Welcome Guest!
In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away.
or Create an Account




Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The evolution of KW
#1
The last thirty years and in particular the last ten years have taken KW from a sleepy conservative town to an actual city with plenty of activities. This thread is to recount the many changes that have taken place in the period 1985-2016 that had made the city more enjoyable, with the hope that they might serve as inspiration to residents, city planners and entrepreneurs to carry on with this evolution.
Reply


#2
First repertoire theatre; Princess Cinema, ca. 1985.

It is hard to believe that a town with two universities wouldn't have an art house dedicated to the likes of Truffaut, Bunuel, and Fellini, but it wasn't until John Tutt took over the Majestic theatre in 1985 and decided to open the Princess Cinema that we had a reliable location to watch art house films in the region.
Reply
#3
Fine dining, Janet Lynn ca. 1985

While there have been plenty of reasonable restaurants in the region (many of them located in the surrounding villages funnily enough), Janet Lynn (and a few years later Bhima's Warung) were the first two restaurants in town where you could take your foodie in-laws and not be embarrassed about the choices. Starting this century many other fine dining restaurants have opened and today there are a dozen or so fine dinning choices (Uptown 21, King St. Trio, Wildcraft, Bauer Kitchen, Berlin, Rushes, Verses, Sole, Belmont, MPC Public, to name a few), so it might be hard to believe that not long ago the choices were so meager.
Reply
#4
Waterloo Region Children's Museum becomes TheMuseum
(1995 - 2015) Official site Opening September 2003

The cultural growth and evolution of KW is definitely on the upswing. For example, the former Waterloo Region Children's Museum was simply a shopping list for a number of culturally enlightened Waterloo Region folks starting back around 1995.

Waterloo Regional Children's Museum opened in the fall of 2003 as place for schools and parents to bring their children as a see and do place.

Four and a half years later The Toronto Star ran in the Entertainment Section an article outlining the many exciting things happening at the Children's Museum. 

Where You'll Never Hear "Don't Touch"

In addition to a Chagall exhibit for young people, The events listed by The Toronto Star in 2008 included:

"At the Circus: Children don capes silk-screened with the colours and features of the painting, and play or dance in front of it, watching themselves on a television screen. "It's a way for them to get inside a painting," said Trieschmann, "to add themselves to an existing piece of work," by role-playing.
The Blue House: Children create their own model of a house using this work as inspiration.
The Concert: Children press buttons to play different musical instruments included in the painting. "We want kids to create music and reflect the feeling of the piece," Trieschmann said.
Flowers: Children create their own floral arrangement using artificial flowers.
Green Violinist: Children touch a computer screen to "paint" a picture of their face"

In 2010, the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum changed it's name and became TheMuseum. It is interesting to note that TheMuseum still holds the URL for the Children's Museum http://www.thechildrensmuseum.ca/

It also started to change it's target audience from a mostly children's culture venue to a dual theme attraction with the exhibits aimed at both children and adults and increasingly so to adults. 

Twenty years after the museum concept began, the current January 2016 banner clicks include a sample of "TheMuseum" exhibits:

Light Illuminated: Celebrating Light and Light Based Technologies
The Havana Dialogues
The Beer+ Series
Kitchener Tri-con: Animae, Comics, Gaming and all Geek Love
Dinosaurs | The Edge of Extinction (to January 10)
Ice Age Mammals (opens January 23)

Don't be surprised to see TheMuseum out grow their current footprint by 2025 or perhaps sooner.
Reply
#5
The Bauer Lofts ca. 2004 (design) ca. 2009 (opening)

Until this project came about Waterloo was zoned "suburban" pretty much throughout. Sure, the odd tall building had been allowed before, but always "safely" away from the street, with lots of setback and parking around it. In contrast, The Bauer Lofts abut the street and are zoned mixed commercial, two concepts that are yet to be fully embraced. Nonetheless this project broke through the previous inbuilt resistance and got the ball rolling.
Reply
#6
UW Pharmacy building, 2008

This building brought university students to downtown Kitchener for the first time, and filled in a long-dormant brownfield site at a critical location in downtown (King & Victoria). The first of the new wave of downtown construction (the city hall was 10 years earlier), it set the stage for projects such as 1 Victoria and City Centre, and complemented the recent Kaufman Lofts at the same intersection.
Reply
#7
Iron Horse Trail, 1997

I doubt any more details than that are needed on this forum, but here is a recent Record article anyway http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5...rse-trail/
Reply


#8
(01-11-2016, 08:44 PM)tomh009 Wrote: UW Pharmacy building, 2008

This building brought university students to downtown Kitchener for the first time, and...

Actually, WLU opened the Faculty of Social Work in the former St. Jerome's high school in 2006.
Reply
#9
First student cafe; Williams, ca. 1995.

Another "hard to believe that in a town with two universities"... we wouldn't have an ample supply of coffee houses, but that was the case until Williams opened in the plaza next to UWaterloo around 1995. This was such an immediate success that for the first few years it was open 24hrs. It took another fifteen years before coffee houses took off in KW, with DVLB, Coffee culture (x3), Startbucks (x6), Settlement Co., 1842, A matter of taste, Queen Street commons, Darlise, Honey Bake shop, Seven Shores,  etc.
Reply
#10
(01-12-2016, 02:27 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: First student cafe; Williams, ca. 1995.

Another "hard to believe that in a town with two universities"... we wouldn't have an ample supply of coffee houses, but that was the case until Williams opened in the plaza next to UWaterloo around 1995. This was such an immediate success that for the first few years it was open 24hrs. It took another fifteen years before coffee houses took off in KW, with DVLB, Coffee culture (x3), Startbucks (x6), Settlement Co., 1842, A matter of taste, Queen Street commons, Darlise, Honey Bake shop, Seven Shores,  etc.

This one seems a bit weak.

Wasn't Second Cup around before William's? Not to mention the on-campus C+Ds. And if you're including a bake shop , there was a bagel shop in the plaza where Pizza Nova is today.
Reply
#11
(01-12-2016, 02:39 PM)timc Wrote: This one seems a bit weak.

Wasn't Second Cup around before William's? Not to mention the on-campus C+Ds. And if you're including a bake shop , there was a bagel shop in the plaza where Pizza Nova is today.

I don't count donut shops as cafes. To be called a cafe you need to (1) serve latte and espresso and (2) be open until at least 10pm. Second cup used to close at 9pm if I remember correctly.
Reply
#12
Buseker Carnival; ca. 1989.

There are now so many events in both Kitchener and Waterloo overtaking King St, that is hard to believe it was once a very controversial proposition to hold such an event on King St, closing it to traffic and with public noise. The Waterloo Jazz Festival and the Kitchener Blues Festival to name but two would have no hope of ever happening had it not been for the pioneering steps by the Busker Carnival.
Reply
#13
A bit further afield, but Drayton Entertainment opened in 1991 in the old Drayton town hall just before the Stratford Festival celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 1992.  While Stratford offered a mixture of Shakespeare and musicals, Drayton offered more contemporary fare.  Both theatre organizations have done a good job at reinventing the areas around their theatres and attracting out of town visitors to the area.  Drayton's new theatre complex in Cambridge attracts visitors to the core.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the other smaller theatre troupes that have come and gone, or even thrived since 1985.  KW Little Theatre is the grand daddy (circa late 1920s) that is even older than Stratford.  Others such as Lost and Found Theatre, MT Space, KW Musical Productions, JM Drama...

A little earlier than 1985, the Joseph Schneider Haus was restored in 1981 when it could have just as easily been torn.  It was recognized as a National Historic Site in 1998.

On the food front, Langdon Hall opened in 1989 and has inspired other restaurants to up their game (Verses and the Waterlot also did the same, may their memories live on).  At the other end of the scale, I've been trying to remember when the University Plaza opened next to UW but for the longest time, it was where one could go to get cheap, multicultural food from a variety of continents.

Institutionally, the Perimeter Institute and CIGI have attracted a new generation of thinkers (and award winning architecture) to the area.  The Seagram Museum (1984-1997) was the first Governor General Award winning structure in the area.  The Seagram Lofts were one of the first projects to attract residents to the Uptown core to new residential space while preserving built heritage.

Finally, on the political level, the creation of Grand River Transit in 2000 kickstarted the rebirth and reinvestment in public transit in Waterloo Region.
Reply


#14
Waterloo Public Square; ca. 2006.

One of the most unfortunate characteristics of Waterloo is that for a long time Uptown was a parking lot. There was no central location where town residents could converge and participate in some shared event. All of this changed when Waterloo Public Square was built and then received the addition of a hockey rink. It has become a destination of sorts with numerous events held throughout the year.
Reply
#15
(01-14-2016, 01:46 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: Waterloo Public Square; ca. 2006.

One of the most unfortunate characteristics of Waterloo is that for a long time Uptown was a parking lot. There was no central location where town residents could converge and participate in some shared event. All of this changed when Waterloo Public Square was built and then received the addition of a hockey rink. It has become a destination of sorts with numerous events held throughout the year.

What I find interesting about this, having lived in both cores, is how the geometry of Carl Zehr Square impedes using it to the fullest, as UpTown has been better able to do. The fountain/ice rink being in the center means it must be crossed or rounded in order to access the gathering space between it and City Hall's doors. It's always seemed less used than UpTown. Had the rink been placed against either where carbon computing was, or where Williams is, there would be no barrier between where you walk and where you gather, and Kitchener would see its square have more use.
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

About Waterloo Region Connected

Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides user-driven content fueled by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.

              User Links