When St Joseph’s College in Mill Hill, London was sold in 2006, plans were already afloat to house the archives of the Mill Hill Missionaries somewhere in Great Britain. Prior to the closure of the College, the archives were packed away and transported to Freshfield where the important documents and materials were stored at St Peter’s House. It was then decided that a purpose built complex be constructed to permanently house the archives next to Herbert House at Freshfield, Liverpool. The services of Owen Ellis Architects were called upon for the implementation of the plan.
Preliminary work began in July 2007 and Planning Approval was granted on 21st August 2007. The old laundry building next to Red Gables had to undergo an asbestos survey before it could be demolished. This was carried out in January 2008. The tender was issued in February and the contract was awarded in April 2008 to White Building Services.
Demolition work commenced on the site on 19th May 2008 and was completed four days later. Work on the building progressed steadily over the next few months and was completed in February 2009.
Jos and Tom with one of the Architects during thehand over
The new Archive Building was handed over to the Society on 23rd February 2009. The 14 marble slabs with the names of Mill Hill Missionaries engraved and which used to adorn the walls of St Joseph’s College Chapel have been incorporated into the design of the building. This building will be known as the Mill Hill Missionaries Heritage Centre.
The ground floor lobby area
The conference room
It has facilities for meetings and also houses the office for Justice and Peace and the APF/Mill Hill Northern Office. The opening and blessing of the Heritage Centre will take place on Monday, 29th June 2009.
Some of the shelvings
The stairs leading to the first floor
Fr Tom O'Brien (left) will take over from Fr Hans Boerakker as the Archivist of the Society
 |
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
