The Lang Tannery

Industrial Brownfield Land Development

industrial

Property: 

The Lang Tannery

Date: 

09/24/2014

Type: 

Industrial

Location: 

Kitchener

During the First World War, Lang Tanning produced huge amounts of saddle material, and in the Second World War it supplied sole leather and leather linings for aircraft gasoline tanks.  The company purchased cattle hides from local packing plants as well as from South America and New Zealand. Hemlock bark from northern Ontario was used for tanning the leather, and Reinhold Lang also bought hardwood from the US, South America, India and Africa for this purpose.

Outside the tannery, 1948Mora Masonry was chosen to lead in the restoration, sandblasting and repair of the brick and stonework within this historic building and regional landmark. The factory had closed and lay idle for decades, until the space evolved into a brownfield redevelopment and transformed the space into an iconic building designed to support the technology cluster of companies, in the area now known as the Innovation District in downtown Kitchener, Ontario. 

 

Horses in front of the Lang Tannery in 1948.