Authenticity, integrity, craftsmanship in life and work

When we met, Jim Bezanson was comfortably ensconced in what was the living room of a typical Princess Street single-family home. The home was built around 1880, following the disastrous Great Saint John Fire of 1877 which destroyed 1,600 homes in the central peninsula of the city.

To enter required passing a carefully restored exterior with carved mouldings intact, and woodwork re-created and painted to bring out the highlights of the typical wood frame construction of the 19th century.

Inside, the heritage character details were also intact—yet it was a modern apartment, with all the amenities and attractions considered necessary for 21st century comfort.

Taking advantage of the high ceiling construction typical of the era, Bezanson pointed out a loft he’d created over the kitchen, in what would have historically been unused space. I was soon to learn this was a typical Bezanson heritage conservation project, that led to his recognition as one of Canada’s most treasured heritage advocates.

It all began when Jim was a boy in the tiny village of Ecum Secum, Nova Scotia. “I guess I had an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age,” he said, recalling his first paid job was at age nine, “digging a ditch 60 feet long and four feet deep, for which I was paid $20. I was on top of the world,” he laughed. “I discovered I had somehow lost the money as I rode my bike home. It was a hard lesson.”

Above: Jim Bezanson replaced damaged slate roof shingles with salvaged 19th century slate on the mansard roof of his home. Inset: In 2012 Jim was awarded the Gabrielle Léger Medal for lifetime achievement in heritage conservation

Bezanson continued, “When I was about seven, my dad was into trucking and bought up old vehicles that their owners had given up on. That’s just about the way I do it now with buildings,” he said. “Dad kept those beat up trucks working by buying up other old wrecks for parts. One of them was a cast-off oil truck he fixed up, and we began delivering oil.

“I learned to do math in my head computing how much oil to deliver for a customer wishing five dollars-worth. I developed muscles I still have, dragging a 300-foot hose up to house tanks and hand pumping oil into our storage tanks and then into our truck.

“To create more customers, we began installing furnaces. My dad knew nothing about that task, but he found ways to figure it out. He learned, and I learned. That’s when I had my first experience cutting out floors and walls for hot air ducts, and I do similar things today with the buildings I work on.

“Dad didn’t say much, but he was honest, authentic and gentlemanly in his conduct. During those years working with him, dealing with people and old buildings, I developed my principals of authenticity, integrity, craftsmanship and the moral values and skills I use to this day. I came to know the value of a dollar, how not to give up on equipment and to repurpose items, and how to seek information from varied sources to help in overcoming obstacles.

“I’ve told my dad that, but I don’t know if he believes me.”

Canadians generally, and Saint Johners particularly, have benefitted from this upbringing and Bezanson’s dedication to heritage.

“I put my money where my mouth is,” he laughed. “When I figure it out, I show others. If I can follow the rules and be successful, so can others.” He has no kind words to say about those who try to work around the rules to further their aims.

Jim Bezanson came to Saint John as Heritage Conservation Architect in 1990. His formal training includes an environmental design degree from Dalhousie University in NS, a degree in urban design in Copenhagen, Denmark and a further degree in architecture from Dalhousie.

His first professional role in heritage planning was in Vancouver in the 1980s. While there, he helped establish and was instructor for the first heritage conservation program for artisans and trades people in Canada.

His work made him aware that the Heritage Sites and Monuments Board of Canada considered Saint John to have the “most contiguous collection of Italianate and 2nd Empire buildings in Canada.” They had designated part of Prince William Street as being the “first national historic streetscape in Canada.” There are still only four. When Bezanson heard there was a job opening for a heritage officer in Saint John in 1990 he applied for the position, which he held until 2014.

Shortly after his arrival, he discovered that while the Trinity Royal Heritage Conservation Area (12 blocks in uptown Saint John from King Street south to Duke and Water Street east to Sydney) had been established in 1982, there were those who believed their status in the community gave them the benefit of being excluded from the bylaw governing the area.

“Many wanted special treatment,” he said. “I’d get calls from people in positions of authority telling me that, ‘so and so is doing such and such,’ and I should go along with them on what were clearly violations of the bylaw.” Bezanson asked for this list of the “good guys” time and again during his career with the city. “It was never forthcoming, but always alluded to.”

Three of his biggest challenges were the use of Portland cement, rather than lime-based mortar on brick facade restoration; obstreperous signage requests, and the replacement of wooden sash windows with vinyl lookalikes. In each case, Bezanson took the unique position of leaving the official workplace at City Hall and working with property owners and their contractors on site. “That was the main reason I began to buy heritage properties myself,” he said. “I began holding workshops and showing how to use mortar; how to refurbish wooden windows so they would last another 100 years, as opposed to vinyl which was good for a dozen. In signage problems, I’d explain they could get effective signage at a tenth the cost with no loss of visibility and still meet bylaws. Because I was talking from experience with my own buildings, I won people over.”

During his career with the city, Bezanson provided guidance for some 3,000 conservation projects. Some were simple, but many required extra hours behind the desk; many late nights, many weekends. Being on salary, this extra time cost the city nothing, and brought him no financial gain. He believed the hours behind the scenes were necessary in order to have answers to questions raised about the varied projects that would have to be passed by the Heritage Review Board overseeing his work.

He also used his architectural background in redrawing plans for proposed projects, (at no cost to the proponents) and seeking new and innovative solutions so modern building codes could be met in decades-old buildings. It came to the point that his boss at the time, Stephen Bedford, worried about Jim’s health, threatened to take Bezanson’s office keys to somewhat limit his work hours.

Meeting with masonry contractors to demonstrate techniques for working with 19th century bricks.

Jim’s dedication and production of heritage documents did not go unnoticed. The City of Saint John received a prestigious award from the American Association for State and Local History for the authorship of Practical Conservation Guidelines, which he’d done for Saint John property owners. His heritage efforts also resulted in the presentation of the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership to the city, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award
in 2002.

One of the organizations that took advantage of Jim’s growing expertise and ability to work with property owners was Parks Canada. He was seconded by them in 2004 to manage the training portion of the Historic Places Initiative they were undertaking.

The Common Council of the day took great pride in the fact a member of the city staff was held in such high regard that his expertise would be shared nationally. They agreed to fill his position temporarily, as Parks Canada was assuming Jim’s salary obligations, but no replacement hiring was done. Jim carried on with both jobs, spending a week in Ottawa, a week in Saint John, with no days off for two years.

This seems ironic and in sharp contrast to what was to come less than 10 years later with his departure from City Hall in 2014. By then implications were made that he was “stealing time” from the City, and that he was “no longer a team player.” While Jim won his case when it went before the Human Rights Board, discussion of this is closed due to the settlement agreement. However, it is evident that his purchase and rehabilitation of eight properties in South End Saint John—which he developed and personally funded as a demonstration of how-to-do-it heritage properties—was viewed as a conflict of interest, not a citizen’s right.

More importantly, it became no secret that Bezanson was not a proponent of the city’s Peel Plaza Project that ultimately saw the destruction of numerous pre-fire structures, at the corner of Wellington Row and Union Street. These were just opposite two of the city’s oldest structures, Loyalist House (1817) and Nutting House (1819). From an architect’s point of view, this area of the city was an opportunity to study and interpret the earliest pre-fire buildings.

Jim added, “They were deemed by management and Common Council to not be of significant heritage value, ‘just run down old buildings’. I could not support that view.”

“It was another of the many cases I dealt with, where, the ‘list of good guys’ came to the fore. It became obvious that the City of Saint John was on that list.”

“I paid the price for my professional opinion,” he said. In a sense, he is still paying. “I went into a deep depression after this happened,” he admitted. “I wondered if it had been worth it. I could see a dramatic improvement in restoration and rehabilitation in the years since I’d come to the city. At first, I was viewed as ‘that guy from City Hall who is going to throw a lot of regulations at me.’ Gradually, I came to be seen as a guy who walked the talk, who had bought and redeveloped eight buildings, and done so following the bylaws, and had made a reasonable return on my investments. What I saw as leadership, the city saw as conflict of interest.”

The wider community’s opinion of his valued role as a heritage advocate became evident once again two years before he left his work with the city, with the presentation of the Gabrielle Léger Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Heritage Conservation. This medal is the highest heritage award than can be given an individual in Canada.

Unfortunately, the award was not enough to change the city’s opinion and direction, which seemed so much out of sync with the public and the professional world’s view of him.

Jim is presently engaged in the redevelopment of a corner property at Princess and Sydney Street that will be constructed entirely of salvaged materials which will reduce the carbon footprint and recapture embodied energy while diverting the material from landfill.

His plan will create historically sensitive additions to the 1880 Second Empire family home of another architect, David Dunham. Jim bought the property in 1998, in such poor condition it was slated for destruction.

This building will be one of several lasting legacies Jim will leave in south end Saint John. In jest, he’s thinking of having a final marker that will more succinctly state his views of his life in the heritage community in Saint John. It will read:

“Don’t look for Jim in heaven; he was not on the ‘good guys list.’”