Historic Government House not immune from Regina hailstorm damage

One of Regina’s most historic properties was not immune from a severe storm that swept through parts of the city Tuesday evening.

Chad Debert, manager of Government House, said glass that has survived as part of the building for more than a century was not able to withstand the large hail.

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“We’ve had to replace a few panes over the years for smaller storms, but I’ve been here 16 years, and this is by far the worst we’ve ever seen,” Debert said in an interview Wednesday.

He said the brunt of the damage was borne by the conservatory, a glass and steel structure first built in 1901, modified and relocated to its current spot in 1911.

“A good 50 per cent of the ceiling is is now open to the world,” he said. “We can’t even go in there and have a close look at that yet, because there’s still glass hanging from the frames.”

Debert said the damage to the main Government House building is mostly confined to storm windows that were replaced fairly recently, but now will have to be replaced again.

About a half dozen of the original panes of window glass, dating back to 1897, were cracked.

The storm also shredded most of the plantings that were only just put in over the past couple of weeks.

“The grounds themselves are just obviously littered with all kinds of debris from the tree canopy around the property as well, so that’s going to take a while to clean up too,” Debert said.

The storm primarily hit the north, northwest and central parts of Regina, causing hail damage to vehicles, glass and siding, while trees were stripped of branches and leaves.

Debert doesn’t know yet how long it will take to fix things up at Government House.

The property on Dewdney Avenue served as the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor until 1945 and was restored and opened as a museum in 1980.