Local civic leaders, heritage preservationists, church officials and a philanthropy consulting firm announced Sunday, an ambitious plan to transform Windsor’s Assumption Church into an impressive heritage courtyard that will honour early Canadian settlers, Huron Indians, holy figures, and thousands of people involved over the years with the creation of Windsor’s own cathedral.

If you’re not familiar with Assumption Church, it has faced a number of uncertainties over the years, most importantly a pricetag of $9.8 million to restore the registered heritage property to a reasonable state of repair.

The Diocese of London, the Catholic church’s local level of decision making, retained a Windsor-based fundraising consulting firm called Philanthropic Management Consultants [PMC] to create a monetary plan (titled the Assumption Heritage Trust) for Assumption to be repaired.

PMC hired Patrick Bollenberghe of MBTW Watchorn — the renowned architect and creator of Windsor’s original Riverfront Master Plan — to design a ‘green campus’ for the Assumption church lands.

The new Assumption church campus, which already borders the University of Windsor, will include:

• several gardens devoted to local history (Huron Indians, French Canadian Settlers)
• a labyrinth/arbor between the church and Assumption University
• multiple gardens dedicated to church Saints
• an entirely redone parking lot (currently the parking lot serves many University of Windsor students given its proximity to the CAW Centre, the Leddy Library, etc)
• development of Ambassador Park on the other side of University Ave., in conjunction with the City of Windsor Parks Department (the idea is to connect the Assumption Campus to the Riverfront trail)
• an orientation and tours pavilion at the entrance to the parking lot
• redeveloped parking spaces for church parishioners only
• a new driveway for freight trucks and maintenance vehicles to access the CAW Student Centre loading docks (presently, trucks using the Assumption lot as a thoroughfare have been contributing to the structural damage of the church)
• a new, glass-walled sacristy including an orientation centre and gift shop (this building which joins the two main Assumption Church buildings is suffering from severe structural degradation)

Steel girders had to be installed a number of years back to prevent the sacristy from crumbling further.

A number of renderings of the proposed greening of the area.

The plan for the restoration and campus design of Assumption has been endorsed by numerous local figures.

Brian Masse pledged his support for the plan at Sunday’s press conference, City of Windsor Parks & Rec director Don Sadler is working closely with the church to develop Ambassador Park, University of Windsor President Alan Wildeman stands behind the plan to bring the two campuses together and Deputy Windsor Police Chief Jerome Branagan will co-chair the committee to make it all happen.

City of Windsor Heritage Planner John Calhoun stated “[Assumption] is one of the most important locations from the earliest history of European exploration and settlement, in Southwestern Ontario, where French and Native peoples shared a community”, and Robin Easterbrook, Chair of the Windsor Heritage Committee pledged to support the initiatives to restore Assumption.

The eventual plan is to restore the actual Assumption Church building, which will cost in excess of $10 million.

Necessary repairs to Windsor’s only perpendicular gothic revivalist cathedral involve replacement of brick on all four exterior walls, replacement of the eroding main structural beam which connects the roof to the foundation, installation of a new fire alarm and fire suppression system, construction of accessways for the handicapped, removal of asbestos, resetting of the foundation and more.

With a plan in action to transform the lands around the Church into a national historic place, funds are expected to be pledged to transform an ill-maintained cathedral into an impressive outdoor museum dedicated to a combination of theology and Canadian heritage!