Should a parking garage in Kitchener receive a heritage designation?

What makes a parking garage in Kitchener special? CTV’s Karis Mapp finds out as the Heritage Committee considers its future.

A parking garage in Kitchener, Ont. is sparking debate.

The six-storey structure at the corner of Ontario Street and Duke Street is being considered for a heritage designation, but not all committee members were convinced the garage deserves the status.

“I do not think that a large, multi-storey parkade in downtown Kitchener is worth of heritage designation and I would not want to see that protected,” Grant Eveleigh, a Heritage Kitchener committee member, said.

Under the Ontario Heritage Act, municipalities can pass bylaws to designate properties of cultural heritage value. Those designations formally acknowledge the importance of the area and can protect the asset by managing any future alterations and supporting ongoing maintenance and conservation efforts.

“I can see how the initial reaction would be that a parking garage may not be a good candidate for designation,” Peter Ciuciura, a Heritage Kitchener committee member, told CTV News. “In this case, I think that there is a really exceptional element to this building that gives it extraordinary merit.”

One of the key features of the parking garage is a helix-shaped ramp. A professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, Rick Haldenby, called the ramp an ambitious engineering design for its time.

“It had an esthetic intention,” Haldenby explained. “It did want to introduce a kind of dynamic, fluid and almost magical form.”

When the parkade first opened in 1968, it was attached to Goudie’s Department Store. That space is now occupied by THEMUSEUM.

“It was historically part of the attempt to adjust the situation in downtown Kitchener to compensate for the development of the suburbs,” Haldenby said.

“It was generally understood that the way to maintain the health of the downtown was to make it more accessible to automobiles.”

Car enthusiasts may also know the structure for another reason; in 2008 an Audi commercial was filmed there.

When the parking garage was built, the design pushed the limits of poured concrete, which was an emerging trend at the time loosely linked with brutalism architecture. Several other buildings around Waterloo Region also draw from that same raw inspiration, such as the University of Waterloo’s Mathematics and Computer building, the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s Central Division building on Frederick Street and Forest Heights Collegiate Institute.

“The main body of the parking garage is essentially concrete columns, concrete decks and concrete balustrades,” Haldenby said.

“Usually in structural engineering, you never see [concrete]. It’s buried in the building. But, in this case, it’s front and centre,” Ciuciura said.

Ultimately, the heritage committee voted in favour of a heritage designation, but not everyone was on board with the decision.

“It’s a really significant piece in the history of our downtown,” Haldenby said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be preserved forever.”

The designation still needs final approval from Kitchener city council.