Finally, your creepy-ass "heritage" building has burnt to the ground

Fantastic. From CBC:

The old Woodlands building in New Westminster, B.C., lay in ruins after a three-alarm blaze burned through the structure Wednesday afternoon.

New Westminster police said the blaze that broke out shortly after 12 noon was the fourth fire at the site in the past four days. Woodlands, built in 1878, was formerly part of a school for children with mental disabilities. It was closed in 1996.

[...]

Sgt. Ivan Chu, a spokesman for the New Westminster Police Department, said Wednesday's blaze was the fourth fire at the Woodlands site in the past four days.

"It's hard to say whether it's a continuation or whether it's an arson," Chu said of the latest fire.

"It's an old, abandoned building. It's been broken into. People have been stealing metal from it over the years. Who knows why it's on fire," he said.

It's also an old, abandoned building that the property owner has been trying to develop for several years now, thwarted by preservationists insistent on "retain[ing] and restor[ing the] exterior with new use accommodating heritage interiors." (estimated price tag: $36 million dollars).

Seriously, a former Provincial Lunatic Asylum where "patients" dealing with issues ranging from masturbation to money troubles were jailed and abused for years is regularly referenced as some sort of precious, irreplaceable jewel of history. Here's hoping against all odds that once the smoke and rubble clear, something of actual value will be hastily erected on the spot.

UPDATE: Check out this flickr set of Woodlands from Sean Orr of Beyond Robson.
# 11:23 AM