This old London building is getting new life from an owner who loves heritage

Erik Olsen is blunt about why he bought 353 Richmond Street, the stately bank building constructed 101 years ago. 

"I love old buildings," the Waterloo-based business owner says. "I believe in making the world a better place."

Olsen owns Rome Transportation, founded in 2000, but his side job has been buying and restoring old buildings, most in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The former London and Western Trusts building on Richmond, between King and York streets, is his first building in London. 

Olsen is thrilled at the residential towers that are springing up around the downtown, including a 31-storey tower on King Street that's directly behind his building. It will include 41 underground parking spaces and feature 266 units. 

"The city of London has done a great job allowing all those residential towers," Olsen said. "I personally believe in densification. That's what keeps a community vibrant, and it's good for the environment." 

Olsen bought the Richmond Street building about three years ago and right away started restoring it to its former glory. It boasts 30-foot ceilings in the main-floor room, with ornate plaster carvings in the ceiling and on the walls. There's a beautiful marble staircase, several old bank vaults with original bars and steel doors, as well as a ready-to-go kitchen should whoever wants to lease it choose to create a restaurant inside. 

"I love how the Europeans keep their old buildings and add modern designs. It gives a sense of the past," Olsen said. 

This building was built in 1920 in the neo-classical revival style. It has four large pillars in front, and is decorated with dentils and modillions, as well as marble trim, wood panelling and other rich mouldings. 

Restaurant or gallery

About six of his employees had started working on the building's second floor offices before the pandemic hit. There are nine parking spaces in the back and the building is in the heart of downtown. But the limited parking and homeless and addiction issues that come with the core don't faze Olsen. 

One of London's largest landlords, Shmuel Farhi, has pointed to those issues as being a major deterrent for prospective tenants.

"Compared to when I first bought it, this street looks much better," Olsen said. "There are homeless people but over time, as more things get rebuilt and more people move in, things will look different." 

The building is zoned for offices on the second floor and a restaurant or gallery-type use on the first floor.