GARY WILL: Waterloo City Tour -- The Seagram Lands

The Seagram Lands

The Seagram Museum closed on March 27, 1997. It was the final operational vestige of one of the most successful businesses ever founded in Waterloo. The Seagram plant, which evolved from a flour mill and distillery established in 1857, was shut down in 1992. Most of the buildings were demolished the following year -- and the museum itself narrowly escaped a fire that destroyed the building next to it in 1993. (For historical details on Joseph E. Seagram and his company, see the Waterloo Historical Outline.)

The Seagram Museum The museum opened in May 1984 and was constructed at a reported cost of $4.75 million. Here are some excerpts from an editorial in Waterloo Chronicle after the museum's opening ceremony:

With the unveiling of a plaque by Premier William Davis to the memory of Samuel Bronfman, The Seagram Museum became a showpiece no longer of the future, but of the present.
And what a present it is.
Thursday, the doors swing open to the general public, and at the same time, so many more doors will open figuratively throughout the city, spinoffs from the enormous interest generated by The Seagram Museum.
City officials are supremely optimistic of the benefits the facility will provide, in terms of tourism, economic impact, and overall boost to the vitality of the Uptown core. Tourism folks are rubbing their hands with glee, merchants are ready to monitor trends, and the city as a whole opens its arms to welcome an entirely new experience to the profile of Waterloo.
Isn't it an exciting time? And rest assured, if the efforts that have gone in to making The Seagram Museum what it is today can be bottled and sold throughout the city, the sky's the limit in terms of what potential effect its presence here holds for us.

The museum's entrance was a renovated late 19th century rack warehouse from the Seagram plant, and the museum was recognized for the excellence of its architecture. The entrance, with the barrels in their racks, was one of the most striking interiors of any building in town.

Initial plans for a Cineplex Odeon Theatre to move into the building were abandoned. It became the home of Waterloo Maple in 1998 and the company has maintained the entrance.

The City of Waterloo purchased the museum and other Seagram properties for $4 million and was planning a $240 million redevelopment of this site and Waterloo Town Square until everyone sobered up and realized that the money to pay for it wasn't there. The plans were cancelled in the summer of 2001.

The Seagram Lofts condominiums occupy the two former barrelhouses, and there's almost five acres of land on the site waiting to be developed.

Written by Gary Will
gary@garywill.com