Central Fire Hall

Welland City Council purchased a parcel of land at the corner of Division Street and Hellems Avenue in 1919 for a new fire hall. Walter W. LaChance designed the building. The tender for construction was awarded to the Gardner Construction Company of Welland for $43,851, and the fire hall was completed in 1920.

The post-1900 Edwardian Classical Revival is seen in the building’s stylized and exaggerated elements, such as the high stone base, ornamental stone blocks on the first floor, the projections on the second floor anchored by decorative base stones, and the wide keystone and voussoirs highlighting the rounded third-floor windows. Other Edwardian features include the parapeted gables on the building’s central block, the use of brick with stone trim, large sash windows and doors on the first floor topped by rectangular transoms, and the overhanging roof eave supported by a cantilever. In addition, the building features a high brick drying tower fitted with a clock facing four ways and an ornament resembling old-fashioned fire helmets above the four dormers.

Noteworthy interior features include twin oak staircases, portions of the original tin ceiling, hardwood flooring on the second floor, two brass fire poles with original security gates, and the metal ceiling at the top of the stairs on the third floor.