1. Darts and Laurels for Toronto
Catherine Nasmith

It was a who’s who in Toronto heritage last night at the final public consulation meeting on proposals for new Official Plan policies for Toronto’s heritage. Yawn you say…maybe, but for better or worse the O.P. drives the agenda for municipal heritage preservation, where all the action is in Ontario. (The lack of action in heritage protection by the Minister of Culture is another story.)

The O.P. proposals can be found at:

http://www.toronto.ca/opreview/pdf/opreview_proposed_heritage_policy.pdf

Background Document is here

http://www.toronto.ca/opreview/pdf/heritage_open_house_091012.pdf

These things grind away slowly, 7 years after the “new” Ontario Heritage Act was passed, the City of Toronto is introducing new O.P. policies to deal with “new” powers. Since 2005 the City has been using the new powers, and has also adopted several new policy documents, including the Standards and Guidelines for Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, as well as the recent policy governing HCD’s in Toronto.

Generally there was favourable response to the proposals, but also a general sense that they don’t cover all that people want to protect in the city; nice but not necessarily “heritage” neighbourhoods, our mainstreets, special trees, natural heritage areas such as ravines. There was a general concern that these policies deal only with the highly special, that the process to set up an HCD is just out of reach for most areas, both in time to process and costs. There was also a lot of comment on the introduction of new policies to protect Cultural Heritage Landscapes (CHL) and views protection. These are areas where much more work is going to be needed to develop an implementable framework. For example, even though the provincial heritage tool kit outlines a number of ways to protect a CHL, the proposal for Toronto suggests only designation under Part IV or V, which could unnecessarily limit the number that are identified, or protected.

The language needs a closer look. Bill Greer commented that there are too many overlapping and confusing terms, creating a field day for lawyers.

E.R.A. Architects have prepared a detailed response, you can read at the following link: http://www.era.on.ca/pdf/ERA_OP_heritage_policy_comments.pdf

And underlying it all was the biggest question, where are the resources going to come from to actually do what is proposed? Heritage Preservation Services is ridiculously undersized, creating an serious bottleneck in anyone’s plans to protect anything under the Ontario Heritage Act. There are vast areas of Toronto that have never been surveyed, hence leaving them effectively in a state of “no heritage here”. Volunteers can do a little, perhaps a lot, but there are legal issues with the City relying on volunteer research.

This policy will be moving forward fast now, any comments you have must reach staff and Council in the next ten days or so. 

UPDATE: There will be a special meeting of the Toronto Preservation Board on October 1st to discuss revised document which can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-50484.pdf

It will be going to the October 12 meeting of Planning and Growth Management, a second opportunity for deputations. Unfortunately this conflicts with the Heritage Canada Conference, so there may be several potential deputants absent.

2. Downtown Port Hope Revitalization
Phillip H. Carter

62-68 Walton Street After

The Port Hope Chapter of ACO has embarked on an ambitious program to assist in the rejuvenation of the Downtown Heritage District of Port Hope. The ACO initiative has targeted the restoration of our Downtown buildings and we have committed $250,000 over the next three years to assist owners of the properties in their restoration plans.

Walton Street, our Main Street, has long been recognized as one of the Best Preserved Main Streets in Ontario. Due to economic conditions and the role of older downtowns in the commercial life of the Municipality being diminished by modern shopping trends, combined with unfortunate publicity concerning the cleanup of hazardous waste, our Downtown has suffered.

The first project was the restoration of 62, 64, 66 and 68 Walton Street, along with the large frontage on Ontario Street, an overall frontage of some 150 ft of 3-storey buildings. This building is known as the Tempest Block, built circa 1865. ACO initiated contact with the owners of the buildings, and through negotiations and with the assistance of the Municipalitys Heritage District Grants, this $200,000 project is now complete. It includes the removal of paint from the brick, cleaning soot from the brick, re-pointing, window restoration and general repair.

The work was undertaken by RTM Inc. ACO contributed 34% of the cost, or approximately $68,000. The Municipal Grant covered 12% of the cost, with the owners contributing the balance. The work has had a huge impact on this building, which occupies a key corner of our Downtown. The response of the business community has been ecstatic.

ACO is now in discussion with owners of other buildings in the Downtown, such that the program can continue. ACO raises its funds through memberships, House Tours, Garden Tours and the Antiques & Artifacts Auction. We hope to raise additional funds to help us achieve our aims of maintaining the moniker of the Best Preserved Main Street in Ontario.

3. Former Home of Walter Allward for Sale
Catherine Nasmith

A quick tip from Michael Vaughan this week alerted us to the imminent sale of 74 Walker Avenue, a house hidden from the street, which is the former home of Walter Allward. The current owner, artist Michael Papp has lived there 50 years and bought it directly from Allward. The house is on a severed portion of land from the original Woodlawn estate. 

The listing agent is Bridie Murphy of Royal Le Page (416-921-1112). MLS listing MLS# C2467253  Brokerage: ROYAL LEPAGE REAL ESTATE SERVICES LTD.

http://www.torontoforsale.com/listings/74-Walker-Ave

4. Port DalhousieConservancy Strongly Opposes Proposal for Townhouses and Towers on Lakeport
Frank Beekhuis

Are All Heritage Buildings on Lakeport Road to be Demolished?

St. Catharines, September 27, 2012.

Is a walled-off waterfront in Port Dalhousie steps closer to reality? The Port Dalhousie Conservancy announced today that it will strongly oppose plans by the tower developers that would destroy the majority of the remaining heritage buildings in Port's Commercial Core. The volunteer community organization has learned that the developers have presented preliminary proposals to the City that would drastically alter or demolish the historic buildings on the waterfront section of Lakeport Road, running from Murphy's to the landmark Port Mansion. This would make way for town houses and additional condominium towers.

"We understand some of the present planning staff favour weakening the Heritage Guidelines to promote more condominium high-rises in the Commercial Core," Hank Beekhuis, president of the Conservancy stated today.
The OMB approved the current tower proposal based on the developers' claims it would revitalize the area including the historic Heritage District. The tower was needed, they claimed, to support preservation of the remaining heritage structures. Opponents argued that the tower would open the door for St. Catharines residents' treasured waterfront to become a wall of condominiums. The developer rejected this, assuring the Board there would be ONLY one high-rise.

The Ontario Municipal Board gave approval for the proposed plan from the developers without any significant changes. Subsequently, the developers have publicly stated their desire to renege on the theatre concept of the plan, and have received the go-ahead to renege on their commitment to preserve the historic Lakeside Hotel. There has been no revitalization -quite the opposite.

"There seems to be a demolition-by-neglect strategy covering all their heritage properties and the push for more towers will inevitably lead to the destruction of one of the most picturesque and attractive 19th century blocks of property in Ontario," Mr. Beekhuis added.

The unique buildings along Lakeport are respected examples of their era and some were individually designated as Heritage Structures long before the district designation was granted.

"If this block is ruined, the heart of historic Port Dalhousie will be gone forever, the waterfront will be walled off and St. Catharines will have lost its most important attraction and tourism magnet" warned Conservancy President Hank Beekhuis.

The Port Dalhousie Conservancy Inc., is an all-volunteer community organization with over 600 members founded in 1999. Conservancy volunteers worked closely with the community and the City to secure the heritage designation for Port and look forward to working with the Mayor and Council to preserve and enhance the Lakeport Rd. heritage buildings for the benefit of all.

For more information contact: Hank Beekhuis, President (905) 935 1058 or (905) 359 5983 (Mobile)

5. Worrying Change in Heritage Advisory Committee
Heritage Ottawa

 City of Ottawa: Advisory Committees: Built Heritage Sub-Committee.

As you may be aware, the City of Ottawa has decided to reduce the number of advisory committees from fifteen to five, plus a Built Heritage Sub-Committee reporting to Planning Committee on heritage issues. The Committee will be composed of four Councillors (Councillors Harder, Hobbs, Clark and Moffatt) and three citizens.

While Heritage Ottawa is pleased that there will be Councillors on the Built Heritage Sub-Committee, we objected to an advisory committee composed of more councillors than citizens, but such is the decision of Council.

One of the complaints that the City had with respect to the advisory committees was that they could not recruit suitable candidates. Heritage Ottawa has now been asked to assist with recruitment; please see the information below, from Ms Blais, the Program Manager of the Advisory Committees, which we are forwarding to our members and posting on our website.

If you apply to any of the advisory committees, we would be very interested in learning about your experiences with this process.

Thank you for your support of Heritage Ottawa.

Message from the City of Ottawa

You may be aware that, Ottawa City Council recently approved a new Advisory Committee structure.  These Committees provide advice to City Council and contribute to the development of policies, programs and initiatives. 

Accordingly, the City of Ottawa is launching a recruitment process for volunteer members to serve on these Advisory Committees.  Ads will appear in local newspapers beginning September 14th and information is available at:

http://ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/volunteerservices/volunteer_ottawa/index.html 

In addition, Drop-In Information Sessions are planned between September 25 and October 10 and the deadline for submitting applications will be October 18 with appointments to be approved by Council early in 2013.

We believe the more people are aware of these volunteer opportunities, the greater our chances of ensuring the City’s committees are reflective of Ottawa’s diverse community.  Further, the more committees are reflective of the community, the better our chances of ensuring the City meets the needs of all its residents.  To this end, we hope you would be willing to help us get the word out to your membership and/or networks throughout the community.

We are asking if you will circulate this information to as many people as possible during the coming weeks.  With your help, we hope to ensure that the City’s committees are truly representative of the community.

If you need more information about the City’s governance structure, the mandates of committees and boards, or the upcoming recruitment process, please feel free to contact Diane Blais at 613-580-2424, ext. 28091 or by e-mail: committees@Ottawa.ca. 

Sincerely,

Diane Blais, Program Manager, Advisory Committees

6. The Real Estate Play at the Factory Theatre
Margie Zeidler

Factory Theatre Lab, Google Earth view

I am a developer. I have spent the last 20 years restoring heritage buildings which house diverse communities with a healthy contingent of artists and cultural entrepreneurs. I’m also a citizen who is very concerned about the health of the city’s cultural sector, so I’ve been watching the recent events at the Factory Theatre with great consternation.

As most of us know, the theatre is in turmoil. Its Board fired Founding Artistic Director Ken Gass, ostensibly over a dispute about renovation plans. The artistic community responded in force (4,000+ strong) with a petition and a boycott of the theatre by many of the country’s most celebrated artists. Prominent playwrights withdrew their work from the season. Many observers, myself included, have been trying to understand what is really at stake in this dispute.

Regardless of whether you feel that the Board has or has not acted in the best interests of the theatre, their actions have created a considerable amount of instability. (It should be noted here that prior to the Board’s actions, the theatre was on very sound financial footing with no deficit). So what could the Board possibly be thinking? How can they persist in the face of this direct challenge to their moral (if not their legal) authority while possibly putting the very fate of the theatre at risk?

As a developer, I am concerned about certain aspects of the situation that seem to have gone unnoticed in all the brouhaha. The Factory Board of Directors is now in complete control of an asset which has a minimum market value of $10M. Here’s what that means, according to Board Chair Ron Struys himself: It would be possible to build a new space for the theatre in the base of a new condominium building – somewhere - for approximately $4M. Then the Factory’s current building at Adelaide and Bathurst could be sold for $10M. This would leave a $6M windfall for the theatre.

It’s not hard to see how such a deal would be structured. It would probably be negotiated with a single developer who would build the new facility in the base of one of their projects. The theatre company would then be moved into that new facility and then the same developer would, as his reward, take control of the site of the old Factory Theatre and construct another condo there. This would mean that the Factory would be permanently housed through the construction process. It’s likely that the historic buildings on the site would be demolished because it would be economically onerous to build a condo over top of or around them (the facades would likely be retained – as a small tip of the hat to heritage and to add some architectural interest to the new project). This developer could also probably convince the City they are doing a ‘public good’ (by housing a non-profit theatre company) and would then be able to negotiate for greater height and square footage than would normally be allowed in both projects.

So, understanding the nature of the asset, let’s look at the makeup of the Board: Of the nine members, no fewer than three are in the real estate industry, including Struys, Michael Wolfish and Janet Dey, the main proponent of the “alternative” renovation scenario (which looks surprisingly similar to a condominium presentation) that ended in Gass’s dismissal. A fourth member – George Kapalos – is an architect and planner.

To be perfectly clear: No one is suggesting here that these people are trying in any way to profit monetarily from this situation. That would be illegal. But looking at the situation through this lens provides a possible explanation for a series of Board actions that are otherwise extremely difficult to credit, given that they put at grave risk the very institution they are charged to protect. Real estate people will tend to view the world in terms of realizing development value (“highest and best use” is the term they use), rather than in terms of cultural or heritage legacy.

It’s is all very sound, logical business thinking but it is an extremely dangerous type of logic to employ when talking about cultural facilities and their role in a city. It is the type of reductive thinking about space that many companies use when renting office or industrial space: “get the space as cheaply as possible and our profits will be greater” What if, for example, the Royal Conservatory of Music had decided to sell their gorgeous building on Bloor Street to a condo developer in exchange for the same amount of space at the base of another condo building somewhere else in the city? It would have made the board’s life much easier – less money to be raised in the future – but it would have irretrievably denigrated the institution and its role in the history (past and future) of our city.

Luckily, they instead made a bold, city-building, move - renovating the historic building and creating a stunning new addition. Of course this cost them an enormous amount of money that required tremendous effort to raise but the history of great cultural facilities in any city around the world have ever been thus. And what a gift they have given to our city! A beautiful new concert hall which has raised the institution to new heights and given us and visitors to our city a stunning new space to enjoy the art of music.

People that understand the role of great cultural facilities in establishing a vibrant city know that it is essential to support and sustain these institutions. These places say something about the values, mores and passions of the societies in which they are found. If you care about building a city which makes the lives of its inhabitants richer - you know that you must create cultural facilities that people will enjoy going to, that they can be proud of, and that honour the art that is created or housed within them.

How you make those places speaks volumes about the value you place on public space and the place of the arts in your society. If we relegate all our cultural institutions to cheap, affordable space and sell the wonderful buildings in which they are housed, we no longer have a city worth living in and, in the end, the developers no longer have a city worth building in.

If the developers in the area are smart they will realize that if the Factory were to actualize their future vision that it would make the area where they are building INFINITELY more attractive than it is currently. The Factory would become a cultural anchor for the new community that is about to move into the district. We know, from what we’ve been told about the dispute about the renovation plans, that it was precisely this kind of ambitious city-building vision for which Ken Gass was fired.

The fact that at the heart of all of this divisive conflict lies not artistic failures or financial irresponsibility but renovation plans should really tell us all we need to know about where this Board is coming from. The main thing to remember here, and the point that has been made repeatedly by those who are objecting to Ken’s dismissal, is that these nine people do not own the theatre, regardless of the strict definition of their legal responsibilities. From a monetary point of view they have, collectively contributed less than $10k a year to the Theatre’s $1.6M operating costs.

Factory Theatre is a public institution, built and nurtured overwhelmingly by public funds. The Board does not have the right to reduce it to a real estate deal. Neither should they have the right to borrow against the value of the property, something they may well be forced to do if they continue to buck the opposition of many respected members of the community and bring the theatre into a deficit on this and future seasons. Up until now, no one has seriously called on the Board to account for its actions, nor has the Board declared its intentions with regards to the heritage property in its charge. It’s high time that it was forced to do so, if not by pure moral suasion then perhaps by the arts councils that provide so much of the theatre’s operating budget.

7. Petition Site: With Ken Gass' article on his vision for Factory Theatre
Ken Gass

Why I was fired from the Factory Theatre

On Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 5:00 p.m., I was summoned into board member Michael Wolfish’s downtown law office on the 12th floor of the firm Fogler, Rubinoff on Wellington Street near University Ave. Ushered into a corporate meeting room, I sat across the table from Ron Struys, President of Factory’s board, and Bev Simonsen, co-chair with Michael of the HR committee. As Ron looked at me with a large manila envelope under his folded arms, it was clear what was about to happen. “The Board has made a decision.” My position as Artistic Director, which I had held for 15½ years, was terminated effective immediately. Aside from the stipulated nine-months severance in my previous contract, I would be offered a one-year, possibly renewable, part-time position as Artistic Director Emeritus to help them with operating and capital fundraising as required. My annual ‘salary’ would be $15,000, and I had seven days to accept their terms. They also offered counseling services from a psychotherapist to help me with my ‘transition’.

Wolfish described the ‘package’ as a carrot and a stick. If I broke the confidentiality of these negotiations or said anything negative about the theatre or the board, they would suspend or claw back the severance payments. I was ordered not to return to the theatre premises except under their direct supervision to retrieve my personal effects, nor to be in contact with any Factory staff or board directors other than Simonsen. While they promised a press release honouring my accomplishments, I informed them immediately that we would not be calling this anything other than what it was. This was not ‘re-structuring’ or voluntary semi-retirement; I had been fired by the Board of Directors and it would be a miracle if we could concur on the wording of a joint press release. I was calm and polite during the 15-minute event, but as I left I told them their actions were “despicable.” At the elevator, realizing I had left my laptop at the theatre, I told Ron I’d go and retrieve it after the staff had left. Surely they realized I wasn’t going to trash their computers. They agreed.

I went for a walk through the financial district, then along Dundas West past the AGO (a huge lineup or I would have gone in) and finally ended up at my favourite CoffeeTime at Queen & Niagara west of the Factory. I opened their ‘package’ offer and knew within minutes I wouldn’t be signing it. Around 7 p.m., I went to the Factory, saw the parking lot was empty and entered the building. In my second floor office, I phoned my partner, designer/artist Marian Wihak; my daughter, Miranda, a lawyer, and my son, Ed, a filmmaker. I invited them to join me as I cleared out my desk. I sorted through essential personal archives, old files from PAL (Performing Arts Lodge) where I currently serve as President. We filled several recycling bags with draft scripts and dead papers. My loved ones joked this was a hell of a way to get me to clean my office. I was blessed with their energy and the atmosphere was buoyant, almost joyous. Although my books and paintings remained behind, when I left an hour or so later, I had absolute clarity about what I was doing. I’d move on to new creative agendas immediately: writing, filmmaking and likely revive Canadian Rep Theatre. I would not be returning to the Factory, the company I’d founded in 1970, ever again.

Editor's Note:

In the Real Estate Play at Factory Theatre, Margie Zeidler reads between the lines between Ken Gass and the Factory Theatre Board, not just the company, but the heritage buildings are in jeopardy. How could such great people end up at loggerheads? 

Click here for Link

8. Globe and Mail: Future of Casa Loma
Kelly Grant

Casa Loma wont be put on the block, mayors executive panel decides

Selling Casa Loma to the highest bidder is “off the table” now that the mayor’s executive committee has endorsed a plan to seek a private company to operate, not buy, the tourist attraction.

“Assuming council agrees with this report, that option is off the table,” Mike Williams, the city’s general manager of economic development, said in an interview Monday. “We are not putting Casa Loma up for sale because it doesn’t make sense.”

The future of the 98-room Edwardian mansion has been up in the air since last spring, when the municipal government and the Kiwanis Club, the site’s long-time operator, agreed to terminate a 20-year lease early.

At the time, Mayor Rob Ford predicted the city would have to put the castle and its grounds on the block.

Click here for Link

9. Toronto Star: Barbara Hall and the King's policy
Christopher Hume

How Barbara Hall made Toronto better

Of the mayors amalgamated Toronto might have had, Barbara Hall would surely have been the best.

In the few years she presided over the old Toronto (1994 to ’97), she made changes that enriched the city by billions of dollars and continue to do so today.

Though few are aware, or care, it was Hall who initiated the “two Kings” policy that brought new life — social, cultural and economic — to then shabby parts of the downtown core.

Simply by eliminating out-dated zoning regulations and replacing them with new rules focused on mixed uses and built form, she unleashed forces that have remade the face of Toronto.

The results are unfolding still in the areas around King and Parliament and King west of Spadina, which in the ‘90s were not Toronto’s most promising neighbourhoods. Nineteenth-century warehouses sat empty and neglected and there was little in the way of new development.

Today, things couldn’t be more different. A study prepared by the Altus Group estimates that 38,000 jobs and more than $7 billion in economic activity have been generated by the Kings.

“We put the figures through an economic impact framework,” explains Altus chief economist Peter Norman. “We look at spin-off effects and the amount of new development spurred by these changes made way back.”

Editor's Note:

While Barbara Hall was Mayor, the Friends of Fort York were able to negotiate a real win-win land swap that has allowed the fort to emerge in a much better neighbourhood than was possible. She brought in Dale Martin, then the Provincial Facilitator to sort out complicated property boundaries and heritage issues into a workable neighbourhood that is now being built out. She was great at bringing people together to talk, and tapping into the collective intelligence of Torontonians. None of her successors have been able to match her collaborative skills. 

Click here for Link

10. Toronto Star: Maple Leaf Gardens
Dave Perkins

A new house of hockey rises out of old Maple Leaf Gardens

A new house of hockey rises out of old Maple Leaf Gardens: Perkins
Published on Friday September 14, 2012
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BRETT GUNDLOCK/REUTERS Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks at the official opening of the Mattamy Athletic Centre, formally the Maple Leaf Gardens, on Aug.13. The Mattamy Athletic Centre is a result of a restoration project and will be used by Ryerson University students.

By Dave Perkins
Sports Columnist
1 Comments
Talk about a castle in the sky, and no, this isn’t about overpriced stocks or the fanciful dreams that this phrase inspires.

The real thing is a spiffy new 2,796-seat arena, called Mattamy Home Ice, located on the same footprint where the old Maple Leaf Gardens ice surface used to be, except maybe 50 feet up, starting about where the green seats used to begin. It’s under the same old corner-girdered roof, now spritzed white after the decades of increasing brown, a lid instantly recognizable to anyone who visited before the old joint closed up as a hockey shop in 1999.

The old Maple Leaf Gardens, the place where Stanley Cups were once won — you youngsters could look that up — and where Ali fought George Chuvalo and the Beatles played is now a high-end Loblaws store.

Loblaws — imagine if his first name was Bob? — bought the arena in 2004. In 2009 it announced the building would become the athletic home of Ryerson University. Last weekend, with Jimmy Holmstrom providing the accompaniment on the organ, albeit a portable organ, the building was more or less christened as a hockey house as the Ryerson Rams beat the University of Ontario Institute of Technology 5-4.

It’s really worth seeing, bright and spacious and comfortable with the new/old look of, say, a reconditioned jukebox. It has a couple of corporate boxes and an alumni suite, plus some standing room at one end. There are plenty of pictures of old-time Leaf heroes scattered about, plus images of the building and neighbourhood back when.

In another part of what is called the Mattamy Athletic Centre, there’s a basketball/volleyball court, sponsored by Coke, with 1,000 pull-out bleacher seats. Another area holds a full-size fitness centre open to Ryerson’s 26,000 students, plus the university community.

Click here for Link

11. Toronto Star: McLaughlin House Demise
Valerie Haugh

Historic George McLaughlin home gets a swift (but brief) reprieve

The presence of the humble, cylindrical chimney swift — an endangered bird known as the “cigar with wings’’ — may slow, but not stop, the wrecking ball from destroying a north Oshawa stone house built for a member of the famous McLaughlin automaker family.

It appears protection of the endangered birds’ home, in the chimney of the historic, circa 1920 Arts and Crafts house slated for demolition, may only extend to their migration south, usually at the end of September or early October.

Jolanta Kowalski, media spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, confirmed that the birds, protected under the Endangered Species Act, are roosting at 2425 Simcoe St. N., in the chimney of a historic home on a site owned by Minto Group Inc. that’s slated for development.

Under the act, it is prohibited to kill, harm or harass chimney swifts or their habitat.

The developer has applied to the Ministry of Natural Resources for an “overall benefit permit’’ under the act, which if granted would require the applicant to “minimize adverse effects’’ and “achieve overall benefit for the species,’’ Kowalski explained in an email.

Editor's Note:

The question of why it is easier to protect the birds than the building is a good one. Given the significance of George McLaughlin and the evident architectural merit embodied in this house, there is clearly provincial significance and value in this property, but as usual the Minister of Culture is conspicuously absent.

Click here for Link

12. Toronto Star: Ontario Northlander
Ron Brown

Ontarios History from a train seat: my last nostalgic trip on the fabled Northlander

When the province’s Minister of Northern Development, Rick Bartolucci, shocked northeastern Ontario with the news that he was cancelling the fabled Northlander train, as a travel writer I realized that I needed to embark on one last ride.

For the Northlander is to Ontario what VIA Rail’s popular Canadian is to the country. Both offer an unobstructed cross section of the geography and the history of our land.

And so it was on a sunny day in late August day that I lined up at Union Station’s Gate 19 to board a legend. That the line extended the entire length of the departure room gave lie to Premier McGuinty’s assertion that the Northlander is poorly used. Ahead of me were two senior ladies en route to Cochrane, the end of the line, who would never consider a cramped 12 hour bus ride, Mr. McGuinty’s alternative. Behind me stood two Mennonite couples, their religion eschewing the car.

Gliding out of the station’s dark train shed, the history and geography lessons begin. We pass Toronto’s rapidly changing inner industrial area, the revitalized Distillery District followed by the West Don Lands reclamation project.

The scenery dramatically changes as the Northlander races through the forested slopes of the Don Valley and then re-emerges to another reality, the condos and the big box malls of the outer GTA. A welcome announcement from the snack car says that breakfast is now served. Unlike on a bus, meals are available in a comfortable dining car.

Editor's Note:

Last trip Friday, September 28, I will miss this train for all the reasons Ron Brown so eloquently outlines in his piece

Click here for Link

13. Toronto Star: R.C. Harris
John Lorinc

Torontos costly sewage mistake

A century ago this year, Toronto council hired Roland Caldwell Harris, a self-assured 33-year-old, to step in as works commissioner and oversee a desperately needed modernization push for a booming city facing serious growth pains.

Editor's Note:

For those who may be wondering, George Nasmith, or George Gallie Nasmith, was my grandfather's first cousin, and as a family, we are very proud of his many accomplishments. What I share with him is stature, he was just short of 5' tall.

Click here for Link

14. National Post: King Street's Restaurant Row
Peter Kuitenbreuwer

City planners now love plan for 47 storey building they rejected at 39 storeys

City planners rejected the proposed tower at 323-333 King Street West when it was supposed to be 39 storeys, with 201 condo units. So the developer bought an adjacent property and redrew the tower at 47 storeys with 304 condo units.

Now the city planners are in favour of it.

A staff report suggesting that city council approve the tower comes to Toronto and East York Community Council Wednesday morning.

Al Carbone, the founder and longtime owner of Kit Kat, an Italian eatery on the city’s historic “restaurant row,” adjoining the proposed tower, is aghast. He plans to speak out at Wednesday’s meeting, even though he says the city never advised him of its change of plan.

“This gives nothing to the city and more to the developer,” Mr. Carbone says. “The tower got bigger. It didn’t get better — it got worse. I can understand if the building shrunk.”

Earlier this year, Danny Nicholson, a senior planner in Toronto, asked city council to give staff authority to fight the developer, King Financial Holdings, at the Ontario Municipal Board. In a report to council, he warned: “The proposal could fundamentally alter the character of this main street area, and could affect the qualities that make it a destination for residents and tourists to the city, particularly if it creates poor pedestrian conditions through its streetscape and wind impacts.”

On Feb. 8, city council voted unanimously to fight the tower, with Adam Vaughan, the local councillor, tacking on an amendment to tell planning staff to keep working, “with the objective of reaching a settlement on an acceptable form of development.”

Staff met with the developer on May 2, the new report says, and asked for a minimum 20-metre separation from any adjoining tower. In response, the developer bought the building at 321 King West, giving them a buffer that satisfied city planners.

Editor's Note:

Sandra Shaul sends the following links and comments:

Here is the original staff report that rejected a 37-storey plan at 323 to 333 King st. W. http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-42305.pdf

So the developer bought ONE more property with a 20-foot frontage, and now 47 storeys is okay? 

Here is the new approved staff report that will come before the OMB in favour of the developer:

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-48031.pdf

Decision http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewPublishedReport.do?function=getDecisionDocumentReport&meetingId=5610 See 17.6. 

I have had a couple of discussions with different people about how this development threatens not only restaurant row, but all of our main streets. The City of Toronto, and most other places have nothing in place to conserve this rapidly disappearing, but vitally important building stock. Heritage, some is, but of more importance is its role in providing places for the Mom and Pop businesses, some never grow, some do, but the variety and chances for new ideas to grow happens in old buildings, Jane Jacobs 101.

Click here for Link

15. London Free Press.Com: Tower threatens Historic Block
Chip Martin

Farhi unveils $50-million high-rise plan

Another big high-rise may be rising in downtown London, this one in an historic block.

Real estate entrepreneur Shmuel Farhi showed city council’s planning committee Monday night drawings of the $50-million high-rise he’d build on the site of a large house that appears on a heritage list he wants to demolish at 199 Queens Ave.

Razing the building would permit a two-level parking garage for the proposed tower, with residential, office and commercial components.

The building, more than 20 storeys, would also provide additional parking to address a shortage of parking in the core, he said. Farhi said it would be designed to be tasteful and in keeping with its neighbours, including St. Paul’s Cathedral across the street.

“We used the colours of the neighbourhood,” he said.

The project requires a municipally-owned parking lot on the south side of Queens, east of the London Club.

The new structure would demonstrate Farhi’s faith in the core and produce about $1 million a year in taxes, he said.

He noted he has a long track record of preserving heritage structures, but said the 1880s building at 199 Queens must come down. Farhi owns dozens of buildings in the city core.

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16. Hamilton Spectator: Beyond the stately doors of Durand
Mark McNeil

New multimedia exhibition celebrates the mansion district

Barry Gray/The Hamilton Spectator - Graham Crawford has put together a multimedia presentation featuring the stately homes of the Durand neighbourhood, such as this one on Aberdeen Avenue. Check out the video at thespec.com.

When Graham Crawford was a 16-year-old kid growing up on the east Mountain in the late ’60s, he couldn’t wait to get his driver’s licence and hit the road.

But for him, the road was a little different. The ones he liked to drive on had names such as Ravenscliffe, Aberdeen and Bay Street South.

Other teenagers might have been interested in driving to the drive-in or the shopping mall, but Crawford wanted architecture. And so he’d regularly motor down the Mountain to look at mansions in the Durand neighbourhood. It was like an architectural museum with all kinds of exhibits of Victorian, Queen Anne, neo-Tudor and Edwardian styles, among others.

“I would drive the neighbourhood, oohing and aahing at the houses,” he says. “I didn’t grow up in houses like that. I grew up in a solid brick house but it was just uninspired. So the houses in Durand were really something to see.”

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17. Globe and Mail: Hamilton's Durand Mansions
Dave LeBlanc

An exhibit of Hamiltons mansions for the inner voyeur

With video screens his stock-in-trade, Graham Crawford broadcasts seductive images of well-heeled Hamilton homes, sets them to a languid soundtrack and, while he doesn’t pay attention to syllable counts, writes a sort of architectural haiku that slides over those tableaux.

Label him a video-voyeur-slash-poet-slash-architecture-buff. Call him crazy. Just don’t call the police if you see him snapping photos of your house: he means no harm, and he’s got a gallery at 165 James St. N. to prove it.

“I actually know most of the homeowners,” laughs the affable owner-curator of HIStory + HERitage. “They know not only that I’m a neighbour, but many of them know about my gallery – I’m no longer a crackpot.” On now until Dec. 14 at the tiny-but-powerful space is Mr. Crawford’s sixth architectural video-exhibit, The Grand Durand – Hamilton’s Mansions, which follows two successful shows on Hamilton’s mid-century modern homes, SLEEK and SLEEK II.

In preparation for The Grand Durand, the 58-year-old retired management consultant first pointed his camera at his own 1907 South Durand home at 1 Turner Ave. That way, when he asked other owners of late-19th and early-20th century mansions to follow suit, he could point to his own involvement. And speaking of suits, Mr. Crawford divided the 16 participating homes on streets such as Aberdeen and Ravenscliffe avenues, into five colour-coded areas – oxblood red, olive green, royal blue, mustard and grey flannel, like you’d find in any Beau Brummel’s closet – and assembled a video tour for each. The sixth screen provides an overview and history, including the years before development when there were only four grand mansions in the area (three of which are still standing).

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18. Ontario Architecture

I've included this link before, but was reminded recently how useful this site is so am sending it out again.

C.

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19. Owen Sound Sun Times: Massie Hall needs Help
Scott Dunn

Community has soft spot for hall

MASSIE - Massie Hall began as a one-room stone schoolhouse in 1871 amid the rural, rolling hills of Grey County. Proud residents are working hard to ensure the old building is around for years to come.

At one time the hamlet included a church, a school, a general store and post office, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop, a shoemaker, the Temperance Hall, the Orange Hall and the athletic field as well as not one but three mills, the Massie Messenger online paper proudly declares.

Today theres a United Church, a ball field, a concrete forming business and the former Massie school, which Massie citizens bought after it closed in the mid-1960s for the communitys use. It is overseen by a hall board comprised of volunteers.

Theres just a lot of pride, I think then, that Massie actually still has these things, said Ralph Bergman, treasurer for the hall board who is a retired architect from Toronto who lives in Massie.

Massie residents have shown that pride before. About 50 of them got Grey County to reconsider a plan to remove its hamlet designation altogether a few years ago. Theyve been working together again to ensure the old community hall is around for years to come. The 131-year-old hall needs heating system improvements, significant repairs to the stone and exterior woodwork.

There are organizations all over the place like this. And they seem to be necessary, Bergman said. Its not something that municipalities can or are willing to do.

Volunteers organize four or five coffee house-style concerts in the hall a year, most recently featuring members of the former band Tanglefoot two Saturdays ago.

Only about 10 families live in Massie itself, some 25 families in all live close by. An enormous volunteer effort produces the concerts, annual fish fry, parties on New Years Eve and Halloween, plus hall rentals, generating only about $1,000 a year with which to fix the hall.

They do it to nurture their little hamlets sense of community and the repairs are essential to maintain a piece of their heritage. Local trustees of another community asset, the athletic field, purchased by community-minded citizens in 1912, have had to list for sale part of the field to finance the hall repairs.
The fields original trustees are long gone and so now the Massie Hall Community Centre board maintains both the hall and the field. 

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20. Peterborough Examiner: PCVS a legacy, heritage activist tells council, as city moves on talks for heritage designation for former downtown high school building
Brendan Wedley

PCVS in downtown Peterborough. CLIFFORD SKARSTEDT/PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER/QMI AGENCY

City council wants to protect PCVS’s significant heritage features by designating the downtown school building under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Council voted Monday night to co-operate with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board on the designation of the building, which would prevent alterations to the heritage features without the city’s approval. The city can designate a property without the property owners consent but council decided to work with the school board.

Coun. Lesley Parnell wanted to ensure that the city wasn’t tying the hands of the school board on renovations of the building.

“Overall we want that building filled with people and still being a vital part of our downtown,” she said.

Parnell expressed concern that the city hadn’t approached the school board about the designation before the report went to council. 

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21. Reuters: Frank Lloyd Wright archives to move to New York
Jonathan Allen

The archives of Frank Lloyd Wright, widely regarded as one of the greatest architects of modern times, will move to New York City to become part of the permanent collections of Columbia University and the Museum of Modern Art, the institutions announced on Tuesday.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation said its decision to work with MoMA and Columbia would ensure the archives, including more than 23,000 of Wright's architectural drawings, are properly conserved and seen more widely by scholars and the public.

Wright died in 1959 at the age of 91.

"This is all part of our cultural heritage," said Sean Malone, the foundation's CEO. The foundation has spent the past two years deciding how to conserve the archives, he said.

In addition to Wright's drawings, the archives include more than 600 of Wright's manuscripts, more than 300,000 pieces of his professional and personal correspondence, dozens of scale models and more than 44,000 historical photographs.

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22. Washington Post: Jack E. Boucher, longtime National Park Service photographer, dies at 80
Megan McDonough

Johnson Wax Headquarters (exterior), Racine, Wisconsin. Photo by Jack E. Boucher, National Park Service, 1969.

Jack E. Boucher, a National Park Service photographer who documented America’s architectural heritage, including presidential homesteads, old carousels and a former leper settlement in Hawaii, died Sept. 2 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. He was 80.

He died of cardiopulmonary arrest, said his sister, Joan Klein.

Mr. Boucher took more than 55,000 photographs of an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 buildings during his 47-year career at the Park Service’s Historic American Buildings Survey.

The range of his subjects was vast: the Johnson Wax Headquarters in Racine, Wis., designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; the historic Bradbury Building in Los Angeles; the oval stairway of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York; mansions in Newport, R.I.; old mills and armories of New England; and the notable Wheeling Suspension Bridge in West Virginia.

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23. New York Times: Pedro Guerrero, Who Captured Art in Photos, Dies at 95

The home of David Wright in Phoenix, designed by his father, Frank Lloyd Wright, and photographed by Pedro Guerrero.

Pedro E. Guerrero, a former art school dropout who showed up in the dusty Arizona driveway of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939, boldly declared himself a photographer and then spent the next half-century working closely with him, capturing his modernist architecture on film, died on Thursday at his home in Florence, Ariz. He was 95.

His daughter, Susan Haley Smith Guerrero, confirmed his death.

Mr. Guerrero was in his early 20s when his father, a sign painter, nudged him to quit lazing around his family’s house in Mesa, Ariz., and take a chance at introducing himself to Wright, who had recently moved to the area.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you go see that fellow Wright up on the hill?’ ” Mr. Guerrero recalled in an interview with The New York Times in April. “When I first showed up there, Wright wanted to know who I was. I said, ‘My name is Pedro Guerrero, and I am a photographer.’ I had never introduced myself that way before. He said, ‘Come in and show me what you can do.’ ”

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24. Globe and Mail: Search for Franklin Remains
Dene Moore

Bones, artifacts found from Franklin Expedition but, so far, no ships

Archeologists involved in the hunt for the wreckage of the Franklin Expedition in Canada’s Arctic have discovered human remains they believe are from a member of the doomed crew.

Despite bad weather that has hampered some of their plans, the journey has been a productive one so far, says the chief of underwater archaeology for Parks Canada, and it should get even better with the addition of an automated underwater vehicle from the University of Victoria.

“Work is going well... (but) we haven’t found the ships yet,” Marc-Andre Bernier said in a telephone interview after leaving the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier last week.

What they have found in a search on land are more artifacts from the ill-fated expedition. At Erebus Bay, where at least a dozen members of the Franklin crew are known to have died, more human remains have been recovered.

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25. Research and Secure Storage Space wanted for Toronto Architectural Conservancy
Catherine Nasmith

Watercolour of Early Rosedale

The Toronto Architectural Conservancy is looking for support to temporarily house about ten file boxes of research materials on Rosedale, and a researcher to catalogue the materials there-in. 

We have been working on reviving the effort to publish research materials gathered during the 70's and 80's but which have been in limbo since then. We are negotiating with the current holder of the material and a researcher author to take over the project. At this stage we are considering publishing the material in installments online. Ultimately, we would like to see this material handed over to either the Archives or the Baldwin Room, as secure publicly accessible places, but the challenge there would be until either institution finishes cataloguing the material, the documents would be unavailable for use to us or others. 

Hence, we are looking for a firm to donate a work station, reasonably secure storage space for the boxes, and use of a photocopier for the archivist to copy any materials she needs to take off site. We would need the space for between 6 mos and a year. As a charitable organization, TAC would be able to give the donor a tax receipt, and will to credit the firm as a patron of the Rosedale publication.

If this is something you might be able to help with, please contact Catherine Nasmith at 4165984144, cnasmith@cnarchitect.ca