I have lived in this city for most of my life. I am used to it, the way it is, or sometimes was. I am one of those people who will wax on about long-demolished buildings (e.g. the former Eatons Department store, above) and who oohs-and-ahhs when an “important” building is salvaged and given new life.
But sometimes I have to agree with the friend who posted on a recent thread about a local landmark that is being left to crumble,
“Wow… but we do love old broken crap in this town.”
That stung a little, but sometimes the truth hurts.
There was, for example, the long and painful debate over the replacement of the Johnson St. Bridge (a.k.a. Blue Bridge). While I never felt like it merited replacement over repair, by the time the debate had raged on, the bridge had been neglected to the point where it was past repair. By the time work began on the replacement it was already horribly over-budget.
The Janion building downtown is another example — and one that I never thought would be salvaged but it is under renovation now. For many years, you could ask anyone what they would do with that building if they had the money and everyone had a plan. I wanted a restaurant on the main floor (open late night through early morning), live-work space on the second floor, and living space above. Other plans included galleries, artisan markets, indoor paintball… seriously, everyone I knew had a plan.
Now, all eyes are on the Turner’s News and Ian’s Coffee Shop block near the Royal Jubilee Hospital. the building is in disrepair and nostalgia is rampant. Oddly, I don’t think I ever went in any of the businesses that existed on the street level, nor in the apartments above but many locals have memories of buying comics at Turners or getting ice cream or coffee and pie at Ian’s.
So now the question comes — will anyone step in to do anything? The family who owns it seems unwilling to deal with it. The city isn’t stepping up. I am not sure if it is important enough for the Halmark Society to step in. So, some friends are talking about an Indigogo campaign. It might actually work… but is it worth it just for the nostalgia? To what end do we need to hang on to ghosts of the past?
How do we distinguish between culturally significant buildings and those that, while they may have a place in our hearts, are not-worth-salvaging? At what point are we just being architectural hoarders that impede progress?
I don’t know that I have an answer. I can certainly see both sides of the coin — I even focused on local history as part of my undergraduate studies but I also see how stagnant Victoria can be and I have to wonder, is this habit of saving everything just contributing to that stagnation?