Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Mayfair Hotel

Demolished Motel/Hotel in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Apr 25 2015

 |  1502
 |  0
Recent status Demolished
Location # 11924

April cracks bring Mayfair down. The Mayfair Hotel , built in 1905 to the Renaissance revival style. In 1929, three more floors were added in the art deco style. This building was supposed to be a hotel boutique and integrated with the condos behind. This will not happen now.Heritage status has been ripped up and an application for demolition has been ordered. The minimal heating must have failed and in February pipes burst and flooded the basement. Now City inspectors say new cracks have formed that are too dangerous to fix. There have been two other buildings that come to mind that were declared unsafe and are now fixed; The Masonic Lodge in Goderich and The Paisley Inn[loc. 2191],Paisley ON. Heritage people were asking why their engineers trained in historical places could not inspect it, and why this had to be rushed to a vote? Well it's demise is set in stone now and the City of Kitchener only has to wait on a demolition plan to proceed. With the building the way they say it is, it is unlikely an inside request is possible now, and may be gone very soon.. So much money has been spent on maintaining and planning this former hotel's future over the years and to rush to a quick judgement to end it, seems odd especially the way governments usually work. It's too bad that the need for fire escapes didn't come sooner and could be integrated into buildings like this one, a bit better and safer.....................................................................................................................................................UPDATE : No clear date on demolition as gas lines to be rerouted [vibration concerns] first then a demolition permit to apply for. The Mayfair Hotel apparently passed inspections in 2013[ or were these cracks missed?] before the city sold it , to Mr. Nimer, after owning it for about 12 years.................................................................................................................................................UPDATE : Along with the Mayfair Hotel @11 Young st. , the building next to the hotel [158 and 156 King St.] [ seen in first picture] will be demolished too. This is the Hymmen Hardware building and will take to long[ just 6 to 8 weeks] to support the common wall shared with the hotel, so it's going also. The architectural pattern is the same as the hotel and would have been nice to leave but now Kitchener council is getting ridiculous and they are in a 'DEMOLITION FRENZY' .

Comments

Please log in to leave a comment

 • 

9 years ago

Yes even with law suits threatened they went ahead, with the demo. a day early, thanks Skye _Ann, Storytrail for links.

 • 

9 years ago

Hymmen Hardware Building still standing but was added to the demo....just a matter of time I guess. CHECK link below or in links for short news FILM .

 • 

9 years ago

Too late, it's already coming down. http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5634352-crews-get-a-head-start-on-mayfair-hotel-demolition/

 • 

9 years ago

Article today: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5629284-mayfair-demolition-not-safest-response-engineer-says/

 • 

9 years ago

Yes you should see the apartments he owned as well, I heard he only did the bare minimum. The final blow for this place just recently happened, last Thursday's vote where Heritage Kitchener were shut out, trying to save it. The City of Kitchener has a big chunk of blame too and slowly losing their history.

 • 

9 years ago

... This wasn't on here until now? Wow, I'm shocked. It's coming down soon - for some reason within 1 year it went from "ready to be redeveloped" to "can't salvage any part of it". The owner pisses me off, he sat on his butt for YEARS and let it fall apart just so he could demolish it. There was no effort to fix it up ever.