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Renewal prsject is a win -ger
Architect wins award for Convert-to�Rent project on The Square
BY PATRICK RAFTIS
When the massive brick building located
at No. 2, The Square in Goderich was built,
around 1863 , it was obvious from the in-
tricacy of the brickwork and strength of
the three -inch -thick supporting timbers
that the designers knew the structure was
something special and intended for it stand
a long, time. However, it is unlikey the
original owner, harnessmaker Horace
Horton, ever imagined the building would
still be earning design awards for ar-
chitects more than 125 years later.
However, that is exactly the result of
renovation work undertaken by the
building's current owners, brothers Peter
and Frank Strickland, in the past year.
Blyth architect Christopher Borgal was •
named receipient of an Ontario Renews
Award for conversion of the upper two
floors of the building in the Non -
Residential to Residential category. Eight
modern luxury apartments, seven one -
bedroom and one bachelor unit, were
created on the second and third floors.
Borgal received the award from Alvin
Curling, Minister of Housing, at a presen-
tation ceremony in Toronto, Nov. 4.
Though his name is on the certificate,
Borgal insists the award is "a corporate
prize," and gives credit for the quality of
the work toeveryone involved.
"Everyone," includes John Rutledge,
the designer in charge, Gord .Duerin, a
retired architect who has been involved
since the initial concept, the owners,
tenants in the ground floor stores and
others who have had a hand in the project.
"It's been an exciting project for us,"
said Peter Strickland: " We took it a little
further than we originally intended to," he
added, referring to the fact the original
plan was to renovate the stores on the
ground floor first and eventually convert
the upstairs from storage space to apart-
ments, possibly in three years time.
As• it turned out, the entire project was
completed in about one year, although
some minor work, such as the completion
of a laundry room for tenants in the base-
ment remains to be done.
The project was first concieved in Oc=
tober, 1985, when the Stricklands purchas-
ed the building from the Perth Furniture
Company. Duern agreed to do the initial
concepts and layout of the project and
'after Anstett Jewlers committed lease the
lead store space in November, worked
with Anstett's designer Robin Rowattto
co-ordinate designs for exterior
appearance.
While operated as an A and P, the seeond
floor of the building was used as a Marine
• Club, hosting dances for soldiers and
sailors during wartime. The third floor
was home to the Orange Lodge during this
time and an operation known as Westvelt
Business College was also run in the
building.
The Building .was sold to the
Breckenridge family in 1947 and the front
store for a time was occupied by the Union
Bank of Canada.
In 1946 a massive hardware store opera-
• tion owned by the Breckenridges encom-
passed all three floors of the building. To-
day, a service elevator installed for use by
the hardware business makes the new
apartments accessable to the ,.
handicapped.
While it was a major undertaking, the
e
Stricklands feel such efforts are nec-
cessary cessary to preserve the historic beauty
and uniquness of The Square.
"It creates a sense of pride (in common)
with the other shopkeepers and merchants
around The Square," he said.
The land on which it stands was original-
ly owned by the Canada Company, which
sold it to Daniel Lizars in 1934. Lizars sold
the property to John Galt, one of the Huron
Tract pioneers. The next owner was Hor-
ton, in who's family the building stayed for
75 years. It later housed the Huron Bruce
Loan C. and while still owned
Horton estate, became an Aad P store.
Duern and Rowatt had several meetings
with the Local Architectural Conservation
Advisory Committee (LACAC) to discuss
the historical preservation aspect of the
project.
"Then I heard about the Convert -to -Rent
program," said Strickland. The program
awards grants and low-interest loans to
developers converting non-residential pro -
BY
WILLIAM,
THOMAS
One of the newly -created apart-
ments (above photo) in the
Strickland building, No. 2, The
Square, Goderich, features a
20 -foot high ceiling and a spiral
staircase leading to a loft. At
left, Mayor •Eileen Palmer
poses with award-winning ar-
chitech Christopher Borgal, of
Blyth (centre) and John Rut=
tledge, designer in charge of the
renovation project. Borgal won
an Ontario Renews Award for
designs for the conversion of the
property from non-residential to
residential use,
Life in the
litter box
Malcolm was not my idea. I once had a
real cat — a big, tough, fluffy tabby by
the name of Floyd who came when he
was called, yammered back at you when
you spoke to him and tortured frogs in his
spare time. It was pointed out to me that
Floyd would suffer sibling psychosis if he
didn't have another cat his age to play
with. The intimidated concern was for
his (manhood — something that later got
taken care of with two swift swipes of
veterinarians scalpel at precisely $17.50
per swipe. Nonetheless, a fey feline 1 did
not need, so I quietly acquiesced.
Enter Malcolm — walking like a slinky
toy and smiling like a buck -toothed
Cheshire at the sight of two square meals
a day and a litter -lined pot to pee in.
Floyd spat at him and never went near
him again. In hindsight, I'd have to ad-
mit that Floyd was an immensely better
judge of character than I.
Time passed and strangely enough,
though the marriage didn't make it,
Malcolm did — all the way to my new
rural route mailbox in Wainfleet. He just
showed up one day carrying a half bag, of
kitty litter and four ounces of home
grown catnip he had buried in the bag;
There was no mistaking Malcolm with
his John Wayne swagger and overbite
that would cause a vampire to cry with
envy.
perty to residential. The availability of the
program, promted the Stricklands to ad-
vance their timetable for completing the
work on the apartment development.
Wrecking crews moved in to clear out
the building "wall to wall" in December.
Interior dividing walls, radiators,
everything which could possibly be
cleared out was. At this point, Duern turn-
ed the interior layouts over to Christopher
Borgal and Associates, for final drawings
and refinements.
During interior construction phase,
which took place in the first two months of
1986, every window and frame was remov-
ed. Every glass pane was taken out and all
the frames were rebuilt, reglazed and
painted. Roughly 680 man hours of labor
were required to complete the work on the
windows alone, which is a measure of the
painstakingly meticulous job that was
•
Strickland, and the tenants moved in as
its were available in May.
done.
All interior walls were built to the pre-
sent fire code and a complete modern fire
alarm system was installed. The walls
were all insulated and sound -deadening
construction was used. New plumbing was
installed throughout, which in at least one
case required removing an antique
wooden toilet and replacing it was a
modern unit, and the entire building was
rewired.
During the latter months of winter,
Anstett's completed renovations to the
part of, the building which would house
their store and they opened for business in
April. During July, Newphew
Photography Studio and Willems Real
Estate moved in to complete the commer-
cial tenancy on the ground floor.
The aparments themselves had all been
spoken for months in advance, said Mr.
soon as the un
Outdoor renovations, from brickwork to
roof repair continued through the summer
and early fall.
The result of the renovations is an at-
tractive exterior building which gives the
appearance. of well -kept age, housing corn-
modius up-to-date living accomondations.
"We wanted to create the kind of place
where •young professional people would
want to live — so they could say 'I live up-
town and I've got a nice place," said
Strickland.
Most of the work on the project, both in-
side and out, was done by local contrators,
with most of the material also supplied by
local firms.
Refortified as it is, the building Which
has stood for over 100 years may stand that
long again, giving it time to add few more
chapters to its history.
Now it's been six years since we
suspiciously set up house. And we've
been through veritable hell together,
Malcolm and I: The Blizzard of '77, The
Great Flood of '85, two knee operations
(mine not his), a traumatic castration
(his not mine). He's been dewormed,
defleaed and considerably depressed
since a possum under the house partially
succeeded in ripping out his tongue last
month,something I've been threatening
to do ever since I met him. Yet thanks to
the miracle of modern veterinary
medicine and a cheque for $214
Malcolm's record is still intact. He has
nevermissed a meal except under the in-
fluence of ether since. his -mother • kicked
him out of the conjugal packing crate
eight long years 'ago.
Our relationship is not working. Carry-
ing my last name and sleeping in my bed
is more of an arrangement of conve-
nience (his not mine) than a true love
affair.,
Malcolm is an unending source of em-
barrassment to me.
At the„ Clarence Street Veterinary
'Clinic in nearby Port Colborne, the
receptionist announces him as "Malcolm
Thomas", an insult made worse by the
awful fact he's the closest thing I have to
a real son.
Whenever I have friends to the house
Malcolm routinely drops a dead rodent at
their feet, acting every bit the fearless
predator. Too slow to catch a live one,
these little corpses all have tire tracks on
there.
Then there's the late night horror
scenes where he bolts upright in bed and;
lets loose a blood -curdling scream to
ward off a straythat has contravened his
territory and been spotted through the
sliding class door. The first time this
happened I thought he was dying; the se-
cond time only a cluttered crawl space
kept me from killing him.
It's safe to say that Malcolm is the only
cat in captivity who has spent most of his
dult life in the doghouse.
In every failing relationship each must
accept some of the blame. I too am guil-
ty. For one whole year the Miss Mew cat -
food people ran a promotion in which I
would send 10 labels to their head office
and they would rebate me one dollar. In-
stead of dutifully depositing the refunds
In Malcolm's food jar, I was stashing the
cash and stopping at The Belmont Hotel
"or a couple of beers on the way home
from work.
Somehow Malcolm found out. He pro-
mptly sprayed my tennis shoes. Then he
began consistently overshooting the end
of his litter box and he invented a game
called "Hide The Hairball'. It was ob-
vious I couldn't win the war. Don't be
fooled by the fur, a cruel cat harbors a
virtual arsenal of weaponry in that little
body.
I tried to enact a truce by showering
him with cat toys but he just drooled on
them until they all rusted and' stuck
together.
I know he was never fond of the name
"Malcolm" so for awhile I even tried
calling him by another t an for First
"Hec-
to Boo' which is Egyp
ands dump in the h istoofailed to curb
n "Hosni"
and finally "Ray".T
his nasty behavior.
He still scarfs down one six -ounce tin of
Miss Mew every day and buries his face
in one quart of milk every week,, but to
him I'm just the opener.
• ,As a last ditch effort to salvage
something from this relationship,
Malcolm and I will be travelling up to
Sir Sam's Inn for a "Group Encounter
:Weekend". (The ad didn't specify
Coptlraned on Paw) 9
The Strickland building AS it appeared at the turn of the century
` h6, recently renovateversion of the btiiiding at N6,
The Sglxpre