Don't demolish Jimmy Thompson Pool, says city advisory group

Hamilton’s municipal heritage committee has an emphatic message to local politicians: Don’t demolish the Jimmy Thompson Memorial Pool.

City staff say the cheapest option is to demolish the historic pool at 1099 King St. E in Ward 3 to make way for the Bernie Morelli Seniors Centre.

But demolishing the pool is “not an option,” said several members of the city's municipal heritage committee during a special meeting on Thursday.

Generations of Hamiltonians learned to swim there, they said, and it’s a sound structure with a special place in the city’s heart.

We owe it to the people of the east end to look at every other option.- Paul Wilson

The pool was built in 1930 for the British Empire Games that year. One wouldn’t think a swimming pool would last that long, said Paul Wilson, a committee member. But it has, and it should stay.

“We owe it to the people of the east end to look at every other option,” Wilson said.

“Option four (to demolish the pool) should be literally removed from the table.”

The committee advises city council, which will vote early in 2015 on the future of the facility. Council could still vote to demolish the pool. But in a motion Thursday, the committee advised against it.

The Jimmy Thompson Pool is the only surviving structure from the 1930 British Empire Games. Thompson won the gold medal for the 4 x 400-yard freestyle relay event. The building facade has Mediterranean architectural elements. In 2013, the city added the pool to its register of properties of cultural heritage value.

The pool is one puzzle piece in a large swath of land at Scott Park. The area, which is near the new Tim Hortons Field stadium, will include a new north-end public high school and a seniors centre named after the late Bernie Morelli, a long-time Ward 3 councillor. The city and the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board have been negotiating potential shared facilities, and who will own which parcel of land, for about two years. 

I think it’s disrespectful for what he’s done for the city.- Patty Bogumil

In January, staff recommended four options for the pool. Those ranged from keeping the pool and modifying it to make it accessible, to lengthening the pool to meet new requirements. The recommended option — option four — was demolishing it and incorporating part of the facade into a new building. But staff wanted to hear from the heritage committee first.

'Option four is not an option'

For the committee, “option four is not an option,” said member Michael Adkins.

“I can’t believe that option four would be an option, to tear it down to build something that will be worse than what’s there,” member Stan Nowak said.

“It has to be preserved as much as is feasibly possible in its current state.”

Thompson’s daughters, Patty Bogumil and Jo-Ann Young, were at the meeting. They were pleased with what they heard.

“I think the people here today have done a very good job,” Young said. “They’ve come right out and said ‘Why would you want to tear down such a beautiful building?’”

Family would ask for name to be removed

If the city only kept the facade, Bogumil said, “the name would come down. I think it’s disrespectful for what he’s done for the city.”

The facade is unimportant, she said. “The inside of the pool matters.”

Coun. Matthew Green of Ward 3 has heard stories from numerous residents about how they learned to swim at the pool. He wants to see it retained too.

“There’s huge nostalgia around it,” he said.

Green is holding a public meeting to update Ward 3 residents on what’s happening in the precinct, including an update on the pool. The meeting will be Tuesday, March 3 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Prince of Wales school at 77 Melrose Ave. N, and will also include news on the 2015 Pan Am Games, the new high school, the seniors centre, Tim Hortons Field stadium and other projects.