‘All about the ramp’: Downtown Kitchener parkade is designated heritage

A parkade that sits on the corner of Ontario and Duke streets in Downtown Kitchener will soon receive a heritage designation. 

Kitchener City Council voted in favour of it last week, alongside the Heritage Committee. It wasn’t the parking garage that councillors had their eye on, however. The helix-shaped ramp that spins effortlessly up the six-storey structure is seen as an ambitious piece of engineering for its time. 

First opening to the public on June 14, 1968,  the parkade was created as a way to connect automobiles to the downtown core for shopping. The Duke and Ontario parking garage was attached to Goudie’s Department Store at the time, which is now where TheMuseum sits. 

According to an Instagram post from the Kitchener Public Library, funding for it came from both the municipality and Goudie’s Department Store. 

In a non-recorded meeting on Monday, Jan. 12, council voted for the heritage designation as well as a vote to pursue designation for six other properties. 

The parkade is already owned by the city and sits at 33 Ontario St. N., not far from city hall. 

An architect and professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, Rick Haldenby, has mixed feelings on the designation but recognizes the significance of the structure and admits to having a soft spot in his heart for it since he came to the tri-cities back in the 1960s.

”There were no architects involved in the construction of this building; the designs and construction were by engineers. But there is no getting around the fact that that parking ramp is an urban artifact and a kind of monument,” said Haldenby.

While on The Mike Farwell Show this week, Haldenby mentioned that the building itself holds no architectural merit, “it’s all about the ramps.”

 “To think that it would be designated as a building of architectural merit is almost funny because it has no architectural merit whatsoever. Its flat floors, balustrades and a column grid.”

Haldenby added that there was no architect involved in the design; it was more of an ambitious feat for the engineers at the time.

“It actually is a historically significant building; it was one of those first generations of buildings that was trying to adjust the nature of the downtown core to be more accommodating to automobiles.”

The Heritage Act provides limited protection against immediate demolition for buildings given a designation but it isn’t a permanent protection. Instead, it provides longer timelines, giving more possibilities to reuse the structures. 

“The ramp is an icon in downtown Kitchener, I mean people remember it when they see it, which is why I ended up saying I have mixed feelings about all this,” said Haldenby. “I would be very sorry to see that ramp go; I wouldn’t be so sorry to see the parking garage go.”

Back in 2012, the City of Kitchener posted a survey asking for input on a paint colour for the helix-shaped ramp, which is why the ramp is green today.