Roof brought the curtain down
Razing delayed until next week
January 13, 2010
Nicole O'Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/703952
It appears the fate of the soon to be demolished Century Theatre hinged on its crumbling roof.
It began to collapse around 2000, according to past and present owners. In the years since, the roof has further deteriorated, exposing the floors below.
Yet the city was not officially notified until last Thursday, the city's chief building official John Spolnik said last week.
This, despite the fact the building's facade was designated heritage and the developer was in line to receive more than $1.8 million from the Hamilton Downtown Residential Loan Program.
Staff visit properties for the downtown incentive programs, which only pays out at 60 per cent building completion, said city spokesperson Debbie Spence. Property standards data is also obtained for zoning verification.
However, last week Councillor Bob Bratina said the property standards bylaw for proactive inspections seems to have holes when it comes to roof inspections.
The city learned of the crumbling roof and floors in an independent engineer's report submitted to the city last week, Spolnik said. This led to the demolition order.
Owner Zoran Cocov said yesterday he is working out a contract with a demolition crew. Because of Ministry of Labour approval, work is now expected to begin next week.
Cocov and his business partner purchased the building in 2000 for a condo development project and created Lyric Century Apartments Inc. He planned to save the facade, but safety concerns killed that dream.
Cocov said the roof was partially collapsed when he took ownership of the building. He thought the roof's condition was common knowledge among city staff.
"I think everyone was aware," Cocov said.
The building was previously owned by John Cameron and John Johnstone.
"It was very, very rough," Johnstone said of the state of the building when they bought it in 1990.
But he said the roof began to collapse shortly after Cocov took over ownership of the building in 2000.
The Johnstone and Cameron plan was to develop apartments, but it proved too costly because of the state of the building.
Despite selling for $148,000, when the building was purchased for $500,000 in 1990, Johnstone said he was thrilled when the property was taken off his hands.
The Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee had no knowledge of the collapsed roof, said its chairperson Art French.
However, usually only the outside of a building is inspected, along with documents outlining the building's history.
It is unclear whether knowledge of the collapsed roof would have affected heritage designation, French said.
It is clear from websites and a Facebook group devoted to the Century Theatre that some community members were aware of the collapsed roof. Photographs from people inside the property are displayed and people have posted comments that they knew for at least five years.
Former Century Theatre employee Rich Parkinson, who is one of the more than 850 members of the Facebook group, questioned why nobody contacted the city.
He started working at the theatre in 1986, when he was 19, and was one of about 10 employees left when the theatre closed in 1989.
Despite the building's grand history, Parkinson said it had already greatly declined when it closed.
He still remembers almost every detail of the theatre's layout. When the Lyric Theatre, circa 1913, was transformed into the Century Theatre to show films in the 1940s, the front of the stage was bricked up and covered with the movie screen.
But the brick wall did not reach the height of the ceiling, Parkinson said, adding that he and others would walk along its top.
They could see the Lyric stage, where the Marx Brothers once performed. He would climb up some rickety stairs to where lights and backdrops were controlled. Carved on the wall were workers' names and dates from the 1920s.
When the theatre closed he grabbed some old Lyric Theatre tickets and metal marquee letters. He now wishes he grabbed more, especially because the theatre is where he met his wife, Angela.
Mary Gushie also met her spouse while working at the Century, as an usherette and popcorn girl in 1950.
She remembers seeing Mike Gushie, the new assistant manager, for the first time in the lobby.
They got married when he was 21 and she was just shy of her 16th birthday. They were married for 57 years when Mike died in 2008.
"I loved to work there," Gushie said.
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