Known in Guelph as the Raymond Sewing Machine Company factory, the stately, yellow brick structure at 37 Yarmouth Street has been vacant for over 10 months, awaiting the necessary approvals, and insurance claim finalization for an overhaul.
The building’s owner, Tom Lammer of the Lammer Group of Companies, said the insurance, and building permit procedures were completed recently, and work is speeding ahead on a building that sustained well over $1.5 million in damages from an April 24 fire last year.
The fire displaced 19 residents of a building that has 16 bachelor apartments. It started in the ground-floor Raymond Restaurant, causing smoke and water damage throughout the three-storey structure. The full extent of the damage was only discovered once work crews took a closer look.
Lammer said on Wednesday that occupancy could begin as early as June, now that work is going on inside.
“It’s still a very complex job,” he said, adding that certain areas of the interior have to be rebuilt due to the fire damage, and brought up to current building codes. “Best case is we think we’d have occupants there in June.”
One noticeable change that will come to the external of the building, he said, is that a one-storey addition from years ago will be demolished, providing parking spaces in its place an highlighting the heritage qualities of the building.
A leading builder in Guelph, Lammer said the process of getting into 37 Yarmouth to access the fire damage was an extensive one. “That all has its steps and processes,” he said.
Flooring was charred in some areas, but one of the costliest consequences of the fire was from smoke. The factory building was constructed in around 1870. The rebuilding job on the interior began about four weeks ago.
“The whole building needs to get back into service, with fire separations and fire alarms systems,” Lammer said. “We are still negotiating with a couple of potential users for the ground-floor commercial space. The apartments will get fully refurbished and refreshed, some will be 100 percent rebuilt.”
The historic building will be a better building once the work is complete, he said. The project affords the opportunity to knock down the one-storey addition, which is not an aesthetically complimentary feature of the building, he indicated.
“That will create a few important parking spaces for our building, but what really motivated us there was it was not a very sympathetic part of the building architecturally,” he said. “When we remove it we will certainly give the building a bit more dominance and prominence, and show off a bit more of its heritage features.”
Lammer’s company is currently building the NSF International Building on the University of Guelph’s Research Park North property. He is noted for repurposing other heritage buildings, such as the historic bus barns at 371 Waterloo Avenue, and is the developer of the Old Quebec Street Mall in the downtown.
