Work continues on restoration of Central Fire Station in Welland

Progress on the restoration of Central Fire Station in downtown Welland is visible from the outside as work has been taking place in recent weeks. KRIS DUBE / TORSTAR

By Kris Dubé
Courtesy of The Welland Tribune

Progress on the restoration of Central Fire Station in downtown Welland is visible from the outside as work has been taking place in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Central Station Education Initiative president Nora Reid and vice-president Claire Masswohl provided city council an update on its project — an effort to restore the decommissioned fire hall into a museum honouring emergency services.

The group will turn the three-storey building into a multi-purpose community centre, with original fixtures and artifacts from 1920 on the first floor. There will be rentable office space for not-for-profit cultural groups and artists, and innovative co-working space for businesses, artists and artisans on the second floor.

An addition with an estimated cost of $800,000 to make the entire building accessible through the installation of an elevator is an important fundraising next step, the pair said.

On Sunday, Masswohl said in an interview an application has been made for a federal grant to make this possible — on top of a $500,000 grant the group has been approved for through the Legacy Fund component of the federal government’s Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, to come over three years.