Kitchener council to allow demolition of Freeport Sanatorium building

Heeding the recommendations of Heritage Kitchener, members of Kitchener council voted unanimously on Monday to allow the demolition of a derelict building on the property of the Grand River Hospital's Freeport Campus to be demolished. 

Unused for over 40 years, that structure located at 3570 King Street East once served as a men's residence for the former Freeport Sanatorium and now stands in a state of disrepair – raising some frustration from members of the Heritage Kitchener Committee during discussions of its fate last week. 

With a notice of intention to demolish filed by Grand River Hospital on March 17th, Kitchener councillors have made the decision to allow the 60-day notice period to run its course – though several skids of bricks will be removed and preserved so they can be used for later repairs to other buildings on the Freeport Campus from the same era. 

In addition, city staff will be documenting the structure through photography prior to its demolition. 

Speaking during Monday's meeting, Kitchener Ward 1 Councillor Scott Davey had also suggested that city staff consider 3D mapping the structure, noting that technology has made strides with regards to digital preservation. 

“They've come a long way (…) in terms of being able to 3D map structures that we could potentially lose forever for future application towards virtual reality and those sorts of things to really preserve so, I just wanted to plant that now because it's something we should be looking at when we face situations like this.”

Permission for the building to be demolished could come as early as next month.