GARY WILL: Waterloo City Tour -- Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery

Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery
25 Caroline Street North
(Erb & Caroline)

CCGG collects and displays works in ceramic, glass, stained glass, and enamel from across the country and internationally. The building was designed by Vancouver architects John Patkau and Patricia Patkau. The columns in front represent kilns.

Construction of the gallery began in 1991 and it opened in June 1993. It almost didn't make it. Despite millions of dollars granted by the federal and provincial governments, CCGG ran out of cash in its construction phase and needed an additional $1.5 million from the City of Waterloo to be completed.

In a June 1992 editorial, The Record commented:

"The $4.68-million Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery is turning into Waterloo's little shop of horrors. Teetering on the edge of almost certain bankruptcy, the gallery is about to become a millstone around the neck of Waterloo taxpayers.
[...]
"The community has already voted with its pocketbook. Gallery officials had hoped to raise $1 million from individuals and corporations. They have been able to woo less than $100,000. The message is clear."

But the City came through with the bailout anyway and ended up owning the gallery. Sales from the gift shop provide most of the operating revenue, and the gallery also receives funding from provincial and national arts councils. Taxpayers pay maintenance and utility costs.

Train The building behind the gallery near the train tracks was the boarding station for the Waterloo-St. Jacobs tourist train from 1997 to 1999 (pictured, in front of the gallery). It missed a scheduled 1996 opening, and after several internal legal squabbles among the group that bought the line, the train began operation in July 1997. It shut down after the 1999 season. Waterloo Region has been talking about runnuing a train service from St. Jacobs to Cambridge (with stops in between) at some point in the future.

The corner of Erb & Caroline is the new home of the City of Waterloo's gathering place. It was completed in 1997 and is occasionally used for civic events.

Just north of the gallery on Caroline Street you can see Silver Lake and the southern edge of Waterloo Park (pictured). The park was established in 1890 by the newly formed Board of Trade (Chamber of Commerce) and is the home of a small zoo and several playing fields.

Silver Lake is a reminder of Waterloo's early history as swamp land. Although the water was used by original settler Abraham Erb to power his grist and sawmills, the land itself was so wet that it was nearly unfit for development for many years. The boardwalk around Silver Lake was built in 2000 at a cost of $500,000.

The water runs under UpTown Waterloo and reappears outside city hall.

Erb Mill The wooden building just north of CCGG (pictured at left; to the right is the Waterloo Public Library) is a facsimile of Erb's original grist mill. Originally scheduled to open at Oktoberfest 97, it was delayed until the spring of 1998 and constructed at a cost of about $125,000.

Written by Gary Will
gary@garywill.com