41 buildings that are about to be demolished

[flar]

In a few weeks, the City of Brantford, Ontario is set to demolish 41 buildings regardless of their state of repair or heritage value. I took some shots in Brantford a few years ago, and although the city has fallen on hard times, I was extremely impressed with the size of its downtown area and it's quantity and quality of Victorian and early 20th Century architecture. It's a real shame things have come to this.

The full Brantford tour: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=123197

Let's take one last look.

Everything on the right side of the street will be wiped out. There are no plans to do anything with the empty lots that will result.



Every single building shown in the following photos will be gone in about a month or so. Sadly, it is reported that many of the buildings are structurally sound, and many have apartments in the upper storeys.










The buildings are on a hill, the fronts are 2-4 storeys and the backs are 5-8 storeys.










I guess this was Brantford's attempt to do something with the buildings.









The empty lot in the foreground is now a public square, the buildings in the background are among those to be demolished.



Thanks to SABBATICAL! for bringing this to our attention...

Originally Posted by SABBATICAL!

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: cwiebe@heritagecanada.org

Write our city councillors!
dmccreary@brantford.ca,
MCeschi-Smith@brantford.ca,
jcalnan@brantford.ca,
jkinneman@brantford.ca,
jsless@brantford.ca,
vbucci@brantford.ca,
MLittell@brantford.ca,
jbradford@brantford.ca,
gmartin@brantford.ca,
rcarpenter@brantford.ca,
mhancock@brantford.ca

[LSyd]

depressing news.

-

[Nightsky]

Very sad, and crazy to demolish these buildings instead of renovate them, that would have created a great atmosphere. Why have the downtown area fallen in disrepair? And how does the rest of the downtown look, the buildings that will be preserved?

[the urban politician]

What reason is the town giving for doing this?

[flar]

Originally Posted by Nightsky

Very sad, and crazy to demolish these buildings instead of renovate them, that would have created a great atmosphere. Why have the downtown area fallen in disrepair? And how does the rest of the downtown look, the buildings that will be preserved?

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What reason is the town giving for doing this?

Apparently, they just consider the buildings to be eyesores and want to get rid of them. There are no plans to redevelop the land.

Brantford is an old industrial city of about 90,000 about 15 minutes southwest of Hamilton. Its downtown is quite substantial, but it's one of the most depressed in Canada. The city suffered from industrial decline over the past 30 years, typical of the rustbelt. In recent years the economy has picked up, but all the new development is along Highway 403 and the downtown has been left to rot.

The full downtown tour is here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=123197

If I still lived in the area, I definitely would have taken some new photos.

[Rizzo]

Very depressing but not surprised. I know Brantford is in serious trouble, but typically nothing good comes out of this. Old buildings possess a spirit for a better city when the times comes around. When their gone, so is your downtown forever.

My hometown of Saginaw is a complete joke because they took a similar strategy and leveled most of their downtown (which was incredible at one time) Over the years they filled it with crappy one story concrete block structures spread out on huge suburban lots. It made for an awful place to visit and walk through, and they've effectively killed the downtown for eternity.

I've never in my life understood why people think an abandoned building is worse than an empty lot. Abandoned buildings motivate discussion of a potential future. "Wow that's sad, this should be renovated...." Even if not possible at the moment, at least the idea is always brought up. As for an empty lot....it brings very little discussion, and no private business wants to build new in a dying downtown. At the very least, there is latency to the buildings being there where when the time is right or the planning is good, they'll fill up with businesses.

[johnnypd]

that's heart breaking.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Hayward

My hometown of Saginaw is a complete joke because they took a similar strategy and leveled most of their downtown (which was incredible at one time) Over the years they filled it with crappy one story concrete block structures spread out on huge suburban lots. It made for an awful place to visit and walk through, and they've effectively killed the downtown for eternity.

It's a shame that this exact same story has played out in so many cities.

[niwell]

Very disturbing turn of events. Especially since it seems that the upper floors of the buildings are (or can) be occupied for residential uses. In this case I might even be in support of main floor residential conversion.

[hammersklavier]

Depressing.

A town still stuck in the automotive era, I see. Those buildings are so beautiful.

[Lecom]

What the hell?! Really, what a pathetic turn of events.

No, seriously, WHY?

[Thundertubs]

Senselessly criminal, blindly ignorant, and desperately near-sighted. Pre-war commercial street frontage is a desperately limited resource that gives identity to a community. A city erasing such a large portion of it's downtown like this is akin to a person cutting off half their face. The lessons of the post-war decades are still not learned.
The city of Brantford is making a colossal mistake. Regardless of the chance that they may someday see new life, a row of dilapidated old buildings is always superior to a giant hole in the ground, especially downtown.
Few of the individual buildings are anything special on their own, but a long row like that is the face of the city, whether anyone likes it or not.
Once it's gone it's gone. If anything eventually replaces it, it is guaranteed to be inferior.

Thanks for capturing this, Flar. Soon photos will be all that's left when someone asks "What used to be here?"

[Evergrey]

This is horrifying!

[marcus]

I'm appalled

Pretty town for what it's worth now

[Kingofthehill]

R.i.p

[xzmattzx]

Seems kind of stupid to demolish them without even having a plan with what to do with the land. Empty lots with weeds growing in them are an eyesore as well.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Absolutely mental...welcome to N America.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Brantford Mayor Mike Hancock

"The vast majority of our city is strongly in support of this demolition," he said. "It would give our downtown new life."

source: Hamilton Spectator http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/714151

[jodelli]

Originally Posted by flar

source: Hamilton Spectator http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/714151

Brantford Mayor Mike Hancock said the buildings' owners never applied for heritage designations

Of course they didn't. This is what slum landlords do.

and the city must move forward to get rid of a dilapidated part of the city.

"The vast majority of our city is strongly in support of this demolition," he said.

"It would give our downtown new life."

What an ass.

Brantford Councillor Dan McCreary said no one disagrees something needs to be done, but to tear down unique building stock is the wrong way to go.

McCreary said the city did not do an overall analysis to study the viability of redeveloping the buildings itself.

"Quite frankly, I don't believe creating a gravelly slope from a collection of heritage buildings is urban renewal."

A notice of motion will go to council Monday that will call for the city "to cease the process and engage in public consultation," he said.

Maybe this will get somewhere.

Or maybe the Mayor thinks they can be the new Brampton or Bramalea. "I'll take Suburbs Starting With Bra, Alex." Wrong answer.

[dktshb]

I can't believe the whole town is not in an uproar over this. How can they let this happen? These buildings are not an eyesore they are gorgeous. Do the people in this town think parking lots are more attractive? I would probably lose my mind if they did this to a whole block of historic structures in Los Angeles today. I thought this irresponsible destruction of cities on this level was history... I guess not.