Sunday, January 4, 1998 — North Shore News ~ 3 Hardware store t m ashes rise fre From pagel Paine Hardware owners Tim) Holt: and Andy Horne arrived at the scene shordy after 10 pam. and to press time Friday still did not know how the blaze started. Both remained at the scene until fate into the night on New Year’s Day. “The insurance guys aren't even here, th taking the whole week eff as well,” said Horne. “It’s the old hurry up and wait thing.” Both have breathed a sigh of relief over the preliminary findings of a structural engi- neer who pronounced the brick building structurally sound. They hope to reopen the store within three months. “It’s just a matter of scooping everything out and putting it back in,” said Horne. Reliable Furniture, adjacent to Paine Hardware, escaped the fire with only water damage. It may reopen even sooner, The store's co-owner Zita Erkel played down the impact of the fire on her business and said she hopes to be up and running by the end of January. “I think the people that have suffered the most are the men upstairs because they lost everything and I think the community should rally around them,” said Erkel, co- owner of the antique store. “They are really nice people.” One of those men, Tony Rudic, has lived in the building for six vears. He wasn’t home when the fire started and found out about it from a newscast he watched at his girlfriend's Richmond home “I checked my messages and when I phoned it was busy,” said Rudie. “I came home to see if the machines were okay.” He wasn’t be able to see the damage to his suite first hand until Saturday as fire crews and investigators continued working at the site to ensure the structure was sate enough to enter. David Massey, who has an office in the building, was in Hawaii when the fire broke out and arrived at the scene on Friday morning. “I came by to see if I could get some of my stuff out ... to see if my com- puter melted, my hard drive,” said Massey. NEWS Brad Ledwidge 7 Paine Hardware co-owner Andy Horne (left) and co- owner Tim Holt pian to reopen in a few months. ; . . NEWS photo Mike Wakefield The New Year's Eve fire in Lower Lonsdale left the building stand- RELIABLE Furniture, next to Paine, escaped the fire with only water damage. The store’s co-owner Zita ing, but destroyed much of its contents. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield A firefighter surveys the damage at the Paine Hardware store on Lonsdale Avenue. “1997 went out with a flash.” Erkel hopes reopen soon. Fire hit primary heritage block PAINE Hardware was housed in one of Lower Lonsdale’s premier heritage buildings. Paine, the patriarch of North Shore hardware stores, was located in the Aberdeen Block at 90 Lonsdale Ave. It was known as th place to go to find that special screw or bolt you coulda’t tind in any of the other hardware stores in town. H you needed just one bolt, you could buy just one. Paine’s sea- soned ambience was complement- ed by its worn wooden floors and old rolling ladders for merchandise stacked up the walls. “The inside which was really delightful, certainly, it would never, never be able to be reproduced ar all,” said North Vancouver City Coun. Stella Jo Dean on Friday. Dean was part of the heritage advisory commission which ranked the hardware’s store building among primary heritage sites listed about a decade ago. “Somebedy phoned me before midnight and the fire was on at the time. T was shocked,” said Dean. She said that the municipality is more interested in preserving, the exterior or facade of old buildings as far as heritage conservation goes, The fire, which started in the store’s basement, did not severely damage the brick exterior of the building. Paine Hardware operated from an East Ist storefront before the WV mall expansion behi Catherine Barr Contributing Writer PARK Royal’s big box stores may be behind schedule, but Larco execu- tives say there is still no place like home. Park Royal General Manager Rick Amantea and Larco Enterprises Inc. Development Manager Rhys Duggan say that Home Depot still intends to call West Vancouver home. Speculation had mounted that Home rumors and thar she was tion from the company’s real will awaiting informa- tate manager. 13,000 signatu This spurred Wes Aberdeen Block building was built in 1910. Paine is currently owned by Tim Holt and Andy Horne. Andy Horne worked at the sto for 25 years. Horne’s father also owned the store. The original owner was John Paine. The Aberdeen Block was also home to the post office in 1911 and 1912. In 1914, North Jancouver City Hall occupied Aberdeen’s third floor. The building was also home to the B.C. Electne Railway Company offices. Aberdeen Block architects, Mills and Hutton, designed the adjacent Bank of Hamilton Chambers locat- ed north of the hardware store at 92 Lonsdale Ave. — Anna Marie D'Angelo denouncing the mail’s plans. Vancouver council to hold a Depot was pulling out of the mall’s expansion plans and that fareo was considering other options for Park Roval’s Phase 1V revitalization project. Amantea and Duggan maintain the original expansion project, which includes the introduction of three farge-format retail stores, is still very much in the works. Home Depot Public Relations Manager Diana Spremo was much less certain. Speaking from the company’s head office in Toronto, she said she was unabfe to deny or confirm the tne. and Park sR! Us and PETSMART will be built on the site currently occupied by Park Sites y against destruction of the and concerns over traffic congestion initially Opposition groups gathered in excess of overwhelming. public hearing on the matter and further, to commission an independent traffic report to study the surrounding area in more detail. Park Royal South on Squamish Nation land. The municipality has little jurisdictional control over the area. Matters were further complicated by the removal of Mayor Pat Boname from any pro- See Foes page §