By investing in the conservation and adaptation of the Rectory of the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate for re-use as a priests’ residence and parish offices, the Diocese has ensured that the building’s heritage character defining elements and its companion relationship to the Basilica and other buildings on Catholic Hill in Guelph remain intact for present and future generations.

The Rectory was originally constructed in 1855 as a seminary with attached Rectory; by 2018, extensive alterations had resulted in a building of altered appearance, in extremely poor condition,  with a vacant fourth floor and two distinct uses — priests’ residence and parish offices — physically intertwined. 

The restoration and addition reconfigured the first two floors of the existing building to provide accommodation, while housing the church offices in a contemporary addition with separate entrance. In collaboration with the City of Guelph’s Heritage Planner, it was agreed that conservation work would be based on the era immediately prior to reconfiguration of the building in the 1930s; in this way, the restored seminary building in contract to the convent on the other side of the basilica would together provide important evidence of Catholic Hill’s unique architectural heritage.