Belleville city hall receives Landmark Designation Award

Bill White poses beside his wife Pat and a model of Belleville’s city hall. Photo by Cam Kennedy

By Cam Kennedy

BELLEVILLE – What do Belleville City Hall, the Eaton Centre, and the CN Tower all have in common?

All three structures have been recognized with Landmark Designation Awards from the Ontario Association of Architects.

City hall received the award Wednesday morning as the historic building was celebrated in the city council’s chamber.

Bill White, the architect behind the 1988 renovations of city hall, was also recognized at the ceremony.

“An award like this from the Ontario Association of Architects, it doesn’t get much better than that,” White said.

Speeches were made at the celebration by Belleville mayor Taso Christopher, Mark Fluhrer, director of recreation, culture & community services and Toon Dreessen, president of the Ontario Association of Architects.

To cap off the ceremony, White spent several minutes thanking everyone involved and talked about the start of the renovation.

“I was standing outside of city hall and the mayor at the time, George Zegouras, handed me his keys,” White said. “The rest is history.”

On behalf of the Ontario Association of Architects, Dreessen talked about the criteria that goes  into deciding what structures get this award.

“The building has to stand the test of time,” Dreessen said. “But it has to be one of those icons that the city and the community revolve around.”

While the clock tower is the focal point of the building, Mayor Christopher noted one thing that stands out to him.

“It’s the history, you always get a reality check when the elevator doors open to the fourth floor,” said Christopher. “It keeps you grounded.”

Other buildings awarded this designation along with city hall have included Toronto’s city hall, the Ottawa train station and Ontario Place.