Repairs began this week to Brantford city hall clock tower

Brantford says repairs to the City Hall Clock Tower began this week.

On September 18, 2021, Brantford’s new city hall opened at 58 Dalhousie Street in downtown Brantford. The location houses staff who previously occupied six decentralized corporate administrative facilities.

During the city hall reconstruction project, the clock tower was inspected and at the time did not pose an immediate risk to public safety. The city now says during a recent inspection of the tower, facilities staff have identified several pieces of acrylic and glass in the clock dials had cracked and some have already fallen off and broken away. Additionally, the clock hands are coming apart and run the risk of separating from the main section and falling.

The city says to ensure public safety, restoration work will begin this week to prevent the larger pieces coming loose and falling to the ground during a major wind storm.

While the work is completing, the clock mechanisms will also be modernized to working order through replacement of the clock faces, clock hands, panes and caulking.

The city says the repairs will be funded through a city hall maintenance budget and donations raised from the “Let’s Fix the Clock Tower Restoration Campaign” led by Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis.

“This is such an iconic focal point of the City’s downtown and an important part of our history,” said Davis, in a statement. “I’m grateful to all those who donated to the fundraising campaign, and so pleased that the clocktower will be restored to safe working order for all to enjoy.”

Repair work began August 17 and is expected to take at least 8 weeks. While scaffolding will be set up on the sidewalk outside the front entrance of City Hall, the city says public access to City Hall will not be impacted during this time.

Brantford’s City Hall was built between 1913 and 1915, when the building was originally constructed as a federal post office.