Wall demolition a blow to barbershop

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This article was published 17/05/2013 (4837 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The demolition of a wall adjacent to Fowles Barbershop has compromised the structure of the building, effectively putting Ken Fowles out of business, says engineer Phil Dorn.

Dorn, who represents Fowles, met with the City of Brandon representatives on site of the demolition at Ninth Street and Princess Avenue on Tuesday, where he advised them against taking down the north wall of the former Brandon Inn.

“There is structural and environmental relationship between the north wall of the Brandon Inn and the south wall of the barbershop,” said Dorn, of Samson Engineering. “Secondly I said to the city on site, if you take it down … you will put Mr. Fowles, which is an older man, you’ll put him out of business … They chose to disregard that.”

The wall was taken down Thursday. Dorn — not the city — asked Fowles to vacate the building due to safety concerns.

“As an engineer I have to advise him because of his own personal safety and the clients that he’s got to vacate his building,” Dorn said.

While the two buildings were not physically attached, the walls were very close, and a portion of the former Brandon Inn wall protected the barbershop from lateral wind loads.

“Now it’s completely exposed to those wind loads,” Dorn said. “Additionally, it’s exposed to the elements where previously it wasn’t.”

Dorn went on to say that because of the relationship between the two walls, the barbershop wall was built out of material that is not supposed to be exposed to the elements.

Despite the safety warning, Fowles, 76, refused to leave and continued with his barber appointments Thursday.

“They got the old elephant riled up and I’m staying here at this time,” he said. “I think it’s intimidation and I will not be intimidated … so I am here.”

Fowles said he is “very disappointed” in the city where he was born and raised.

The business has a long history in Brandon and in the Fowles family. It was built by Ken’s father, Bob Fowles, in 1942. Ken started working there in 1958 and continues to this day.

“It’s kind of my hobby,” he said in a previous interview with the Brandon Sun. “There’s one key and there’s one me and that’s the way it will stay.”

Fowles took over the business in 1966 and added 30 feet to the building at that time. He also added used books to the store.

Renaissance Brandon offered to purchase the barbershop prior to the demolition of the former Brandon Inn and the Brandon Real Estate Board building. However, Fowles was simply not interested.

The only path forward now is legal action, Dorn said.

“If you renovate a building or demo a building adjacent to another building, you are responsible for what happens to the adjacent building,” Dorn said. “It’s unfortunate because there’s no need for legal action if people would have been reasonable … It’s outrageous that they would go ahead and do this and push this issue to this point, when it would’ve been so easy to just leave that portion of wall in place.”

Sandy Trudel, the city’s economic development director, said the demolition plan for the former Brandon Inn was always to tear down the entire building.

“The engineers of the day are charged with making sure that that integrity’s sound. There’s no concerns,” Trudel said. “The city has made every effort the whole time to actually protect (the barbershop) so that he could continue his operation… The integrity was never in question, so he has not been disrupted.”

Trudel said there was no direction given from the city for Fowles to vacate the property.

“They’re absolutely separate structures,” Trudel said. “They’ve done the analysis, they’ve looked at it from an engineering perspective and there is no connection between the property to the north and the last standing wall.”

» jaustin@brandonsun.com