BRANTFORD: Hamilton's dumber little brother?
 

Anyone have thoughts on Brantford's plan to demolish an enormous bulk of the historic buildings in its downtown (including what's supposed to be the longest stretch of pre-confederate buildings in Ontario?)

Just as the downtown is starting to pick up steam again too. Wanna know why? Elections next fall.

My thoughts and a couple embedded links on my Tumblr: http://social.aking.ca/post/253861939

I haven't heard of that... that would be a total shame.... I've seen lots of new development near the Sanderson Theatre. And MacIsaac is moving the Mohwak Campus downtown..... something Hamilton hasn't done with Mac or Mohawk.

in fact...I think Brantford (formerly Ontario's poorest city) (formerly Hamilton's poor cousin) is showing Hamilton up.

Sad to see happening.

ridiculous

Sad indeed.

We were in Brantford on Saturday, and we out of our way just to get downtown. We talked about potential, we admired old stately homes, we marvelled at a church to living space conversion.

Hearing this is more than sad, it's criminal.

Sort of like what we did 40 years ago. Hard to believe it gets worse.

I'm gutted. As will be Brantford's downtown. Why the flock do people let things like this happen?

Because the masses are happy as long as they are fed a steady diet of credit cards, junk tv and fast food. After consuming crap, you can't be expected to recognize or appreciate culture. How do old buildings help people get to the nearest drive-thru for a case of Coke and some onion rings and still get home in time to watch "The Biggest Loser"?

^ best adam post '09.

Someone told me today that the answer to downtown's problems is bulldozing.

I just don't understand how anyone can actually think that... there's no reasoning with such cluelessness!

What can you do? People can be so ignorant. Most people think a new Future Shop or WalMart is a sign of progress. Anything older than "brand new" is dirty and should be demolished.


I'm not sure I believe the claim that this is the longest stretch of pre confederation buildings in Ontario. They are old, but I'm not sure they are all that old. Plus, there are a lot of old cities in Eastern Ontario that might contend for this honour.

Brace yourself for some 'bulldozing' LTE's in the Spec. Last week we got the it's-all-the-panhandlers-fault letters. When the topic strays to downtown, it's never too long before the bulldozing trolls come out. It's the Godwin's law of Hamilton discourse.

You're right, in that the pre-confederate stretch is only a small portion of the buildings.. starting after the Right House (the really tall one across from Harmony Square) and continuing over to the next break in the buildings. But apparently that is the longest stretch in the province. Really, speaks more to the lack of preservation in our province than anything that this would be the longest remaining. I'd imagine its because all the other places where there are pre-confederate buildings, they are interrupted by newer buildings (or empty lots). Buildings from before Confederation tend not to be saved because in general they are simpler constructions, from what I've been told. In downtown Brantford, for instance, which was a pretty influential city fairly early on in Ontario's history, the more architecturally remarkable heritage buildings are newer ones further down this stretch, done once Ontario was really booming economically.

Some of the newer and more ornate buildings are in extremely good condition. My-Thai's building for instance -- beautiful, inside and out. And according to the most recent surveys, virtually all of them are structurally solid. Really this is not so much a case of demolition by neglect. Until this month, people were living or doing business in virtually every single one of these buildings, despite the boarded up storefronts on some of them.

with all due respect.... Pre-Confederate is pretty old... pre 1867. Most buildings just burned down at some point rather then torn-down.

But i agree conservation must take some blame.

Post a pic of Brantford's Right House... was that a chain of Dept Stores? or coincidence that Hamilton had one named that too?

Right House was a chain. I remember my Mom driving out to St. Catharines to shop at the store there after Hamilton's Right House closed up.

How many of these "Right Houses" still exist in some form?

You mean as operating stores? None.

Nope I just meant the buildings themselves, or maybe an idea on how many locations there were.

There's a Facebook group that's just been started to try to raise grassroots support (in Brantford and everywhere else!) toward stopping the demolitions (41 heritage buildings, most in good structural condition!)

We're making an effort to have people raise this awful decision with the Heritage Minister, city councillors, etc.

Join! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=264835224286

I like Brantford

Help Us!
 

Get yer "Save the South Side" tshirts here! $12: http://www.cgprintanddesign.ca/ (or at Custom Colour Tshirts, downtown Brantford)
http://cgprintanddesign.ca/southside.jpg

How to help?
Join the Facebook group!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=264835224286

Help us flood Heritage Canada's inbox with emails that they need to take notice of this! Email: [email protected]

Write our city councillors!
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]

I like Brantford too, and will email their councillors.

I'm also changing the title of this thread gradually to something else. It's not clear to me yet that Brantford is actually dumber than Hamilton.

You've got two minutes to watch a clip on CHCH News about this.

Give hell to his councillor...

[email protected]

I posted the few shots I have of the affected area in City Photos. Maybe it'll bring some awareness outside Brantford.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=178092

Brantford's choice: Wreckage or revitalization

TheSpec.com - Local -Christopher Hume

To those in favour of tearing them down, the 41 heritage buildings on Colborne St. in Brantford are decaying relics of the past.

To those who would save them, they represent the future.

But if Brantford council gets its way, the structures will be destroyed anyway, perhaps as soon as this week.

The decision to demolish flies in the face of everything this community of 90,000 has gone through in the last decade. That's when Wilfrid Laurier University came to town and started buying and renovating old buildings throughout Brantford's much mutilated downtown. The estimated economic impact is somewhere between $20 and $27 million annually.

Just as important, Brantford looks less like an elegant ghost town than it has in some time. Though the core remains empty by, say, Toronto standards, life can now be found along these newly refurbished arteries.

Then there's Colborne St., one of the oldest thoroughfares. Built on a steep incline that reached up from a canal built in the mid-19th century, it was part of the original business district. However, with the collapse of the farm machinery industry in the 1980s, Brantford fell on hard times. Massey Ferguson, White Farm and other local businesses closed their doors, throwing 15,000 out of work.

At the same time, the forces of sprawl were busy transforming the hinterland into the usual mix of malls, subdivisions and industrial parks. Commuter culture meant that most residents lived, worked, shopped and played well outside of downtown. They had no ties to the city and stayed away in droves.

That period of decline brought the civic masochists to the fore; they encouraged the destruction of some of Brantford's finest buildings, including its city hall, to make way for some of the most unfortunate developments imaginable – Eaton Centre and Market Square come to mind. Even when Laurier showed up, and Nipissing University, city council was reluctant to offer support.

To many residents and politicians, Brantford wasn't worth being saved, especially from itself.

Laurier now operates 18 buildings in Brantford and evidence of renewal can be seen everywhere – except on the south side of Colborne. Buildings there have sat empty for decades and are shabby and rundown. That makes them an embarrassment to the councillors who believe they should be reduced to rubble.

The more optimistic argue they should be kept and given new life. They say the sheer number of buildings guarantees the critical mass of heritage architecture needed to fuel a revitalization program. That process has already revived parts of Brantford and will inevitably reach Colborne St.

After 30 years of waiting, however, a majority on council is anxious to continue down the trail of destruction begun decades ago. Not even the absence of a plan deters these would-be wreckers. They're not pursuing demolition to make way for something bigger and better, just to clear the site. Not only is this dumb, it's self-destructive.

"Heritage is a major asset," insists Leo Groarke, who oversaw Laurier's Brantford expansion. "It's one of the things that attracts students."

Since Brantford council voted to expropriate the Colborne properties several months ago, they have been boarded up. The last tenant was thrown out Friday. No surprise then, that the buildings look like so many ruins-in-waiting. Some are in better shape than others, but what's significant is they stretch almost four blocks, enough to transform the city.

What frustrates preservationists is that Brantford has finally reached the point where revitalization is within grasp. But this sort of shift takes time; now that the downtown is finally making a comeback, tearing down Colborne St. would be premature and ill-advised.

Brantford has enough problems without inflicting more of its own.

The demo has begun.

Hope for the future
 

The downtown was deadsville. Higher education seems to be a money maker and float the Brantford economy. Due to the inexpensive starts for housing many are moving there (from Hamilton), check out the new subdivisions.
All these new residents need a place to go and the downtown was not it.
It was a cross between Harlem and Beirut (the bad yrs).
So yes if someone HAD stepped forward to save the area, Lord knows there were enough incentives afforded but no bites.
So at times it is better to cut your losses and start from scratch. A clean slate.
Imagine if the reports are correct condos, YMCA (remember the university kids) and there is unlike Hamilton a VIA rail stop there that goes directly to downtown Toronto.
I worked right downtown and it was not pretty especiallly at night. Walk around at 2 in the morning. Like many cities (I say many many cities have issues like even ours) HillBilly herion is taking it's toll and this town needs jobs.
The do-gooders mean well but talk don't pay the bills. We need investments not more projects for publically provided tax dollars which will most likely run over time and over budget.

^^Taxpayers paid to expropriate and demolish all those buildings.

Contrary to popular belief, these buildings were not empty. There were people living in them and several businesses were operating. Those people were forced out of their homes. I believe one man had lived there for over 50 years. The City of Brantford substantially decreased its stock of affordable rental properties, creating additional hardship for its low income residents.

There is also word that a developer from London wanted to buy all the buildings but the City of Brantford would not even entertain his offer, they were so dead set on demolition.

There are concerns that the land will be unstable, as these structures were built on the side of a hill.

I would not be surprised if this land sits empty for quite some time.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 

Oddly enough on the news a 25 yr merchant across the street said "long over due". During the news broadcast they showed the back side of the structures and it looked like Mr. Potato head with add ons. I truely believe from a property standrds and safety perspective it was like the Royal Connaught doomed to decay. As for the 50 yr resident it looked like a slum and I can only imagine the rent was real reasonable.
Come on, like everything else in this region the vocal minority with time on their hands or a vested interest get heard and things get delayed like the pan am stadium or heaven forbid a 50 yr yes 50 year or 18250 days for the Redhill and it looks very well used I don't see any boycott.
Remember our downfall for progress lawyers and consultants get paid by the hour. just look at the Caledonia negotiations.
As for Brantford downtown rip it down ASAP and put something else up quick like. :shrug: :shrug:

They really messed up because Six Nations believe they own everything within a certain radius from the Grand River. If they ever do build something and don't get approval from the aboriginals expect a Caledonia crisis repeat.

Seemed to work for us, didn't it?

I love the RedHill Expressway, it gets me to Burlington Mall 15 minutes faster.

Provincial government commits more than $16M to joint recreation facility in Brantford

http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morn...day/071308.htm

BRANTFORD — Wilfrid Laurier University and the YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford are one step closer to a new community athletics and recreation centre after receiving more than $16 million in funding from the Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. The Honourable Bob Chiarelli and Brant MPP Dave Levac made the announcement at the Brantford Family YMCA.

So sad to hear this. Windsor has ripped down so many of it's old buildings, it's a shame. I think a healthy downtown should have a good mix of new and old.
We tore down one of the last few intact blocks of 19th century buildings to make room for the Chrysler Canada headquarters, which was suppossed to be 34 stories, but ended up being only 15. Such a shame to lose our history to such an underwhelming developement.

I work in downtown Brantford and it's made an amazing turnaround over the past few years - all because of the university. I'm ok with demolition (up to a point) if it means continuing to improve the health of the downtown.

Any photos of the demolition?