Leon’s chain wants to preserve history
Original location in Welland with stone marker hasn’t been designated as historical building
Leon’s, a modern-day ottoman empire with more than 50 furniture outlets across Canada, wants to preserve a history that dates back to a store originally selling dry goods in Welland.
A media spokesperson confirmed Leon’s Furniture Ltd. is “very keen” to get the commemorative stone from the first-ever location of what is now a nationwide chain.
Audrey Hyams Romoff, responding to questions on the chain’s behalf, called a stone engraved with the inscription Alban Leon Est. 1914 a “significant part of their history.”
“Numerous requests to retrieve the stone have been made, but at this point, the attempts have been unsuccessful,” she wrote in an email.
Hymans Romoff added Leon’s is investigating the process of getting the building at 244 King St. designated a historical building and preserving the stone.
At the southeast corner of King and State streets, south of the city’s downtown, the two-storey building now houses a medical clinic and a pharmacy.
Positioned in the middle of the upper floor on the side facing King Street, the commemorative stone is no longer visible following recent work on the exterior to the second storey. However, it can still be seen online on Instant Google Streetview at instantstreetview.com.
Nora Reid, a researcher for the Welland heritage advisory committee, said the commemorative stone’s now-you-see-it, now-youdon’t history is nothing new and predates the sale of the building to the current owner, 2873548 Ontario Inc.
“It’s been left various times with a hole so you can see it. Then at other times, it’s completely covered up, depending on who owned it,” she said.
Two or three stores, including the former Rotten Richards and MacFrugal’s furniture stores have operated out of 244 King St. over the years.
“For a long time you could see the stone name block in the upper storey of the front facade of the building,” Reid said. “One had the sign where they had it cut like that and you could see it.
“The next time I went by, ‘Oh, they covered it.’”
Despite being the first link in a chain that stretches coast to coast and acquired The Brick in 2012, the King Street location hasn’t been recognized as being of historical significance.
“No, nothing is designated about that building. If someone wanted to make a request to the City of Welland heritage advisory committee to look into a possible designation, they could,” Reid said.
In 1992, Reid compiled a summary about the Lebanese settlement in Welland for a book titled “Architectural and Historical Reflections of the Founding Peoples of Welland.”
“What I put together about the Lebanese in Welland turned out to be 90 per cent about the Leon family,” she recalled.
Reid, speaking from experience as a researcher, believes a designation goes on the property.
“It goes on the whole property but then part of the designation describes what is actually protected; to a certain extent, it is the schedule to the bylaw they make,” she said. “They could just say the exterior or whatever or just the stone.
“It’s different than just getting historic recognition. It’s actually a bylaw on the property.”
The committee has looked into the history of the property. It could recommend to city council that “certain features of the building be preserved or even visible.”
“The whole process then would have to be researched,” Reid said. “They would then make a recommendation and then the city council either passes it or doesn’t pass it.
“At this point, there is nothing that says it has to be visible. It’s all up to the owner.”
Repeated messages left for Ahmed Mohamad Samy Abdelhadi, who was described by employees at Samy’s Pharmacy as the owner of the property, have not been returned.