Gallery Stratford

Romeo Street

From pump house to Rothmans Art Gallery to Gallery Stratford

Paul Wilker, Gord Conroy

In 1967, the pump house buildings that dated from 1883 and might have been demolished were saved and transformed into an art gallery for Stratford. By 1964, the historic building had become obsolete when the Stratford Public Utilities Commission opened a new pump house across the street.

The Stratford Art Society (founded in 1945) prepared a feasibility plan to convert the buildings into a prestigious art gallery. In 1966, the Stratford Art Society became known as the Stratford Art Association. Its director was Robert Ihrig, noted artist and Stratford Festival designer. With receipt of financial backing in 1967 from Rothman’s Pall Mall of Canada Ltd., the Stratford Art Association renovated and opened the doors of the successful Rothmans Art Gallery. The facility is now known as Gallery Stratford, at 54 Romeo Street.

The first section of the building was designed by London, Ont., architect George F. Durand and constructed in 1883. Durand also designed the Perth County Court House built during 1885-1887 at the head of Ontario Street. Durand, one of Ontario’s leading architects of the time, felt, very strongly, that architecture was an art, not an engineering project; his structures reflecting the combination of more than one style of design associated with the Queen Anne Style. The original style of the pump house can be termed Municipal Gothic with notable Italianate tracery in the brickwork. The pointed windows were placed in pairs in inset panels with Moorish fanwort above them and patterned chevrons beneath them. The building is white brick with red accents. To meet increased water demands, sympathetic additions were later added to the original building and a garage built nearby. In 1985, Gallery Stratford’s unique architectural exterior was recognized by the City of Stratford, which designated it a heritage building. Source: Historical Places; Gallery Stratford - Wikipedia.

Click Romeo Street for more of its history.

This photo is a colourized post card, c 1908-1912, looking south on Romeo Street toward Ontario Street. It shows the 1883 Pump House, water tower and reservoir as well as boaters on the Avon, just beyond the rail line to Palmerston, and the affectionally called "bridge to nowhere." The water tower has long since been taken down and replaced by a grove of trees. Photo: Stratford-Perth Archives.

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