History preserved as Central Fire Station lease approved
Walking through Welland’s nowretired Central Fire Station, every corner seems to bleed history.
It pours out from the cracking plaster and settles with the scattered, aging equipment. Names are written on old lockers and on old shift schedules still scrawled on blackboards in chalk.
Since the city decommissioned the three-storey structure at the corner of Hellems Avenue and Division Street it has stood silent, at least until now with efforts to revitalize the building as a sort of firefighting time capsule moving forward. Much of the original equipment from when the structure was built in 1919 at a cost of $45,851 still remains inside.
An Acme-brand Speak-ezee radio sits in the basement, brass fire poles extend from the main truck bay to the upper floors, a 1957 American LaFrance Quad Pumper fire truck sits inside the bay doors, and lockers still bear the names, and personal items, of familiar Wellanders, including Brian Kennedy who now serves as fire chief.
The last shift schedule before the building closed is still up on the main floor chalkboard, where just metres away the old relay board for the fire call boxes that once sat on city corners stands. On the third floor, where firefighters once went to unwind or host community dances, old fishing magazines lie next to a player piano and billiard table. Firefighting trophies sit on shelves across from a set of handpowered hair clippers once used to keep hair cropped tight. One can even find a trunk of miscellaneous items like blindfolds and boxing gloves once used in firefighter initiation rituals.
“Nothing has been removed,” said Chris Venditti, an architectural technician who for the past several years has been a part of the Central Station Education Initiative working to preserve the historic building as a living firefighting exhibit.
That effort took a step forward this month, after a lengthy negotiation process with the city came to a close and the initiative officially took over the building with a five-year lease.
“It is one of the cornerstones of the community,” said initiative member Claire Masswohl, explaining many people in the city have their own memories of the building, be it dances held on the upper floors, the time the fire hall itself caught fire in the 1960s or heading to the station as kids for
a glass of ice-cold water on a hot summer’s day.
“Those connections are all still there,” she said.
Those connections, and the many artifacts within, aren’t the only unique features driving conservation of the heritage building. The building itself is a unique example of early 20thcentury Edwardian classic style with an unusual Roman-basilica floor plan featuring hexagonal apses at either end of the building which sits on a 45-degree angle across the property.
“It was a very clever use of space,” said initiative member Nora Reid, pointing to other well-preserved architectural features, such as wrapping oak staircases, wood sash windows, cornices with dormers carved into fire helmets, and the old tower used to dry fire hoses topped with a working four-faceted clock.
“You just can’t replicate these details,” said Venditti, who came on board with the initiative when the city began eyeing handing the building off to commercial interests after a 2013 consultants report placed renovation costs for a museum at nearly $3 million.
The initiative found a work around of sorts, casting aside museum plans for a heritage display encapsulating the first floor of the fire hall exactly as it would have been during the early days of the 1920s and 1930s. That will be the first phase, with plans to renovate the second and third floors at later dates.
Venditti said after years of pushing to protect the building it is a bit surreal to have a lease in hand and begin working on restorations. With a lease the initiative can now start cleaning up the exterior of the building and working on the first phase of restorations. Ownership means grants are a little closer to reach. Two have already been landed, including a Niagara Investment in Culture grant that will fund a celebration in September opening up the building to the public.
Until then the initiative is looking for donations and volunteers to get efforts underway. Volunteers for general cleaning and landscaping can call Masswohl at 905-788-3038.
“Right away we want to do something with the exterior,” said Reid.
Preliminary studies are estimated to cost $10,000. The first phase of the project — including new HVAC systems and washrooms — comes with a $323,450 price tag. While it is hoped grants will carry much of the costs public help is already coming in. Just this week an anonymous $5,000 donation was made.
Donations can be made to the Central Station Education Initiative, P.O. Box 432, Welland, L3B 5R2. For more information visit the Welland Central Firehall Facebook page or the website: www.centralfirehall.wordpress|.com.