Today, walking along Albert from the library toward Erb, you walk by the Marsland Centre parking lot and the Marsland Centre office tower. But for much of this century, this part of Albert was the civic heart of town.
Along with the market and the Carnegie library, this was the site of the city's fire station -- at what is now the southwest corner of Albert and Dupont. It was demolished in 1966.
At the northwest corner of Erb and Albert was the town hall, built in 1874 and the home of the town and city offices until they moved into Waterloo Square in 1961. The land was sold for $100,000 in 1969 to Stanley Marsland, who had been the owner of one of Waterloo's most successful industrial businesses, Marsland Engineering Ltd.
The old town hall was demolished in August 1969. Although it can look impressive in old photographs, the Waterloo Chronicle warned against too much nostalgia for a building with "a leaky roof, draughty corridors, damp basement and tired, faded appearance." The original 1874 date stone is on display in the lobby of the Marsland Centre.
Construction had begun on the 13-storey Marsland Centre even before the town hall was razed. Stanley Marsland said the building would be "a very fine prestige building ... something of great credit to the community ... a good looking building."
The building opened on May 14, 1971. The Marsland Centre is the city's most impressive multiple tenant office tower (that is, not including the Mutual and Manulife buildings), and is the home of many businesses in Waterloo. Original plans included a possible second tower, a 10-storey building, on the same site. It was never built. The 4-storey addition on the east side opened in 1993.
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