A Depression-era theatre in Old Ottawa South gained heritage status yesterday, barring an appeal by the owners.
Council approved heritage building designation for the Mayfair Theatre on Bank Street, but John Calvert, of the Ottawa South Historical Society, said it’s not yet a done deal because the owners have 30 days to appeal the decision to the province’s Conservation Review Board.
However, if an appeal does not happen or if it fails, the theatre would then essentially remain as it has been since it opened in the 1930’s — even if it no longer shows movies.
“Property developers are up and down the Bank Street strip looking for something they can develop and put a large building on, but now there is a legal statement saying that whatever does happen they have to protect those features identified,” said Calvert.
Several councillors opposed the designation, noting that the theatre’s owner did not want it and that the municipality should not force it upon them.
Barrhaven councillor Jan Harder said most people her age had visited the Mayfair, but there’s no business case to keep it as a theatre.
If the theatre was proposed today, councillor Gord Hunter (Knoxdale-Merivale) said that it would not be approved.
“What would happen today if someone came in and said I want to put in a theatre, it’s about three storeys high, it’s going to be solid brick and with a façade like that, and it’s going to go into your neighborhood?” he asked.
“Would (residents) be embracing this? No, they wouldn’t. They’d be saying what a horrible aberration of architectural design it is.”
But Clive Doucet (Capital ward) said companies like Pharmasave, located next door, have designed their building to match the Mayfair aesthetics.
“It’s unfortunately hit a low in its operating life. I’m sure it’s going to come back. But for it to come back it needs a breath of life from the city of Ottawa,” said Doucet.
