Orangeville’s historic Broadway fire hall, constructed in 1891, had fallen into a state of disrepair after having served as a variety of businesses since the fire department moved to its new location in 1972. A building that once served as a hub for the rescue of other structures was now in desperate need of saving itself.

A 6500 sq. ft. retrofit was planned, including an 1800 sq. ft. addition. This also involved the complete restoration of the building’s exterior facade. The consultation process demanded extensive review with local heritage conservation interests : the challenge lay in the application of modern design standards (i.e. modern electrical and mechanical systems, or the wheelchair lift to the second floor), while preserving the historical character so important to Orangeville’s community pride.
 

The revitalization of the building’s materiality and historic features was key in this project. The exterior brick was painstakingly cleaned and restored, and all windows were replaced. Five tons of electrical wiring was removed from the building and replaced with mechanical and electrical systems elegantly hidden above dropped plywood ceiling panels.

Reclaiming the building for adaptive reuse also means the dirty job of reclaiming the site itself. SGA found evidence of deteriorating soil conditions where the addition was to be built, most likely from rotting garbage, and special helical piles had to be used to create the foundation. Even more interesting is what is out of sight:

“Something that you would never know or see: under the old building, there’s actually a cistern. There was an underground river back when the building was built and that’s where they kept the water for firefighting. The stream was eventually rerouted and channeled off. There was no longer any water in the cistern, just a big open space. A lot of baaad stuff down there; we cleaned it out and filled it with gravel.”

On the interior, the building’s past comes out to play. A new staircase is ornamented with fire-fighting axes and a reclaimed fire-hydrant. An insignia based on an international firefighter's crest is designed into the floor pattern of the main office space. Stain-glass windows, designed by SGA and created by a local glass artist, are also featured throughout the space. A skylight opens up the back of the building to a planned roof garden. This is reflected on the opposite end of the building: a glass viewport looking up through the old structure of the old tower serves as a portal to the building's past.
 

“There was a actually a lot of steel structural reinforcement of the tower, something I’m happy to say I got to test for myself. You see, Orangeville has this music festival every year and a couple years ago my band ‘The SHANKS ’ was invited to play. We performed a couple sets of crushing rock in front of the tattoo shop beside the tower, and we were really shaking the ground. In that moment, I was able to contemplate the potential irony of being buried in a heap of bricks from the falling tower as some kind of punishment for my lack of devotion to the Mother of the Arts (Architecture) for deigning to pursue alternate interests.”