Pearle Hospitality restores generational Walser building
Former furniture factory getting second life as hotel
ELORA – Vic Walser never imagined he’d be back working in the building where his great grandfather once built furniture.
He worked there as a teenager in high school, he said in a phone interview, and remembers the day he thought he had left for the last time.
It was 1980 and he was off to greener pastures.
He wound up working at Spira Fire Protection in Guelph.
Forty-six years later he’s back, putting the finishing touches on the fire suppression system in the newly renovated building, still bearing the family name.
And his two children, Danni and Gary, are also involved, bringing five generations of Walsers under the same roof.
“The history here is just crazy for us,” Vic said.
The Walser building, located on Elora property under development by Pearle Hospitality, is the last of eight restorations Pearle will undertake.
The company expects to open the restored Walser building as a boutique hotel with ground floor restaurant space in October.
“The completion of the Walser marks the restoration of the full collection of heritage buildings that form such an important part of this property and of Elora’s industrial history,” Aaron Ciancone and Jocelyn Maurice wrote in a joint letter to the Advertiser.
Ciancone and Maurice state the deliberate construction preserves the more than 170-year-old building’s original details.
“When the doors open in October, the new Walser building will include nine guest rooms, along with a unique and intimate private gathering space on the lower level overlooking the Grand River,” they wrote.
“The main level will also be home to a Bardo restaurant, and we look forward to seeing this neighbourhood concept become part of the community.”
The ruins of the building were a landmark in Elora for many years, distinguished by the chimney stack that stood beside the building.
“Originally known as the Henderson Block, the Walser was built in 1851 and survived the fire of 1873 that levelled its neighbours on Elora’s south industrial site, going on to become home to the Mundell Cabinet Factory,” states the Elora Mill website.
“From 1910, Joseph Walser joined as one of four owners, becoming sole owner by 1919 – and after his death in 1942, his three sons carried the family business forward until its sale in 1966.
“The building continued life as a factory under Simmons Limited and then Little Folks, until it fell vacant in 2004.”
Joseph Walser named it the Elora Furniture Company, and it grew to became one of Elora’s biggest employers, with 150 employees at its peak.
“My first memories of this building are walking through in the early ’60s with grandpa Victor, picking up blocks of wood to play with,” Vic recalled.
“Later in life I worked in this building after school throughout high school and in the summer months.”
Restoring the building proved to be a bigger job than expected. The chimney underpinnings turned out to be too weak and the whole chimney had to be taken down, a new foundation constructed, and then the chimney rebuilt.
It was by chance that Pearle contracted Spira to install the fire suppression system. The company has worked in its other buildings as well.
“I was planning to retire at 60 but I wanted to see this one through,” Walser said. “It wasn’t just another project for me.”
His adult kids, Danni and Gary, also work at Spira, so five generations of Walsers have worked in the building.
The family has donated some old photos and pieces of furniture to Pearle to be part of the historical displays in the hotel when it opens.
Pearle’s next project is a raised parking garage on the site.
