Village Squire, 1978-11, Page 10Glen Wood
A young man in love with old buildings
Glen Wood and his Festival Square in
new uses for old buildings.
8 The Village Squire November 1978.
the background: finding
If you've got a mental image of a developer throw it away
when it comes to Glen Wood.
There are a couple of images that come to mind when one
thinks of developers. One is of a tough talking. cigar chomping.
hard-nosed businessman who's willing to bend the rules to make
money: you know. the Hollywood cliche of the hard-hearted
villain who casts the poor family out of their house to bu.ld a
giant office building or lay it waste for a parking lot. Or there's
the other image of the super -smooth. slick -talking businessman
complete with expensive suit and big car.
Glen Wood perhaps is closer to the latter stereotype than the
former but somehow he doesn't fit. Instead of slick -looking he's.
well...rather scholarly looking. His boyish good looks are
half -hidden behind the large glasses. The voice is soft and
reasoned. It's hard to believe that this young man is the person
who already owns the Talbot Inn in London. finally turned the
decaying buildings of downtown Stratford into something to be
proud of. and is already dreaming and scheming over other plans
to revamp old buildings into interesting new complexes.
Mr. Wood is no stranger to Stratford. the site of his latest
reclamation effort at Festival Square. He was born just down the
road at Embro but for the last 12 years London has been his
home base.
He got an early start on the business of restoring of old
buildings. He bought his first old house when he was only 18
years of age and began fixing it up. His background is actually in
interior design which he studied in the United States. He began
his career in London with Simpson's.
He started out on his own about 10 years ago with a store
called Tradewinds selling china and glassware. He also owned
for a time a Bayfield antique establishment called Bayfield
House.
In 1976 he took his first big step when he purchased the old
Belvedeere Hotel in downtown London and renovated it as the
Talbot Inn. The main floor portion of the Inn was turned into two
lounges. Mingles and The Firehall and a restaurant. The 87
rooms haven't been renovated but are rented on a long-term
basis to students and others. It opened in September of 1976.
Then last year he became involved in the controversy over
what to do with the downtown Stratford core buildings that were
being auctioned off by the city of Stratford. It was nearby
merchant Neil Matheson who started the ball rolling.
Mr. Matheson wanted Mr. Wood to take a look at the two
buildings at the centre of the controversy the Gordon Block and
the Beamish store at the corners of Erie. Ontario and Downie
streets. Mr. Matheson and another local resident suggested that
Mr. Wood come down and look at the buildings. "It was a rainy
day and of course the water was pouring in through the roof and 1
said you've got to be kidding. 1 usually think I've got a
reasonably good imagination but I really thought this one was a