Doors Open Waterloo Region: Airboss

Doors Open is a yearly event that opens historic and significant buildings to the public. Here in Waterloo Region it is usually in early to mid-September. I’ve only gone a handful of times and this year I had the intention of going to a number of sites, but in the end I was only able to make it out to one. We’re a one-car family and I’ve just been overly busy over the last few months, so I was only able to make one stop.

Lucky for me, it was a place I have been dying to see the inside of for years: Airboss. Luckily the building is a mere 10 minute walk from our house. Airboss used to be Uniroyal Goodrich, which is where my dad worked for 30 years, so I’ve always had a soft spot for it. I remember years ago my dad brought myself and my four siblings in on a Saturday so we could see where he worked.

Uniroyal Goodrich, like Airboss, made its money in the rubber industry. Uniroyal made tires, Airboss makes just about anything with rubber. The plant is over 1,000,000 square feet, so suffice it to say, we didn’t see the whole plant. The building was designed by Albert Kahn who is famous for his auto factories found in Detroit, namely the Packard Plant and Ford’s Highland Park Plant.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside although I was able to get some shots of the exterior that on any other day I would not be able to get (without jumping a barbed wire fence and getting charged with trespassing).