Castlegar A new city hall brings character Castlegar is paying tribute to its heritage with a new building by WHITNEY BLACK
A NEW VISION: An artist’s rendering shows what the new Castlegar City Hall is expected to look like when it is completed in December 2007. —image courtesy City of Castlegar
Within a few months, the city council in Castlegar will find themselves moving from their present building into a newly built city hall. Construction on the new city hall began on March 5 and Mayor Lawrence Chernoff said the building should be completed by December.
“It’s a pretty straightforward building,” said Chernoff. “There is no basement to it and it is a wood-frame construction.”
According to Chernoff, the existing city hall is outdated and no longer meets the needs of the city.
“We need to set the role to what we want in our community,” Chernoff said. “We think that part of our leadership is how we establish buildings in the community—we did the fire hall, the ambulance station and the police station—so people coming into Castlegar will think about following suit.”
Modern history
Designed by Allan MacLeod of Fairbanks Architects Ltd. in Nelson, the new city hall will include aspects of Castlegar’s heritage. By incorporating brick, wood and glass, the structure will pay tribute to the industries that have supported the city in the past and present.
“It’s a very functional building, but it has some history in it,” said Chernoff. “It’s got some castle features to it because of Castlegar and its heritage; it even has a clock tower.”
The inner workings of the new city hall have been thought out in detail, too. The building will have a geothermal system and other eco-friendly features.
“We’re really trying to go green to make this a really nice building and very cost-saving as well,” said Chernoff.
Location, location
The new structure will be built on an empty lot behind the present city hall; after it’s completed, the old building will be torn down and landscaping will be done in front of the new city hall.
“Our hopes are that the staff will leave the old building on a Friday, and on a Monday they would walk into the new offices,” said Chernoff.
In-depth planning began about six months ago when the architects gave the City two designs to choose from. Chernoff said city council sat down and made changes to the designs and received a lot of input from staff before deciding on the final design.
“There was a lot of planning before that as well; it has been a slow process,” Chernoff said. “When you build a new building, it is really exciting—especially if you have a vision of what it is going to look like. When I saw the artist’s rendering, I was kind of flabbergasted because it really brought that vision forth—it looks really, really nice.”
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