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  #21  
Old Posted May 20, 2009, 5:03 AM
IronWarrior IronWarrior is offline
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I remember going to the Century as a kid back in the early 80's, as a last resort if the Odeon across the street was too packed and we could'nt get in...all the lastest big movies at the time played at the Odeon it was modern and I can remember it being very loud!! had the best sound system e.t.c. for the time I guess..lol I dont think Famous Players gave two shits about the Century near the end do to the fact that they had a plan to Open up for biz in Jackson Square, guess they did'nt want to spend the money in upkeep of the building...
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  #22  
Old Posted Jul 14, 2009, 4:07 AM
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I'm really gonna miss this.



Any news on this project anyway? It's been awhile now.
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  #23  
Old Posted Jul 15, 2009, 2:16 PM
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great pic
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  #24  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 11:08 PM
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Looks like the City is going to demolish the Century Theatre building tomorrow. Two floors collapsed today and the block is closed off to traffic. Plus there's a large visible crack on the side exterior of the building.
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  #25  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 11:38 PM
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Looks like the City is going to demolish the Century Theatre building tomorrow. Two floors collapsed today and the block is closed off to traffic. Plus there's a large visible crack on the side exterior of the building.


I don't know what to say. I think we all saw this coming. Being inside the building many times within the last 5 years myself, I saw first hand that the building's days were numbered.
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  #26  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 11:40 PM
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A report on CHCH tonight said the city is still evaluating the building and the earliest it will come down is tomorrow. The person on the news was talking about them checking the historical aspects of the building.
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  #27  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 11:44 PM
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I'd be shocked if they were able to save any part of the building at this point. The only sturdy part is the modern renovated auditorium (unless the building fell into it)
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  #28  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 1:53 AM
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So sad. Chalk another one up to demolition by neglect.
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  #29  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 12:17 PM
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Another downtown heritage building unsafe
Century Theatre structurally unstable, in jeopardy

January 08, 2010
Nicole O'Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/701118

The facade of the heritage- designated Century Theatre is in jeopardy after the city issued an order that it is unsafe and blocked access to the historic downtown building yesterday afternoon.

City of Hamilton public works staff began closing Mary Street and its sidewalks from King Street East to the northeast edge of the property around 4 p.m. as the building's owner, Zoran Cocov, of Lyric Century Apartments, looked on. The neighbouring parking lot will also be closed.

The order calls for immediate action because the building's inside on the upper floors are structurally unstable, said city spokesperson Debbie Spence.

Cars were towed off the street and neighbours were warned of the problem, though they were not told to evacuate. Police patrolled the area on foot to ward off any pedestrians.

Spence said the owner must have an engineer with heritage knowledge on site today to determine the immediate next steps. The area will remain closed until action is taken.

Lyric Century Apartments, which has owned the property for almost 10 years, obtained a heritage permit for the historic building's facade in 2007 and a demolition permit to tear down the rear of the building in March 2009, she said.

Plans were in the works to build a 59-unit condominium building, Cocov said.

The plan was to preserve the facade and first bay of side walls to stand as the condo entrance, he said. But the instability may mean the facade is too dangerous to save.

"Health and safety has to be the main concern right now," Cocov said.

In a Spectator article in September, Cocov said the preservation of the heritage feature was proving very expensive.

It is unclear when construction might have begun, as no site design had been submitted to the city, Spence said.

The city was alerted to the problem through an engineering company that had examined the site to provide the owners with a quote for its services, she said.

The state of the theatre, which is on the city's list of vacant buildings, caused many complaints from residents, Spence said. The last property standards complaint was on June 5, claiming the building was open to trespassers.

The historic building was the biggest of its kind in Hamilton when it opened 1913. With 2,000 seats it was a prime location on the vaudeville circuit and later showed movies.

It closed 20 years ago. Its last movie was Lethal Weapon 2.

Ward 2 Councillor Bob Bratina remembers seeing movies there. He said he is very sad to see how far a building with such value and presence has deteriorated.

"I had high hopes to reinstate it as a music theatre," he said.

Bratina said the city should have been able to preserve the building.

"It shows we still have a long way to go on our property standards," he said.

Bratina initiated the bylaw for proactive inspections. He said he plans to review it for holes, including what he called a lack of roof inspections.

"We continually have buildings falling down before our eyes."
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  #30  
Old Posted Jan 9, 2010, 6:23 PM
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Century poised to fall
One last engineering report could save the day, but not likely

January 09, 2010
Nicole O'Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/701888

Barring a last-minute miracle, the entire Century Theatre will come down as early as Monday, the city's chief building official says.

John Spolnik, who is also director of building services for the city, said he spoke with the engineer hired by the historic buildings' owner after the engineer's inspection yesterday.

To save the facade, which was the owners' development plan, would require an extensive design and stabilization process, he said. This would take too much time -- time the city does not have because of safety concerns.

The city ordered owner Zoran Cocov, of Lyric Century Apartments, to have an engineer with heritage background inspect the site immediately, following an independent engineering report that led the city to deem the property unsafe on Thursday.

Spolnik said he won't officially order the building be torn down until the new engineer's report is on his desk Monday.

But he said from what he's been told, he can't foresee any reason to change his mind.

The entire front section of the roof is collapsed from the facade to almost 40 feet back, he said.

Like dominos, the fifth, fourth, third and second floors are collapsed.

There is no lateral support for the building, Spolnik said. Stability will only deteriorate with snow and winds.

The first the city heard of the roof being collapsed was Thursday, he said.

However, Cocov said the roof was partially collapsed when Cocov and his business partner purchased the building nearly 10 years ago. Since then there has been more deterioration.

"It's difficult to predict what's going to happen," he said. In hindsight, there are things we could have done better, he added.

He requested the heritage designation in 2000 and it was approved in 2001. It was later amended to protect only the facade.

If the city orders the building demolished, Cocov said the planned 59-unit condominium will mimic the building's architecture.

Certain elements will be saved, including the original sign
.

Hamilton Fringe Festival president Brian Morton called the events "classic demolition by neglect."

When the theatre opened in 1913 and was still called the Lyric, it saw all the big acts, including the Marx Brothers, he said. The stage was blocked with bricks and re-opened for cinema in the 1930s.

It closed 20 years ago and has sat empty since.

Hamilton once had the most theatres per capita in the country, Morton said. It will be a shame to see another one bite the dust.
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  #31  
Old Posted Jan 9, 2010, 10:40 PM
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The bigger scandal is the strategy of neglect led by the downtown renewal division that will result in demolition. For years they have publicly celebrated in all their reports the imminent development of condo units but never lifted their finger to protect the building and initiate construction, while tying up loan funds and denying other developers money to build. What has been the cost in staff time and opportunities lost for this neglect? Council should be asking this question.
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  #32  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 1:53 PM
thistleclub thistleclub is offline
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Says something about local architectural heritage muscle that the Spec's pro-Century voice in that article is the Hamilton Fringe Festival president. Would be curious to see how many appeals for bylaw enforcement were made regarding this property over the last 20 years from the ACO and orgs like it.

Our disappearing heritage
Critics say city must work harder to save old buildings
January 11, 2010
Dana Brown

The Century Theatre is slated for demolition as early as today.

The Mary Street structure, built in 1913 as a vaudeville house, is the latest on a growing list of historic buildings in Hamilton that have either collapsed, fallen to a wrecking ball or are languishing in neglect.

What can be done? The issue is pitting heritage lovers against developers, city bureaucrats and councillors.

The historic Century Theatre has been on a Hamilton heritage committee watch list for two years because of concerns around inaction on the project.

And downtown councillor Bob Bratina wants the city to conduct a blitz on all suspect buildings in the core to bring a clear picture back to council about their current condition.

As well, he'll be asking city staff why buildings such as the Century are not being inspected.

The Century could come down as early as today after the city deemed the building unsafe last Thursday.

The front section of the roof on the Mary Street structure and inside floors have collapsed.

Officials are waiting for an engineer's report the city ordered the building's owner, Zoran Cocov, to have conducted. That report is expected today.

Art French, chairperson of the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee, said the Century was not put on the watchlist due to structural concerns, but because of concerns that nothing was being done on the project.

But Matt Jelly, a local artist who started a Facebook group on the Century after hearing it would come down, says the ball was dropped when it came to saving the theatre.

"I think more so the issue for me is what led to a situation where the building can't be restored," he said.

"And it's a fundamental breakdown of our bylaw enforcement in Hamilton."

By last night, more than 400 people had joined the Facebook group, with many sharing memories of the site.

The faltering structure is the latest in a series of area buildings with serious structural problems.

In 2008, the Balfour building at King William and James streets was brought down after its facade began to buckle.

And in 2004, part of the Tivoli Theatre caved in, forcing the demolition of the third floor.

At the Century -- formerly known as the Lyric -- the original plan was to save the facade, which is covered under a heritage designation.

Dave Kuruc, owner of James Street North business Mixed Media, said he and others believe "enough's enough."

"I think it's kind of ridiculous -- it seems to be this is a recurring thing and it really has to stop if we want downtown to become a different kind of place," he said.

Kuruc, who at one time organized a protest demanding the city enforce its property standards bylaw, characterized nearly all of city council as being missing in action on the issue.

Kurac said there needs to be a vision for downtown, a focus on fixing up several key buildings and a push for buy-in from smaller investors, rather than looking at mega-projects for the core.

"People waiting and speculating on property is not the right way to promote your city and that's what's happening in the downtown core," Kuruc said.

"Everyone's waiting for someone to do something else before they do anything."

In the wake of the Balfour collapse, the city implemented a new inspection system that included quarterly inspections of about 75 buildings known to be vacant.

Inspections got under way last June, and by late August more than a dozen orders were issued against neglected buildings.

"I thought we had addressed this with the proactive bylaw," Bratina said. The Century "tells me we haven't." He said he doesn't get a sense from many members of council the crumbling buildings are "a priority issue."

Bratina blames neglect by both the city and those who own the Century for what has happened and asked the city's legal department if charges could be laid.

He said he was told that since no orders were issued against the property, there is no failure to comply.

Bratina said the matter is one of public safety.

"I believe some building owners feel that we're not tough on this."

But committee chairperson French says it's not all bad news.

He noted several older buildings in the city, such as Victoria Hall, have been preserved, but people often only hear about those that are falling apart.

dbrown@thespec.com

905-526-4629


The Good

FOSTER BUILDING

The King Street national heritage building made up of Victoria Hall and the MacKay building was vacant for 30 years before a Toronto developer cleaned it up. The city granted $307,000 from the downtown loan program to convert the former retail building facing Gore Park into residential and commercial units.

LONDON TAPHOUSE

The 159-year-old stone building at the corner of Main and John got a close-to $4 million facelift to become a restaurant/bar. The building, by renowned architect William Thomas, is considered a landmark building in the downtown. It has been a grocery, winery, veterans hall and several restaurants before sitting empty for a number of years.

LISTER

The long-derelict landmark on James Street has been the most-talked about building in Hamilton. After a long series of disappointments, the Lister is being redeveloped in a $25-million project to turn it into retail and office space.

The bad

BALFOUR

The Lister neighbour crumbled to the ground in April 2008. The collapse made Heritage Canada Foundation's worst loss list for the year.

ROYAL CONNAUGHT

The venerable downtown hotel continues to sit empty after a recent bid to convert it into mixed income housing failed to get government funding. Hopes have risen and fallen over the King Street landmark, which many say holds the key to turning around the fortunes of Hamilton's downtown.

The hopeful

TIVOLI

Fundraising is under way to bring the former theatre back to life for ballet. The lobby and facade of the James Street North theatre collapsed in 2004 but the theatre portion remains. The Toonies for Tivoli campaign is part of a $15 million capital campaign of the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble to restore the building built as a carriage factory in the 1870s.

AUCHMAR

The historic Mountain estate has fallen into disrepair. The city, which owns the property, has applied for $4.8 million to fix it up. The plan is for Auchmar to be restored as a curatorial centre that will house more than a million artifacts and host city events.
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  #33  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 3:46 PM
highwater highwater is offline
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Originally Posted by thistleclub View Post
Says something about local architectural heritage muscle that the Spec's pro-Century voice in that article is the Hamilton Fringe Festival president. Would be curious to see how many appeals for bylaw enforcement were made regarding this property over the last 20 years from the ACO and orgs like it.
I could be wrong of course, but I've never seen any real advocacy from the local branch of the ACO. Beyond organizing walks and talks, I'm really not sure what they do. Education is commendable, and part of the puzzle, but we obviously need more organized and vocal advocacy. I don't think it'll come from the ACO.
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  #34  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 4:42 PM
thistleclub thistleclub is offline
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My assumption was based on statements like these: "Through advocacy and direct action the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) has been involved in preserving Ontario's architectural and environmental heritage since 1933."

Agreed that events like Doors Open are great, but if that's your "direct action" strategy I can't help but wonder if our old buildings are as well defended by the Haunted Hamilton team.
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  #35  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 5:08 PM
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That is definitely the mandate of the ACO at the provincial level, but I was referring specifically to the Hamilton branch. I have yet to see any local advocacy from them. And last year's Doors Open in Hamilton was very disappointing.
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  #36  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 10:34 PM
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City issues order to demolish Century Theatre
Owner says timeline too tight to save facade

January 11, 2010
Nicole O’Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/703022

The city’s chief building official has issued an order requiring the owners of the Century Theatre to demolish every part of the historic building.

The order came late this afternoon, following John Spolnik’s examination of an engineering report funded by the building’s owner.

Under the name Lyric Century Apartments Inc., Zoran Cocov will have to mobilize a demolition crew immediately. Work is expected to begin as early as Tuesday.

Because of the building’s stability issues, it will likely take weeks to demolish, said Spolnik, who is also director of building services for the city.

He recommends crews work from the north end of the building and use “cherry picking equipment” to pull the building apart piece by piece.

Cocov had hoped to save the facade of the building, which was deemed heritage, for his pending 59-unit condominium development at the Mary Street site.

But the engineering report found that stabilizing the facade would take more time than the city is allowing.

Many Hamiltonians, including Councillor Bob Bratina, members of the arts community and downtown property owners have accused the city of being lax on property standards and have accused Cocov of “demolition by neglect.”

But Cocov says there is more to the story.

From the outside it may look like nothing has happened since he purchased the building 10 years ago, he said.

But Cocov contends that he has been working to secure funding, multiple permits and to keep up with changing regulations.
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  #37  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 10:34 PM
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And she's a goner
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  #38  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2010, 11:10 PM
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Just ridiculous. In Ottawa there are buildings where all that's left is the facade being held up by steel beams. They're saving it for when the property is redeveloped because they know you just can't replicate historic buildings. You'd think somebody in Hamilton might be able to execute something like that at least. But no, it has to be demolished immediately.
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  #39  
Old Posted Jan 12, 2010, 1:32 AM
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How many times is this going to be allowed to happen?

If we're going to destroy our past, maybe we'll be a city of the future? No. Wait... this is Hamilton.

Hamilton keeps soft pedaling developers hoping they'll develop, and no one does. Time to use property standards like a stick, not a fluffy pillow.
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  #40  
Old Posted Jan 12, 2010, 1:44 AM
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Heartbreaking.
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