For the love of history: Cobalt train station undergoing intense restoration.

AuthorKelly, Lindsay
PositionTemiskaming & Region

After purchasing the Cobalt train station earlier this spring, Winnie Kammermayer and her team set to work renovating the 105-year-old building. A lick of paint here, a minor repair job there, and Kammermayer figured she would be ready--to open her new upcycling business.

But scraping off a chunk of thick, layered paint revealed the heritage building's original oak ceilings, and suddenly the project took on an entirely new significance.

"We were just going to repaint the ceiling, repaint all the trim; we were going to patch up the floor the way it was," she said. "Once we started sanding and clearing that ceiling, it was like, wow--that's gorgeous."

Appraising the ongoing work in early July, visitors can see Kammermayer's careful work is paying off. All the original wood--ceilings, doors, window trim--has been sanded down and restained to reveal its chestnut-hued grain. Any repairs have been made with original lumber found on site.

The glazed brick of the general waiting room has been repainted in cream, soft green, and black, selected from a palette originating from 1910 that Kammermayer discovered during her research into the era.

The floors, parts of which were covered with layers of tile and carpeting through its many incarnations, will be restored to their original state. Comprised of concrete and topped with a half-inch layer of concrete and crushed quartzite, the floors give off a sheen similar to that of polished marble. Kammermayer will import a special machine from Toronto to restore them.

She even has some original artifacts to add to its authenticity: two original benches and a baggage cart, as well as black and white photographs that depict the station in its heyday.

To date, the cost of the work has run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and there's more to come, but Kammermayer contends it's warranted to restore such an important building to a state that's as close to original as possible.

"It's come a long way," she said. "It's definitely a project of love, from the heart, because there's lots of physical work and lots of financial work."

Built in 1910 for the Timiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, the station was the centre of activity during the town's silver boom, which started in 1903 and is considered to be the birth of hardrock mining in Canada. Prominent figures were shuttled in and out of Cobalt via the rail station, as were the tonnes of silver that were extracted from its mines.

"This train station is...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT