Another historic building comes down in Cambridge
Glick’s Block was originally a wood frame structure, dating back to the 1840s
CAMBRIDGE — John Gunther watched with sadness as demolition crews tore down an old, stone commercial block in Hespeler where he spent many boyhood afternoons in his father’s jewelry shop.
Also known as Glick’s Block, the historic building sits at the corner of Queen and Adam streets in Hespeler’s core. It, along with an abandoned KFC restaurant building next door, is being razed this week to make way for a new mixed-use development.
Despite the building’s age, it was found to not have significant heritage value because it had been altered too much over the years, City of Cambridge planners say.
But Hespelerites think it was worth saving because of the commercial block’s cultural significance. A string of successful businesses came and went through the building since the 1870s.
“Even if something was done 35 years ago, just like Preston Springs, it could have been saved,” Gunther, now 74, said.
Gunther remembers sitting in the back room of his father’s jewelry shop, Fred Gunther & Son Jeweller, in the 1950s to watch his father tinker with clocks and watches. He remembers hearing noise from jubilant partygoers in the dance hall above the shop.
“The lights in my dad’s store would be shaking from the vibrations,” Gunther said.
He played with other children in the neighbourhood around this busy corner of Hespeler. There was a garage, a grocery store, the Queen’s Hotel across the street and booming industry down the road.
“It was a great thriving town back then,” Gunther said.
Then one by one, factories that drove the
town’s economy closed and left.
Gunther’s grandfather Fred bought the repair and jewelry shop at the corner of 2-10 Queen St. W. in 1928. It first opened roughly two decades earlier. The shop sold fine china, Waldorf figurines, jewelry and watches.
Fred’s son Harold took over the business after his father died in 1946. Harold sold diamond engagement rings to young couples and used skills he learned from his father to fix watches and jewelry. His business thrived in the 1950s. He moved the shop across the street for a more upscale location to sell his fine goods.
As industry slowly left the Hespeler core, Harold did as well. He moved the store to Preston in the 1960s, fell ill shortly after and closed the business. Like his own father, Harold died young.
Gunther himself had no interest in taking up the jewelry and fine china trade. That was when his family’s business ended. Gunther still cherishes a grandfather clock his own grandfather kept in the store.
While Gunther was sad to see cranes rip apart the building, he said even in the 1950s he remembered it had moisture problems.
“I understand the building itself has deteriorated. It’s going the way of the Preston Springs,” he said.
The proposed site plan from Concept Development Group Inc., which includes a low-rise residential building with streetfacing retail, has not been given final approval from the city yet.
So Gunther, who lives in an apartment in Hespeler’s core not far from where he grew up, is hopeful the new development will have ground-level shops and maybe even a grocery store.
“That’s what Hespeler doesn’t have now,” Gunther said.
Glick’s Block was originally a wood frame structure built in the 1840s. It was destroyed by fire in April 1877 and rebuilt in rubble stone with a cut stone facade, according to the Hespeler Heritage Centre.
Local historian rych mills wrote about the silent film theatres that once dominated this corner in Hespeler. Glick’s Block was home to Hespeler’s first movie theatre in the 1920s.
“Over a century’s worth of people visited these shops and bought goods and services,” said Paul Langan, a local historian and Hespeler resident. “2-10 Queen Street West has played a large part in the cultural, social, and retail centrepiece in Hespeler. The building and its rich heritage is worth saving.”
The city said it had not received any requests to consider Glick’s Block for the city’s heritage register over the years. The property had been reviewed by staff twice due to its age and location.
Senior city planner Elaine Brunn Shaw said in recognition of the building’s age, city staff asked the developer to consider integrating the existing building into the proposed development for the site.
It was determined, however, that the location of the building made it unsuitable for integration, she said.
While this particular building was not given heritage status by the city, the commercial block next door has been on the heritage register since the 1980s. It once housed the former Germania House hotel built in 1893 and was designated for its unique structural features and cultural significance.
Queen Street West all through Hespeler Village is dotted with designated heritage buildings — from 18 and 20 Queen St. W. to 310 Queen St. W. , a roughly one-kilometre stretch that features 16 heritage properties.
Hespeler has seen a number of redevelopments lately as Cambridge works to revitalize its three downtown cores.
Riverbank Lofts is the most recent example of a prominent redevelopment in the village. A former mill turned bathtub factory was converted into luxury condos overlooking the Speed River.
Concept Development Group Inc. is also behind the massive mixed-use development planned at the corner of Block Line Road and Courtland Avenue in Kitchener.