Regina Construction III

[Treesplease]

ohhh the pigeons!! What is going to happen to all the homeless pigeons now?

[W.W. La Chance]

Originally Posted by SkydivePilot

^ ^ ^ ^ Knock 'er down; get rid of all that eyesore shit already. About half of the buildings along that stretch need to go. ^ ^ ^ ^

It's time for that stretch Broad Street to grow up and modernize.

I would take most of what remains of the "old" on that block than the "modern" development we've seen in the last decade. That whole stretch needs some proper development.

[Stormer]

Well that did not take long...



Marcel LeClaire - facebook

[StealthGirl]

They are already knocking it down this afternoon. Video on twitter from Mitchell Blair. That brick shell is likely a hazard now with no support. It wouldn't take much wind. Likely better to do a controlled demolition, avoid damage to the neighbouring properties and get it to a state where investigators can go onto the property, sift for any bodies in the rubble, determine cause, etc.

[Stormer]

Travellers fire/demo is probably for the best IMO. It did have an interesting history but it has been a terrible eyesore for decades. It likely would have continued as an eyesore for many more years. It was not really an architectural gem by any stretch.

[HomerSPC]

Originally Posted by Stormer

Travellers fire/demo is probably for the best IMO. It did have an interesting history but it has been a terrible eyesore for decades. It likely would have continued as an eyesore for many more years. It was not really an architectural gem by any stretch.

Literally every building between the old Money Mart and liquor store could be bulldozed and I'd be okay with it.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by HomerSPC

Literally every building between the old Money Mart and liquor store could be bulldozed and I'd be okay with it.

I agree!

[thefourthtower]

http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/pr...oop-had-sealed-travellers-buildings-fate
When Richard Swallow cleared almost 2,000 birds from the property two years ago, he estimated it would cost $100,000 to clean up the site.

Doug Philip, who then worked for Swallow at Riva Specialized Cleaning Services and Pigeon Control, vividly remembers the experience at 1833 Broad St.

“It would be just like out of a horror movie,” said Philip. “Just disgusting … rock hard pigeon feces all over the place.”

“That environment was so volatile,” Swallow agreed. “It was so dangerous to go in there without any type of proper respiratory support, because there was about three or four inches of feces on the floor covering it. Hundreds of nesting spots inside the building.”


Prior to fire, pigeon poop had sealed Travellers Building's fate


Ashley Martin, Regina Leader-Post
More from Ashley Martin, Regina Leader-Post

Published on: March 8, 2017 | Last Updated: March 8, 2017 5:33 PM CST

Swallow said that, at the behest of city bylaw enforcement, he accessed the building with the owner’s permission to remove the pigeons.

The way he saw it, there was no saving the Travellers Building, which was torn down at about 2 p.m. Wednesday, six hours after the fire died.

“Floors were rotting out. … It was demolished inside. It would have had to be totally gutted,” said Swallow.

and some loon from heritage Regina wanted to save this building the whole block is revolting

[Festivus]

With all this talk here you'd think maybe we'd all set the fire...

[Stormer]

10-15 years ago there were many buildings downtown that we would have been happy to see burn to the ground. Almost all have be re-habbed or demoed.

[pappcam]

There was absolutely nothing architecturally significant about that building. Noting.

All it was was old. Time moves on. Some of you seem to believe that nothing should ever be torn down and everything should be saved no matter how old or decrepit.

[TerranceB]

From the City of Regina Walking Tours

TRAVELLERS BUILDING
1833 BROAD STREET
This 1929 building was built for the Broder
Development Co. Former occupants included the
Arcadia Ballroom in 1929/45, Ed's Lunch in
1929/49, Radway's Lumber & Insurance in
1929/59, Saskatchewan Motor Club in 1931/60,
Saskatchewan Civil Service Association in 1945/58,
Dun & Bradstreet of Canada Ltd. in 1945/77,
Wartime Housing Ltd. (later Canada Mortgage &
Housing Corp.) in 1945/51, St. John Ambulance
Association in 1945/59, and Group Medical
Services in 1949/64. The upper floor of the building
primarily served as display and sales offices rented
on a short term basis by travelling salesmen, hence
the building's name. The firm of Van Egmond &
Storey designed the property. It is the home of the
last remaining ballroom dance hall in Regina with
a 1920s era sprung horsehair floor. It was
designated as a Municipal Heritage Property in
2001.

[Drofmab]

Originally Posted by pappcam

There was absolutely nothing architecturally significant about that building. Noting.

All it was was old. Time moves on. Some of you seem to believe that nothing should ever be torn down and everything should be saved no matter how old or decrepit.

The heritage value of the building was tenuous at best -

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Travellers Building resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements which link it to Mr. George Broder, including the location of the property on its original site;
-those elements of the property which speak to the association of the property with the architectural firm of Van Egmond and Storey, and reflect the 1920s commercial design of the building, including the projected pilasters, the large display windows, and the stepped parapets at roof level;
-those elements which reflect the property’s association with its many notable tenants, including a large automotive service bay door at the rear of the building.

The heritage value wasn't in the building itself - it was in the building's association with people & a period of time. Commission some public art to commemorate these people - keeping a building with no particular architectural significance? C'mon.

BUT - by the same token, given that the City granted Heritage status, they should have teeth behind the status. Other cities do. This status should have meaning & value. It should not be acceptable to allow a heritage building to consciously fall into further disrepair - the City does have the ability to force owners' hands... but they repeatedly choose not to. It would be better for the City to just walk away from all Heritage designations... get out of the business of Heritage designation altogether, than to designate & have it mean absolutely nothing (other than a listing on a website or two, and perhaps a plaque).
This is a public discussion, though - as actively doing something would cost money... does the community see value in spending tax dollars to preserve Regina's heritage? If we're designating buildings like the Travellers? Likely not.

(in case I wasn't clear - I'm good with Travellers being demolished, as I don't think it should have been designated in the first place)

[W.W. La Chance]

Originally Posted by pappcam

There was absolutely nothing architecturally significant about that building. Noting.

All it was was old. Time moves on. Some of you seem to believe that nothing should ever be torn down and everything should be saved no matter how old or decrepit.

I don't think anyone is saying that this should have been saved outright in spite of its state. I think everyone here acknowledges that it was too far gone for the most part, which is what is unfortunate. Adaptive reuse WOULD have been the ideal outcome in my opinion.

You may have misinterpreted StealthGirl's comment that it's a shame the City allowed the owner to neglect it for so long (I think that can be said about any building new or old), or my comment about Broad St (1700/1800 blocks) development in the last decade or so to be trash.









But I suppose I admit I'd rather see a vacant/decrepit heritage building than the shame that is this ^ or another parking lot.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by TerranceB

From the City of Regina Walking Tours

TRAVELLERS BUILDING
1833 BROAD STREET
This 1929 building was built for the Broder
Development Co. Former occupants included the
Arcadia Ballroom in 1929/45, Ed's Lunch in
1929/49, Radway's Lumber & Insurance in
1929/59, Saskatchewan Motor Club in 1931/60,
Saskatchewan Civil Service Association in 1945/58,
Dun & Bradstreet of Canada Ltd. in 1945/77,
Wartime Housing Ltd. (later Canada Mortgage &
Housing Corp.) in 1945/51, St. John Ambulance
Association in 1945/59, and Group Medical
Services in 1949/64. The upper floor of the building
primarily served as display and sales offices rented
on a short term basis by travelling salesmen, hence
the building's name. The firm of Van Egmond &
Storey designed the property. It is the home of the
last remaining ballroom dance hall in Regina with
a 1920s era sprung horsehair floor. It was
designated as a Municipal Heritage Property in
2001.

They missed ABM Motors, the ill-fated, luxury Nash auto dealership that opening 3 weeks before the 1929 market crash.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by Drofmab

The heritage value of the building was tenuous at best -

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Travellers Building resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements which link it to Mr. George Broder, including the location of the property on its original site;
-those elements of the property which speak to the association of the property with the architectural firm of Van Egmond and Storey, and reflect the 1920s commercial design of the building, including the projected pilasters, the large display windows, and the stepped parapets at roof level;
-those elements which reflect the property’s association with its many notable tenants, including a large automotive service bay door at the rear of the building.

The heritage value wasn't in the building itself - it was in the building's association with people & a period of time. Commission some public art to commemorate these people - keeping a building with no particular architectural significance? C'mon.

BUT - by the same token, given that the City granted Heritage status, they should have teeth behind the status. Other cities do. This status should have meaning & value. It should not be acceptable to allow a heritage building to consciously fall into further disrepair - the City does have the ability to force owners' hands... but they repeatedly choose not to. It would be better for the City to just walk away from all Heritage designations... get out of the business of Heritage designation altogether, than to designate & have it mean absolutely nothing (other than a listing on a website or two, and perhaps a plaque).
This is a public discussion, though - as actively doing something would cost money... does the community see value in spending tax dollars to preserve Regina's heritage? If we're designating buildings like the Travellers? Likely not.

(in case I wasn't clear - I'm good with Travellers being demolished, as I don't think it should have been designated in the first place)

It's almost as if the city had instant regret about designating it as a heritage property so they basically took the approach to just let it decay until it was too far gone.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by W.W. La Chance

I don't think anyone is saying that this should have been saved outright in spite of its state. I think everyone here acknowledges that it was too far gone for the most part, which is what is unfortunate. Adaptive reuse WOULD have been the ideal outcome in my opinion.

You may have misinterpreted StealthGirl's comment that it's a shame the City allowed the owner to neglect it for so long (I think that can be said about any building new or old), or my comment about Broad St (1700/1800 blocks) development in the last decade or so to be trash.









But I suppose I admit I'd rather see a vacant/decrepit heritage building than the shame that is this ^ or another parking lot.

None of those buildings are any worse than a plain 2 story featureless brick box. Who cares when the thing was built. It had no features that stood out to note that it ever had significance of any sort. It should have been torn down the day it was vacated.

All IMO of course

[HomeInMyShoes]

Broad Street Crossing is worse. It's planning from an urban perspective is terrible. No street interaction on any. The one kitty-corner to it is mostly harmless. The brickwork on the Travellers, if we look at oringinal and not the redone lower portion is nice.

The city has paid a lot on studies and recommendations which have stated that they shouldn't lose any more of the brick heritage in the core, but they continually do. The city needs to stop spending money on stuff they have no interest in following in the slightest.

[thefourthtower]

Originally Posted by UrbanClimate

Google Earth Regina in 3D is wicked! What a blast flying through the downtown streets!

But we do have great towers like this

[StealthGirl]

Originally Posted by W.W. La Chance

You may have misinterpreted StealthGirl's comment that it's a shame the City allowed the owner to neglect it for so long (I think that can be said about any building new or old), or my comment about Broad St (1700/1800 blocks) development in the last decade or so to be trash.

That's exactly my point. It's a huge lot in a pretty visibly location. The city has a poor record of enforcing maintenance of properties, especially heritage properties, but not only heritage properties. This one was allowed to degrade, windows open for years. Look at the mess next to CMS which the city gets frequent complaints about, but yet metal continues to spill over the fence onto city sidewalks and people continue to dump furniture on that sidewalk. It's been going on for years.