Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Waterloo County Gaol (Provincial Offences Couthouse)

Active Correctional in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

May 16 2022

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Recent status Active
Location # 18786

Hazards of Waterloo County Gaol (Provincial Offences Couthouse)

This is an active Government building. Thats all. It is also not SOLEY a museum piece. Keep that in mind. They have priorities and ask permission to take photographs as it is a active courthouse.

History of Waterloo County Gaol (Provincial Offences Couthouse)

‘‘The precursory requirement for the creation of a county in the 1850s was the presence of a local gaol and courthouse. In deciding the seat of Waterloo County, a seat for which Berlin and Galt were both competing, the presence of such buildings was taken into account. Because Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener) had a jail and courthouse, the city became the county seat.

The gaol had been constructed on land donated by hotel owner Frederick Gaukel. Work began in 1852, the year of the inception of Waterloo County, Ontario. It was designed by the architectural firm Mellish and Russell of Brantford, Ontario who used a Classic Revival style. The cost of the construction in 1852 was £4875. For over a century after its completion, the gaol was administered municipally, although this changed after 1968, as the government reformed the administrative system of Ontario's prisons. The addition of the governor's house in 1878, designed by architect David W. Gingerich, served as the gaolor's residence for the next century of the facility's operation.

Closed in 1978 to be replaced by the Waterloo Regional Detention Center, the building is now a heritage site. After the closing, the building was the subject of a 2002 feasibility study aimed at converting the former prison into an affordable housing project.


Both the house and gaol reopened after major renovations. The section that was the gaol now houses courtrooms while the area that was the house is now the location of the offices of the court and other agencies.’’


SOURCE


On my list for a while, I just needed a extra ‘push’ so to say. About a year or 3 after I had initially wanted to do this, the climate changed a bit with COVID, and it was closed. Then there was a period that I truly wasn’t too sure if going to shoot what I could here may lead to errrrrrrrr, more…..undesirable results….


I went with Pikaswed420 as I had some business to attend to myself. I like to say that if I can get 65$ worth of photos in a location that I beat the game, but what about when you finish shooting the place and realize that its not even worth 65? Then you end up doing the thing that got you a ticket (shooting things AKA taking photos) in the place that you pay your trespassing tickets.


Do enough of this urbex, urban exploration, taking photos in places you shouldn’t and no matter what you seem to have done, and what you WILL do, you will inevitably end up here realizing that you may or in my case, may not have acquired 65 dollars worth of photos. This album is what “65$ worth of photos” REALLY looks like…..


There is an archeology exhibit on the interior of this just-about-totally-converted-and-modernized-building and I was told that maybe once a year (but not since COVID) this building has a few open spots such as the one (1) original jail cell still in the jail and what is the current staff lunchroom that has the hook that they apparently hung people from.


I have some more exteriors of the Old Jail to shoot in order to satisfy me but I did shoot the Guvn’rs house. Ive always liked it….. More to come…….?

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