The owners of Bracebridge’s historic downtown clock tower are looking for a little help when it comes to maintenance.
Debi and Colin Sheffield, the owners of the Clock Tower Centre, recently put forward a request to the Town of Bracebridge seeking an increase to help cover 60 percent of the estimated annual expenses for clock maintenance, which came to $14,825 in 2022.
“While the Clock Tower Centre is privately owned, we honestly feel that the tower clock is part of the public domain as it forms the iconic backdrop to the skyline of Bracebridge,” reads the request. “Over the years, the tower clock has become a symbol of the town’s history and deserves to be maintained in a professional manner. Helping us with the costs associated with the maintenance will ensure that this treasure remains working for future generations.”
The owners currently receive $2,500 annually to assist with the cost of maintaining the clock tower. The cost of maintaining the tower clock this year included the general maintenance, training caretakers, fee for the master clockmaker to clean, calibrate, brush and repair clock parts as well as the management fee for organizing the operation, they said.
According to theclocktowercentre.ca, originally designed by David Ewart during his tenure as the Chief Architect of the Department of Public Works, the construction of Bracebridge’s Federal Post Office and Customs House started in 1913 and was completed and officially opened on May 4, 1915 at the corner of Manitoba and Thomas (now Taylor) Streets.
The clock itself was installed in November 1914 by J.H. Elliott and comprised of four dials each 4.5′ across with hands spanning 2.5′ long and lit up by electricity. The striking bell that was installed weighs 800 pounds.
“Since our purchase of the Clock Tower Centre in 2015, we considered ourselves to be community builders in Bracebridge,” they said. “As such, we focused on developing long-term relationships that put our tenants and neighbourhood first. We have allocated time and resources to keep the clock in top condition, including, but not limited to, training staff to maintain the clock, supervising the weekly winding of the clock, and bringing in Canada’s top horologist to calibrate, clean and repair the clock.”
The request has now been circulated to Bracebridge mayor and council and it will be up to them whether to move forward with the request.
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The clock tower is an iconic landmark, a tourist attraction and a business centre that adds value to the town. If the owner of the century home can say the same about his building, then they too should be granted funding.
The Town recently gave $5000 to a commercial building owner to fix their roof. Muskoka Brewery got $5000 to upgrade their patio. Another hotel owner got thousands to repair their parking lot. This was under the community improvement program. This is a ridiculous use of taxpayer money that no one knows about. Why is tax money being used this way?
The clock tower is actually a community improvement and serves the community interests . The others are public money to private landowners for private purposes. Landowners who can pay to fix their properties without public money.
It is private, it should be financed privately, if the owners do not have the funds sell it to someone that does. I have a century home, can I get public money for my renovations please? No difference.