Renowned architect to create museum around historic St. Stephen basketball court

What some believe to be world's oldest basketball court will get a long-awaited facelift with the help of an architectural firm renowned for its work designing sports heritage museums. 

CambridgeSeven, based in Massachusetts, is leading the project that will see the 130-year-old basketball court on St. Stephen's King Street turned into the Canadian National Basketball Experience Museum.

The firm recently completed a multimillion-dollar restoration project of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., which tells the story, through interactive exhibits, of Canadian James Naismith and how he came to invent the game of basketball.

The firm also led the development of the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.   

Timothy Mansfield with CambridgeSeven is the principal on the project and said the firm couldn't pass up an opportunity to work with the historic property.  

"They reached out and introduced us to the whole world of this oldest basketball court," said Mansfield. "Because we're sports fans, we were very fascinated by the idea of this building housing the place where it began."

The building where the court was discovered housed a YMCA in the late 19th century, and basketball was introduced to the town in 1893. 

The building has been home to numerous businesses over the years, and it wasn't until a carpet on the upper floor was removed after a fire 13 years ago that the old gymnasium floor was revealed. 

Mansfield said the CambridgeSeven team held a workshop at the court before completing the design renderings. 

"Certainly, it's gone through many iterations over the years, but the bones of the building are there … it was really great and very exciting," he said. 

Mansfield said the original building