KITCHENER — The City of Kitchener plans to spend $210,000, beginning this year, to refurbish the area around the cenotaph at Duke and Frederick streets.

The work will mainly involve replacing deteriorating concrete in the parkette around the cenotaph, the war memorial that is the focus of Remembrance Day ceremonies each year.

It will also include updating the landscaping and benches and other furniture around the cenotaph, installing electrical and water service, and ensuring the site meets the most up-to-date standards for accessibility for the disabled. As well, the work would include "skateboard protection measures" such as knobs along the concrete edges of the monument.

Design work would start in 2017, with the bulk of the work taking place in 2018, said Denise McGoldrick, Kitchener's director of operations for environmental services.

"It will certainly be a fresher look," McGoldrick said.

Design plans are still very general, McGoldrick said, and will be influenced by consultations with a number of interested groups, including the city's heritage committee, veterans' groups, and the federal government, which owns the architecturally significant John Norton Building housing several federal government offices next door at 15-29 Duke St. E.

The final design will respect the historical nature of the cenotaph site, she said. "We'd want to make sure the site is designed to maximize the space to accommodate Remembrance Day celebrations, and still make it an inviting place for people the rest of the year."

The upgrades have "been identified as a need since at least 1997," McGoldrick said. The work had been scheduled to be done earlier, but was postponed so that it wouldn't conflict with the light rail construction at the intersection.

The 5.8-metre granite cenotaph itself is the original one that the city unveiled in 1929 on a traffic island on Frederick Street just steps from King Street. It has been moved twice since from that original site — first in 1949 to a prominent position in the centre of the gardens directly in front of the then-city hall. In 1973, after the city hall was demolished, it was moved to its current home, where it was rededicated by Queen Elizabeth during a royal visit that year.

The 88-year-old structure is one of dozens of similar cenotaphs around the world that are loosely modelled on the cenotaph in Whitehall, London, designed by the British architect Edwin Lutyens. It was designed by Kitchener architect William H. E. Schmalz, based on a picture of the Whitehall cenotaph sent to Kitchener from a local IODE member who was travelling in England.

Funds for its construction were raised by a local cenotaph committee. The stone came from the McIntosh Granite Co. of Toronto and was assembled locally by Ball Brothers.

Last year was one of the rare times when Remembrance Day ceremonies were held away from the cenotaph. They were moved to Carl Zehr Square in front of city hall because of light rail construction.

Catherine Thompson Catherine Thompson covers Kitchener City Hall for the Record. Email | Twitter

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