The executive director of Heritage NL agrees with the adaptive use of some purpose-built heritage properties to help preserve them.

Jerry Dick cites churches as an example. In many rural areas, once-thriving church communities have dwindled, forcing congregations to make the difficult choice of closing costly buildings.

That’s where adaptive reuse can help to preserve heritage structures. Dick says that can help save buildings that mean a lot to a community.

Dick says examples include a community keeping and maintaining a church building as a museum or tourism draw or having a purpose-built structure turned into a private living space.

The City of St. John’s is currently considering an application to convert some old carriage houses on private property into living space. Dick is open to that type of adaptive reuse.

Other cities in North America have done the same. He says they are ideal for secondary living spaces or rental properties since they are typically located in the backyard of private homes.