From a resident.
News Flash (17 July, 2014): https://www.heritagecanada.org/en/issues-campaigns/top-ten-endangered/explore-past-listings/ontario/petrie-building
I have been given the very great honor of announcing the successful nomination of Guelph’s Petrie Building (15 Wyndham Street North), now deemed by Heritage Canada as an Endangered Place. It is officially released today that Heritage Canada recognizes the Petrie Building as one of the top ten Endangered Places across Canada for 2014. This significant news is also released today on Canada’s Newswire.
Several months ago, with the encouragement of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (Wellington Chapter) group, and the support of the “Save the Petrie Building Facebook” group, I officially nominated the Petrie Building to Heritage Canada as a potential candidate. And today, it is nationally recognized for its significant position as an iconic example of Canada’s heritage and Guelph’s downtown core character, while also highlighting how such a unique and prominent structure finds itself endangered.
While simple historic Guelph buildings (such as the Wilson Farmhouse) succumb to development and a disturbing trend of erasure, let this good news further encourage the tireless efforts of local and national incentives to save Canada’s maturing heritage.
The Petrie Building was built in 1882 by Alexander Bain Petrie, druggist and dispensing chemist. The iron-clad facade is now a unique example in Canada of Neo-Baroque Italianate architecture that celebrates the industrial success, not only of Petrie’s original drug store, but also of Canadian expansion in the late 19th century. The building’s continuous biography is both personal to Guelph and also now nationally recognized.
I would like to sincerely thank members of the Petrie family and the present owners of the Petrie Building, along with an ever-growing membership of the “Save the Petrie Building” Facebook group, of this magnificent yet endangered building for an ongoing interest in its possible futures. DK