Accessing Finlandia

Five-and-a-half years ago Barb Benincasa and her husband were on their way to the Hoito Restaurant for breakfast.

They never made it.

And until Tuesday, Benincasa hadn’t been back since.

Now confined to a wheelchair because of an automobile accident that fateful night, the stairs at the Finlandia Club, which houses the world-famous purveyor of Finnish pancakes on its basement level, Benincasa said the stairs leading into the building were just too hard to manage.

But with the installation of a pair of lift elevators, part of a $2 milllion renovation brought about in the building’s 100th year, she’s now free to come and go as she pleases.

“Before the accident many times my husband and I would come here for meals. I grew up in the area as a small child, and so there are many memories of the area,” she said.
 
She’s missed her regular visits and can’t wait to peruse the menu once again. Of course she’s got her favourites.


“Probably the hot beef sandwich, next to the pancakes,” she said. “So it’s a toss-up. It brings back very good memories being able to come back into this building again.”

That’s just what project manager Pasi Pinta was hoping to hear.

“The disabled population in Thunder Bay has never been really truly privy to what the building has to offer. So the board of directors and the people involved with the restoration saw that as people we want to be able to enjoy the building with everyone else,” Pinta said.

“As well the changing demographic in the city means there are a lot more older folks in the city and that segment is growing definitely. Because of that, not everybody can negotiate the stairs as they were able to before. For those two reasons it was put on the top of the priority list for the project.”

Rather than build one single elevator shaft, which would have limited the space in the historic building, they decided two shafts were the best way to go.

“Retrofitting is never really easy,” he said. “A number of options were explored. Of course we had limited funds to cover the entire renovation and several different types of elevators and lifts were considered. The final decision on having two lifts all aspects of the building, as opposed to a single lift, we came to that conclusion to preserve square footage inside the building.”

The project has been given $1.4 million through the provincial and federal governments, and Finlandia officials are still looking to raise between $500,000 and $600,000 to complete the project. The work also includes the installation of two accessible washrooms and the retrofit of two more making them accessible as well.


The second phase of the project is already under way, and includes a new boiler and roof work.

Later this spring and summer work will begin to restore the exterior of the heritage building to its original splendor.