REMI

Endangered Guelph heritage building gets owner

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The landmark Petrie Building in downtown Guelph, Ontario, is set to be restored after being listed as one of the National Trust’s Top Ten Endangered Places in 2014.

Tyrcathlen Partners is the new owner of the building, one of three documented structures in Canada erected before 1890.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to revitalize this truly unique local landmark and national heritage treasure,” said Kirk Roberts principal of Tyrcathlen Partners. “After almost 100 years, it will be especially rewarding to see the upper floors come back to life.”

Tyrcathlen, is a company known for focusing on heritage restoration and adaptive reuse of buildings, as seen in other local projects like Boarding House Arts, a community of arts organizations and galleries in the former Guelph Civic Museum.

The Petrie Building, located at 15 Wyndham Street North, suffered from neglect after years of no capital investment.

Built in 1882 for a local pharmacist and one of the city’s most influential businessmen, the four-storey structure features an ornate façade of stamped galvanized iron and a large mortar and pestle pediment. The architect was Guelph-based designer John Day.

“Investment in this landmark building by a sympathetic developer was the outcome we dreamed of when inscribing the Petrie Building on our national Endangered Places list,” added Natalie Bull, executive director of The National Trust. “Its rehabilitation will keep a landmark from becoming landfill, and inject new life into the city’s treasured historic downtown.”