Advocates for a Taj Mahal-inspired mausoleum built by a millionaire Toronto mayor are fighting to save the long-neglected structure.

Resplendent with marble mosaics, hand-painted stained-glass windows, gold lettering and bronze doors, Thomas Foster’s final resting place shows he spared no expense — a sharp contrast to his life. Foster ascended from butcher’s apprentice to Toronto’s highest office in the 1920s, earning a fortune and, not unlike the current mayor, a reputation for penny-pinching.

Now, his extravagant landmark, completed in 1936 in his hometown of Uxbridge, is in desperate need of repair. The small municipality doesn’t know where it will find the funds to fix it.

“This is a unique building, this is a tourist attraction, this is something that should be preserved in all its glory,” said Beverly Northeast, one of Uxbridge’s six town councillors.

After decades of neglect, the memorial needs almost $1 million in repairs.

“That’s a big bill to swallow, as a small municipality,” said Councillor Jacob Mantle, who said Uxbridge’s annual operating budget is only $14 million. “Quite simply, we can’t afford that.”

The irony won’t be lost on students of local history. Foster, even after he became a millionaire, is said to have instructed his cook to buy only small eggs. He never tipped. As a landlord he repaired all his apartments himself, even while serving as mayor. And he lost the mayoral election because he refused to increase policemen’s pay.

The town of Uxbridge took over the heritage building 20 years ago, after it fell into disrepair, only to discover that the $80,000 Foster had set aside to maintain the property had dried up.

“When we decided that we couldn’t wait any longer to deal with it, there was no money left,” said Mayor Gerri Lynn O’Connor.

The town was told the money had been spent by trustees on fees and upkeep, even though the principal wasn’t to be touched. The town didn’t want to fight an expensive, prolonged legal battle with the bank, O’Connor said, so the memorial became the taxpayer’s cost to bear.

“Thomas Foster and his wife and his daughter are buried in there, so it can be looked at as an abandoned cemetery, which the municipality is responsible to look after,” O’Connor said.

Now the clock is running out. An engineer’s review puts the lifespan of the building’s leaky copper dome at two years. About $300,000 of repairs are needed just to keep the memorial open in the immediate future.

Northeast is pushing for the dome to be redone with copper, to match the original aesthetic. Other councillors are looking at replacing it with less expensive plain metal roof.

“It doesn’t come down to money; it comes down to priorities,” Mantle said. “My priorities are things like roads, fire halls.”

The municipality’s bottom line is also being squeezed by the province as annual transfer payments are cut, Mantle said.

While the memorial now serves as a venue for ceremonies and concerts, Mantle said it simply isn’t used frequently enough to justify the steep bill. Only 2,400 people attended the building last year, he said.

“If the community wants to save the Foster, the community really needs to get on board with it,” Mantle said. “Otherwise it will be shuttered.”

O’Connor is calling on the provincial and federal governments to provide some of the funds. Northeast said the town will apply for a $150,000 Trillium grant from the province, but that application must wait until March.

Local historian Allan McGillivray said the memorial has significant heritage value, both to the town and all of Ontario.

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“It’s just absolutely breathtaking,” McGillivray said. “When I look at it, I just think, gee, it’s too bad for something like this to be (allowed to) deteriorate.”

Until the money is found, Northeast vows to keep fighting.

“Yes, heritage and history are expensive,” Northeast said. “If you sell off your heritage and your history, what’s the future worth?”