Elora building demolition likely means 'goodbye' to old murals

ELORA – Two long standing murals adorning the side of a soon-to-be demolished building in Elora are likely to become just a memory unless someone champions a preservation project.

So far, nobody appears ready to do so and some wonder if saving murals painted directly onto a building wall is practical or even possible. 

The building housing the Elora Cafe, 175 Geddes St. in Downtown Elora, is slated to be taken down to make way for a four-storey 19-unit apartment building with ground floor commercial space. 

This is part of a larger redevelopment project that also includes a three-storey building nearby and the preservation of a Princess Street heritage home and the Connon Block. 

On the side of 175 Geddes St. are two murals depicting local history. 

According to a Wellington County Historical Society article by J. Raymond Soucy, the first mural was painted in 1982 depicting parts of Elora and its history including the Tooth of Time, the David Street Bridge, the mill and several town founders. 

At the time, Soucy wrote, the building was the Little Katy Shoppette store and was painted by artists Gerry Bosch, Judy Brillinger and Eileen Pedersen. 

Pedersen died in April at 97 at Wellington Terrace. 

Gary Bryant, a local historian whose wife has a therapy dog she takes to Wellington Terrace, heard from her Pedersen still thought of the mural she helped paint. 

“I know Eileen expressed some concerns about the future or fate of the mural,” Bryant said. “I don’t know whether she was given a suitable or satisfactory answer by anybody.”

The other mural beside it is more recent, depicting Salem founder Sam Wissler which was painted in spring 2008 by a Grade 7 French immersion class from Elora Public School, Soucy wrote. Each student signed their name to the wall. 

Dave Gillis, the developer of the project that will see 175 Geddes St. demolished, said he hasn’t had anyone approach him to preserve the murals. 

“I imagine there’s definitely some interest to do it and if somebody wants to champion it, I’m open to somebody relocating that’s for sure,” Gillis said. 

For him personally, there’s only so much he can do as he said he’s already putting a lot of money and work into preserving the Connon Block and the heritage home. This would simply add another complex project on top of what he’s already doing. 

“It’s a pretty big job, just separating it and stuff, like we can do it but for somebody to reconstruct it, where would you even put it?” Gillis asked. 

Susan Thorning, co-chair of the Elora Fergus Arts Council, said people have mentioned it being a shame to see the murals go but she too questioned how they could even be saved.

“It’s painted on cement blocks and you’d have to dismantle it and that would destroy it,” Thorning said. 

She said the Elora Fergus Arts Council is a small volunteer organization on a shoestring budget. 

“We just don’t have the resources to mount a campaign or to do anything about it,” Thorning said. “It isn’t something that we would take on.”

Thorning said Soucy’s article at least preserves the history of the murals and local historian Al Koop added photographs will help keep the memory of them too, even if it hurts to lose the older of the two murals that has been up for 42 years.

“That’s the nature of murals … whenever you put a mural on a building, you really don’t know the owners change hands,” Koop said. “I think it’s a loss but it’s not an unexpected one.”