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(07-17-2015, 01:37 AM)mpd618 Wrote: (07-16-2015, 10:28 PM)MacBerry Wrote: The concept of the preservation of architecture for the future was never something talked about in public because no one really cared about heritage until about the 1990s (my best guess). Cities or towns didn't have funds or a willingness to preserve.
Stratford had a battle in the early 70s in response to plans to demolish their own city hall and replace it with an office tower - a plan quite similar to the plans in Kitchener and Waterloo. In Stratford, preservation won.
In Stratford's case, the plan was to build a hotel. The plan fell through when the powers that be concluded that Stratford did not have a need for a large, year-round hotel since the primary clientele, the Festival crowd, was seasonal.
In Waterloo's case, the City was written off as in poor condition and too small for the growing City. Around the same time, the Waterloo Market building and the Fire Hall were also demolished to make way for the new WPL main branch as well as the extension of Dupont Street.
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(07-20-2015, 11:27 AM)nms Wrote: In Stratford's case, the plan was to build a hotel. The plan fell through when the powers that be concluded that Stratford did not have a need for a large, year-round hotel since the primary clientele, the Festival crowd, was seasonal.
Quoting from "Stratford: Its Heritage and Its Festival":
Quote:In 1964, a suggestion by Mayor C. H. Meier that city hall should be demolished for a new development that would accommodate a hotel for tourists as well as city hall offices began an argument that took several years to resolve. In 1969, when the council agreed to demolish the late Victorian landmark, six women in Stratford spearheaded the "Save the City Hall League" and approached the council with a petition to retain the building. This issue was not resolved until 1972, when the developer finally withdrew from the discussion and the city hall was spared.
I have a hard time believing that public opposition played no role here. And regardless, I was responding to a claim that the public didn't care about heritage before the 90's. Stratford itself certainly makes plenty of reference to the battle to save city hall.
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More from Waterloo Library archives: The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium and Knollwood Park Armories 1951
Waterloo Library comment:
"The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium was built in 1950 on East Ave. in Kitchener. This aerial shows the almost-completed structure beside Knollwood Park, a former military training camp. In the foreground new housing is going up."
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Talk about destroying the character of a building in the last photo pair.
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(07-23-2015, 03:15 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: Talk about destroying the character of a building in the last photo pair.
Surely it's not the same building? The window and door locations do not match.
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(07-23-2015, 08:07 PM)tomh009 Wrote: (07-23-2015, 03:15 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: Talk about destroying the character of a building in the last photo pair.
Surely it's not the same building? The window and door locations do not match.
I am looking at the two pics and thinking the new building is a new total rebuild ... using the same footprint and a close resemblance rebuild
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It's the same building, just butchered. You can tell because the pendants above the are still visible today.
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(07-23-2015, 02:51 PM)Lens Wrote: …
When were these taken? Any photo credits?
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(07-24-2015, 12:14 AM)Lens Wrote: It's the same building, just butchered. You can tell because the pendants above the are still visible today.
I'm with MacBerry, it really looks like a different building, just a similar style. Look at the locations of the windows and doors in the two buildings, they simply do not match.
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It's the same building.
Quote:On the opposite side of King Street, 32 King Street North is currently the home of Carry on Comics and Kindred Spirit. Formerly called the Commercial Hotel; it was built about 1882 to replace an existing hotel that had burned down. The Commercial used to have a beautiful roofline and a corner tower that was removed in the early 1900s. Henry Raisig purchased the building from Jacob Conrad in 1902, eventually calling it the Raisig Hotel. He was also a town Councilor and was said to be a popular landlord. The building is now the Kingsway apartments with stores on the main level and is stucco over brick.
http://www.wpl.ca/walkingtour/Uptown/30-32King.html
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OK I am losing sleep over this site. I feel like I should know this site and approximate date and location but I can't ... help please.
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(07-24-2015, 09:15 PM)MacBerry Wrote: OK I am losing sleep over this site. I feel like I should know this site and approximate date and location but I can't ... help please.
Conestoga College, Doon Campus.
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(07-24-2015, 09:30 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: (07-24-2015, 09:15 PM)MacBerry Wrote: OK I am losing sleep over this site. I feel like I should know this site and approximate date and location but I can't ... help please.
Conestoga College, Doon Campus.
Thanks ... so obvious when fact fills the void
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