ERA is proud to announce that Allandale Station has received a 2014 Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.
A new category this year, the award recognizes exceptional work in conserving Ontario’s cultural and/or natural heritage resources through the completion specific projects.
ERA and the City of Barrie were recognized for Allandale station, an early 20th century project designed by the Detroit firm Spier and Rohns for the Grand Trunk Railway. The station consists of three connected Italianate buildings completed between 1900 and 1905.
Overlooking Barrie’s Kempenfelt Bay, Allandale Station was a hub of activity in the early 1900s, with a passenger depot and restaurant, as well as a two-storey office building. Over the decades, rail activity decreased, and the station was last used in the 1990s by VIA Rail and GO Transit as a ticket kiosk and passenger waiting area.
As part of the conservation of the station, the exterior of the building was extensively restored and reconstructed. Layers of paint were removed, original colours were investigated, and reinstated, original roofing materials were recreated, and the station’s tower was rebuilt to replicate the missing original structure.
With restoration complete, the City is considering next steps for the future adaptive reuse of the space.
ERA thanks the City of Barrie and the Ontario Heritage Trust, and congratulates all the other winning candidates.
