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Old Posted Sep 11, 2015, 12:56 PM
jaradthescot jaradthescot is offline
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Bud Gowan's building finally getting renovated

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/09/10/ic...y-for-makeover

Quote:
Iconic Shop Ready for Makeover

The historic London building that once housed Bud Gowan Antiques is finally ready for its facelift.

Jonathan Fyfe-Millar, who bought the property at 387 Clarence St. in 2012, said he’s received all the necessary building permits to begin the reconstruction project in October.

“Those are the biggest hurdles. The planning took longer than I anticipated but the process went well,” said Fyfe-Millar, president of a print a digital media business.

Fyfe-Millar plans to convert the basement and ground floor into a restaurant and wine bar with offices on the second floor and residential on the third and fourth floors, including a unit for his family.

He said he hopes to take advantage of the city’s new subsidy program to install fibre-optic cable in the building to accommodate a digital company as a tenant.

In the meantime, the building was used for a book sale last week and has also been used for photo shoots.

Built in 1892, the Italianate building is a downtown landmark. Included in the city’s heritage inventory, the building was first used by the Canada Featherbone Co. as a corset factory.

Fyfe-Millar has renamed the building Featherbone Place.

The interior has a spiral staircase and London’s oldest elevator.

The southern outside wall has a huge exterior mural and a giant clock salvaged from the former London Winery.

Fyfe-Millar said the mural won’t be removed but will eventually be obscured by a highrise complex proposed by Ayreswood Development.

Gowan, a veteran London retailer who died this year, owned the building for more than 40 years, using it for a men’s wear store and later an antique shop.

Fyfe-Millar said London’s heritage advisory committee had some concerns about the renovation, including the replacement of the windows, but the issues were resolved.

Despite its age, Fyfe-Millar said, the building is in good shape.

“Bud took good care of the place.”

Several blocks to the north, work may begin on a residential project in the Woodfield district.

Last year, chiropractor B.J. Hardick bought a long-vacant lot at Waterloo and Central streets for a six-storey condo tower.

He said the timing of construction will depend on advance sales of the condos but he expects to begin the process early next year.

In the meantime, two adjacent older homes will soon be demolished to make room for the development.

Hardick also bought the site of the former Brunswick Hotel at York and Talbot streets, which has been turned into a landscaped parking lot and has been slated for future development.
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Old Posted Sep 11, 2015, 1:11 PM
MolsonExport's Avatar
MolsonExport MolsonExport is offline
The Vomit Bag.
 
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good news.
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Old Posted Sep 16, 2015, 10:44 PM
ssiguy ssiguy is offline
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Thank god, that's been a blight on the core for decades.
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Old Posted Mar 29, 2021, 2:58 PM
jammer139 jammer139 is offline
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CBC article references this plan that went nowhere. - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...tage-1.5965968


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