Owners of the historic Tivoli Theatre are 'doing demolition by neglect,' Hamilton architect says

Architect Bill Curran is warning the city and neighbours of Hamilton's historic Tivoli Theatre – the dilapidated site of a long-promised redevelopment – about apparent structural issues with the building's walls, including buckling bricks and a lengthy crack.

"I'm worried [that] anyone who parks back there will get a pile of bricks landing on their head one day," said Curran, one of the owners of a building next to the Tivoli on James Street North. 

On Sept. 11, Curran issued a warning to the building tenants who park in the lot adjacent to the old theatre's north wall, the same day he notified City of Hamilton building safety officials of what he described as "a significant structural concern." CBC Hamilton is also a tenant in that building.

"I think that I see displacement of the top six to eight inches… of the exterior brickwork at the corner, bowing outward," he wrote. "As you know, architects have a duty to report code issues that we become aware of."

Bob Nuttall, the city's manager of building inspections, says his team followed up on the complaint with an exterior inspection the day after it was received. 

"The building division found no imminent concerns of failure, but will continue to work with the city's bylaw enforcement team to ensure the building is in a safe condition, and does not present a hazard to the building occupants, or the public, and conformance to the Property Standards Bylaw," he wrote in a statement emailed to CBC Hamilton last week.

Bylaw officer has 'noted violations' at the site

This past week, a municipal licensing and enforcement officer visited the building and "noted violations," according to a brief statement from Monica Ciriello, director of bylaw and licensing services, emailed to CBC on Thursday.

"The matter remains under investigation at this time and more details will be released once charges are finalized," it said.

In the meantime, Curran has warned his building's occupants not to park within 30 feet of the Tivoli, later telling CBC Hamilton that the long cracks, which run above and beside the theatre's bricks in the shape of a staircase, are called "ladder cracks… What it means is the wall is falling apart.

"The corner of the building could collapse and if it does, that's the end of the building… They're doing demolition by neglect."

The company that owns the Tivoli, Aventus Development, disputes this, saying the site has been monitored by a structural engineer and was deemed safe in its most recent assessment.

"We have not heard any of these concerns being raised to us," said Edward John, the city's former director of housing, who is now the director of development at Aventus.

He said that, as of Wednesday, the city had not contacted the company with any orders. "We do know some of those areas that have been pointed out. We're keeping an eye on it and may address those before the snow flies to ensure the pointing and mortar is fine and no falling debris."

From factory to theatre to condos?

The Tivoli was constructed in 1875 as a factory and converted to a theatre in 1908. Between 1989 and 2004, it was owned by the Sniderman family, of Sam the Record Man fame, and fell into disrepair. In June of that year, a south-facing wall collapsed inside the building, pushing debris through an exterior wall.

The Snidermans sold the Tivoli to the Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble in 2004 for $2. Belma Diamante, CEO of the ballet company — a registered charity — sold the building to Diamante Holdings, owned by her husband Domenic, for $900,000 in 2014. That company said as recently as 2021 that it was still working to build a condo there, but eventually sold to Aventus last year.

'A lot of nostalgia'

The last time the Tivoli was in use was between 1998 and 2004, when the Snidermans rented the Tivoli to a local theatre company, the Tivoli Renaissance Project. Tim Potocic, who owns several buildings near the Tivoli, says he was inside the building a few years ago and it "looked pretty bad. There was one complete wall section 20 to 30 feet long that had completely collapsed and was just rubble on the ground. As every year goes by, it becomes a more expensive renovation project."

John says Aventus is planning to build two 35 to 40-storey towers above a two-storey podium, a development that will include the Tivoli property and the neighbouring Wilson Street commercial plaza. He expects a design will be ready for public feedback near the end of this year.

Once that feedback is gathered, Aventus can submit for an official plan amendment and rezoning, something John is hoping to start early next year.

"There's a lot of nostalgia associated with the Tivoli so we certainly want to capture that with the development." he said. "We're taking great care to make sure the heritage attributes are preserved as they are today."