Doors Open 2015

Doors Open Ontario was held in Waterloo Region on Saturday that featured a total of 40 sites throughout the region that you could tour and visit. Including one of the pre-visits I did to the McMaster School of Medicine, I managed to see seven different sites this year, which is easily the most I’ve seen in one day. The last few years I was only able to make it to two or three.

My first stop was at Sorbara Law, which is a very short drive from my house. This was probably my favourite site for the simple fact that it was absolutely stunning inside. It’s an old mansion that was once occupied by the Seagram and Bauer families. The folks as Sorbara did a major renovation to the existing building and also built a massive addition at the back of the building to house offices for their lawyers. One of my favourite features of this place was the original blueprints of the house they had framed and hanging throughout. 

The former Waterloo County Courthouse (on Weber Street between Queen and Frederick) and the Gaol directly behind it were my next stops. The old courthouse has been renovated into Region of Waterloo office space and the gaol is home to a couple provincial offences courtrooms. Up next was Uptown Waterloo where I visited both CIGII did a few exterior shots here recently—and the Button Factory, which was also running an exhibition featuring one of my images. My final stop was the Waterloo Masjid, not far from CIGI. They were busy with prayer time during the tours, but were still gracious enough to show us around and tell us about their faith.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. It rained in the early afternoon, but judging by the attendance I saw it wasn’t enough to keep people away. I was quite happy to get to as many sites as I did, most of which I’d never seen before. Next year I’ll aim for eight.

Using Format