB Rockcliffe; Toronto's CFB Downsview; Winnipeg's Kapyong Barracks; Calgary's Currie Barracks; CFB Chilliwack, British Columbia; CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia (CFB Shearwater is once again Crown property).

Dominion Public Building, Toronto

 Post offices and mail sorting plants (1500 rue Ottawa in Montreal)
Agriculture Canada experimental farms;
 Kingston Penitentiary and the St. Vincent de Paul prison, Laval Quebec...
Expo 67 land, in Montreal - two parcels of land at Cite du Havre.

A photograph of me, taken at at Expo 67.

The Canada Lands Company (CN Real Estate) and the Mulroney government privatized the Canadian National Railway hotels.
 A global corporation, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts eventually bought the properties.

 THE PEOPLE OF CANADA COLLECTIVELY OWNED THE CNR  HOTELS.

List of former Canadian National Railway hotels:
Chateau Laurier, Ottawa
Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta
The Hotel Macdonald, Edmonton
Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal - where John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded the song "Give Peace a Chance".
Bessborough Hotel, Saskatoon
Newfoundland Hotel, St. John's
Nova Scotian, Halifax
Hotel Vancouver

 Toronto's "Great Wall of China", a plethora of high rise condominiums, was built on miles of CNR and CPR railway land next to Lake Ontario.

After I found out that the Kingston Penitentiary was being decommissioned, I wrote the following letter to Huffington Post Canada:

              "The City of Kingston is fiercely protective of its heritage buildings, cultural sites and waterfront---read the Internet document "City of Kingston Official Plan - Section 7 -Cultural Heritage Resources (2010)". The City will use all measures possible to protect its "significant cultural resources" which includes the Kingston Penitentiary and Rockwood Asylum.

              The City of Kingston intends to designate Portsmouth Village, where KP and the Prison for Women are located into a Heritage Conservation District. No high rise condo units will ever in the future obstruct views of Kingston's waterfront, parks, gardens, cemeteries, lakes, rivers, neighborhood shorelines, vegetation and scenic vistas.

             Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing approved the "City of Kingston Official Plan (2010)", so the Federal Government, Ontario Realty Corporation and developers cannot appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board for demolition and zoning changes."
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The Rockwood Asylum in Kingston is owned by the Ontario Realty Corporation, a provincial Crown corporation that privatizes Crown real estate. Aside from Rockwood, ORC properties include the Don Jail in Toronto; Guelph Reformatory; a couple of massive former psychiatric hospitals and government of Ontario office buildings. The Bowmanville POW Camp and the Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls were also Ontario Realty Corporation Crown assets.

I am standing in front of a Guelph Correctional Centre sign in 1972.The Guelph Reformatory is owned by a Crown corporation that privatizes public property.

The Collins Bay Penitentiary is similar in design to the castles that were privatized by Canada Lands Company, including the Chateau Laurier, Hotel Macdonald and Bessborough Hotel.
Collins Bay Marina was one of the the many groups that attended a Canada Lands Company meeting, regarding the Crown corporation's plan for the Kingston Pen and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Google: "Portsmouth Visioning".
I believe that residential towers will constructed on most of Kingston's waterfront, after a provincial Crown corporation--- the Ontario Realty Corporation---sells Rockwood to Canada Lands Company; and Collins Bay Pen is decommissioned by Corrections Canada.
Just take a look at the of railway lands in Toronto, at one time federally owned--- all you can see is wall-to-wall high-rises. I lived in Toronto in 1977 and 1978, and I spent a lot of time at a beach near Lakeshore Avenue and St. Joseph's Hospital. I saw people on horses, and there were bicycle paths, and miles and miles of green space on the waterfront. Gone.

The Collins Bay Institution near Kingston, Ontario.

A former Canadian National Railway train station in Kingston, Ontario---sold to the same company that is buying P4W.  CN Rail tried to sell the property to the City of Kingston for $1 (One Dollar) but the City was not interested. The CNR was a Canadian Federal Crown corporation, before it was denationalized and sold to people like Bill Gates. Bill Gates bragged in a tv interview about how much money he has accumulated from his investment in CN Rail. Carl (Gordon Gekko) Icahn and Prince al Waleed bin Talal have also profited handsomely from their investment in CNR Crown property.. The railway was created to unite this country and to serve the people of Canada..Canadians built the railway, physically and through their tax dollars.