Down Comes the Mayfair

About a month ago, Kitchener’s Mayfair Hotel was deemed unsafe due to a watermain break in the basement. Some wanted it saved, others wanted it levelled. As for myself, I was torn. I was disappointed to see another old downtown building completely neglected to the point where it couldn’t be saved, but at the same time could understand how it had become a bit of an eyesore.

There was a special city council meeting held to have the heritage protection stripped in order to expedite the demolition. A few held out hope that the building could yet be saved by having a heritage building expert assess the situation, but this ultimately didn’t work.

Demolition was to begin on Wednesday of this week, but the site prep finished early so the demolition crew wasted no time in getting started on Tuesday instead. Crowds gathered to see the bricks come down; I went down on my lunch break on Wednesday to see more than half the building gone already.

You can see a live feed of the demo here. Thanks to Caitlin Quarry for the link!