1. Kapuskasing Committing Slow Cultural Suicide: Kapuskasing Inn to be demolished in June
Catherine Nasmith

Just in, without much detail, The Kapuskasing Inn is scheduled to be demolished in June and it is not a designated structure. There is a group trying to save the Kapuskasing Inn in Kapuskasing. The person heading the group is Nichoel Godin. Nickoel's toll free number is 888-299-9494.

Editor's Note:
This building is part of a complex of similar buildings in the core of Kapuskasing. The set of buildings are provincially significant. The plan of the town is also significant as an example of early Canadian Garden City planning. But the Kapuskasing doesn't have the resources or the will to protect its most important cultural assets.

2. Excelllent Photos of Kapuskasing Inn

This Inn has been unoccupied for ten years.....a government program of financial incentives might have helped find a suitable owner/use.

Another instance of Demolition by Neglect in Ontario. It is scheduled for demolition in June.

Click here for Link

3. Hamilton Spectator: DOWNTOWN CAVE-IN
John Burman, Nicole Macintyre and Daniel Nolan

[Partial collapse of building adjacent to the Lister Block]

Hamilton Specator photo building adjacent to Lister Bldg.

The partial collapse of a building in the Lister Block forced police and firefighters to evacuate five downtown properties last night . . . The red brick building, which is one of three buildings that are considered the Lister Block, was going to be demolished as part of the most recent proposal to redevelop the downtown landmark.

Editor's Note:
When oh when are the Province and the Federal Government going to fund heritage conservation so basic routine maintenance gets done. Demolition by Neglect has to stop.

Click here for Link

4. Hamilton Spectator: Part of Lister Block demolished
Dana Brown and Carmela Fragomeni

The battle after the bulge

from Hamilton Spectator

It took just minutes for the bulk of a building adjoining the Lister Block to come crashing down in a massive cloud of dust Saturday, after part of its facade began to buckle.

Police were called to King William Street around 3:15 p.m., amid fears the building would collapse.

Demolition crews had been working on the back of the structure Saturday when the floor shifted and the facade started bulging.

The building experienced a partial collapse last week.

"My understanding, after it bulged, they were worried about the workers and everyone else," said Tim McCabe, the city's general manager of planning and economic development.

"It's like cutting a tree before it starts to timber ... they pulled the steel beam to force the facade to crumble."

The building was supposed to be taken down during the course of a week, and decorative window arches were to be removed for their heritage value. But plans changed after Saturday's structural shift, and it was decided to bring the structure down sooner.

Police cordoned off James Street North from King Street West to York Boulevard and hustled pedestrians off the street. Some gathered inside Jackson Square, where at least one set of doors was locked, to watch the action.

Editor's Note:
Aileen Carroll, the Ontario Minister of Culture, advised in a letter to Grant Head on Friday that she would not issue a stop order to halt the demolition but expected elements of the facade to be carefully salvaged.....not to be. Another property owner manages a successful demolition by neglect in Ontario. Until there is major funding available to deal with all the deferred maintenance we will continue to see buildings raining down all over the province.

Click here for Link

5. Raise the Hammer: Culture Minister Believed Balfour Façade Would Be Preserved
Ryan McGreal

Last week, Grant Head of Heritage Watch Hamilton wrote a letter to the Ministry of Culture to request a stop order on demolishing the Balfour building, the building on King William St. adjacent to the Lister Block that began to collapse last week. In her prompt reply denying the request for a stop order, Culture Minister Aileen Carroll wrote that she understood the historically significant elements of the facade would be preserved in the demolition: "When the Lister Block Working Group issued its report about the buildings at 15/17/21 King William St., it did recommend that elements of those buildings be saved and reused in another building. I am aware that the City of Hamilton is working closely today with the owner of the buildings, the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), who have agreed that during the demolition, the stone elements of the facade are to be hand-removed as much as safely as possible and reserved for future reuse."

Click here for Link

6. Hamilton Spectator: Restaurant boss blames city for his Lister losses
Rachel De Lazzer

An angry restaurant owner is facing a second week of lost business because of the demolition of a building beside the Lister Block. Pat Satasuk of Thai Memory on King William Street is furious about the way the city has handled the situation.The structure was finally demolished over the weekend. But now there are fears the west wall of the two-storey restaurant building might be structurally unsound. Building inspector Debbie Eydt said a demolition engineer became worried about the stability of the wall when he realized the second-floor tenant had stocked it with a library of books. Eydt said exposure to the weather also makes the wall potentially more unstable.

Click here for Link

7. Hamilton Spectator: Citizens demonstrate at Council over Loss
Kaz Novak

A knock-down fight

from Hamilton Spectator

Mayor Fred Eisenberger threatened to clear the council chambers after demonstrators shouted at council to show leadership and prevent downtown buildings from deteriorating and falling down.

About seven dozen demonstrators attended council last night to show their displeasure at the collapse of a vacant four-storey building on King William Street that is beside the long-shuttered Lister building.

Floors at the back collapsed April 16 and the building fell down completely on Saturday while it was being demolished. Decorative window arches were to be saved for their heritage value, but only a few pieces survived.

The demonstrators, led by James Street North businessmen Graham Crawford and Dave Kuruc, unfurled signs directed at councillors with such sayings as "Enforce Property Standards," "Landmarks not landfills" and "Buildings don't fall down. People push them." Another sign, accompanied by a photo of the demolished building, said, "In Hamilton, this is how our leaders preserve heritage."

After several shouts for the mayor and council to "show some leadership," Eisenberger threatened to clear the room. He said council had a lot on its plate.

"We will get the business done tonight," he told the crowd.

After a 20-minute protest, the demonstrators left single-file waving their signs.

"We're very upset with the way in which the building on King William Street came down," said Crawford, owner of Hamilton HIStory + HERitage. He was particularly incensed that only fragments are left of the window arches that were supposed to be preserved.

Click here for Link

8. Raise the Hammer: Citizens use FOI legislation to Get OHT Report on Lister
Ryan McGreal

Lister - Redacted Paragraph Indicates Heritage Report Advice

Lister Block heritage supporters are one step closer to knowing what advice the Ontario Ministry of Culture received on the heritage value of the Lister Block. Advocates have been calling since 2006 for the Ontario Ministry of Culture to release the report prepared by the Ontario Heritage Trust to the public. The report was to assess the building's heritage value. The report was never made public, and under a compromise between the Ministry, the City of Hamilton, and Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), the property owner, the building was not provincially designated as a heritage building.

Editor's Note:
Things are boiling over on the heritage file...

Click here for Link

9. Globe and Mail: Trees -To Designate or Not
John Barber

Seeking safety for trees that Toronto grew around

There is a white oak tree growing beside the sidewalk on the west side of Jane Street, just north of Bloor, with a crooked fence almost welded into its bark and a crumbling retaining wall holding its roots. Hardly anybody notices it, despite its enormous height and span, but it has been watching people pass for as long as 300 years.

"This tree is the witness," confirms Madeleine McDowell, an artist and local historian with a passion for the "remnant forest" of the inner suburbs, especially the 18th-century oaks scattered in and around the valley where Toronto began. "This one has the story."

The Jane Street oak took root on the edge of the Carrying Place trail that served as Toronto's raison d'être until Simcoe built Yonge Street, according to Ms. McDowell. "By 1765, when Alexander Henry went by, it was already part of the canopy," she says.

Troops marched through its shade on their way to capture Fort Michilimackinac in 1812. When the brick walls and asphalt roofs began to appear beneath its massive scaffolding a century later, it stood solemn and unmoved.
Print Edition - Section Front

Section A Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail

"At that point they were still doing 'footprint development,' " Ms. McDowell explains. "They didn't level hills and take off all the topsoil like they do now. The lumber crews took trees from the roadway and from where the houses were to go, but left the rest. So we have a lot of remnant forest."

The Jane Street oak tells a great story, but it's almost ordinary compared with the absolutely stupendous red oak that dwarfs Arlene Doane's bungalow on the east bank of the river north of Sheppard Avenue in Weston. Twenty-five metres tall and at least as much wide, with a trunk two metres in diameter, it only barely survived the coming of the city in 1961.

Click here for Link

10. Toronto Star: Importance of Thorncrest Village
Ellen Moorhouse

THORNCREST VILLAGE: Community is a place out of time

photo Toronto Star

Thorncrest Village, laid out in 1945 on 40 hectares of farmland, has, at its centre, a recreation centre with outdoor pool and tennis courts.

An idealistic post-war experiment struggles to survive its own success
Apr 24, 2008 04:30 AM

When Ann Eby and her husband Bob bought their 1,100-square-foot house 25 years ago, it didn't have a front door, a furnace, kitchen or bathroom. Even the fireplace had been dismantled.

The vendor, facing an uncertain market and cash-flow issues, had decided against demolishing the bungalow and building new.

"It was a shell, but we had a contractor come in, and he said it was solid," says Eby. "We were just lucky."

A hectic three weeks followed, as workers put in the essentials and made the place safe for the family's two kids. The morning after their move, the Ebys looked out their large windows into a pastoral landscape freshened by snow.

"The house was a mess, but we had a gem," she says.

The Ebys own a modest mid-century modern home on a large lot in Thorncrest Village, a unique Etobicoke suburb. The two-bedroom bungalow has broad eaves, sheltering the generous windows that bring the outdoors in, a breezeway and central fireplace. Interior details, such as plaster mouldings and a zinc-lined planter in a south-facing window, survived the brush with demolition. Unlike other early homes in the community, it also has a basement, which helped accommodate the growing family.

The house is one of only a few originals remaining in what had been the first private co-operative community in Canada, an idealistic post-war experiment in green planning and contemporary design. The pressure of high land prices has been inexorable, however, and the large lots, from a quarter to a full acre, are seductive.

Realtor Clare Estlick, who lived in Thorncrest Village for 36 years before decamping last year to a condo, estimates she's handled transactions for more than half the homes. She recently sold two properties with older houses, ultimately teardowns, for $1.5 million and $1.505 million, while newer homes have gone for up to $4 million. Estlick, who is with Re/Max Professionals Inc. Brokerage, with partner Robert Pettigrew, has just listed a five-year-old house for $2.498 million.

"Thorncrest Village is irreplaceable," says Estlick. "It's a fabulous place to raise a family. It's a real community, even though it's 208 homes, because there is the clubhouse, the tennis courts, the pool, a gathering place (where) they have barbecues, and parties and overnights for the kids.'

The Village was laid out in 1945 on 40 hectares of farmland, at Islington Ave. and Rathburn Rd.

The streets, bordered by ditches, are like country roads. At the centre is the recreation centre with outdoor pool and tennis courts. A small shopping mall on Islington provides the essentials within walking distance. There are a few faded handcrafted street signs with quaint names such as Pheasant Lane.

According to a 1984 article published by the non-profit Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, the real appeal of the suburb "is its apparent randomness: the streets follow the natural terrain, setbacks vary, wood lots have been preserved and new shade trees are reaching substantial heights. Best of all, the Village has definite boundaries and you can always tell you're in a special place."

Editor's Note:
As ACO President it is nice to see our 1984 publication quoted so extensively in this article. John Blumenson also quoted at the end.

Click here for Link

11. National Post: Give us $2M or this masterpiece of modern architecture gets demolished
Matthew Liebenberg

At a time when much of the city's modern architecture is being lost to the wrecking ball, its fans think they have a solution. All it will take to allow the Dominion Modern Museum to find a permanent home is $2-million."I'm full of ideas, I'm full of energy, I just need money," said John Martins-Manteiga, the museum's founder and director. "We'll raise the money to purchase the building and have a fund that will keep the museum functioning. I don't want to get the building and then lose the museum. I want to keep it forever."

Click here for Link

12. Toronto Star: Heritage Districts in the News Again
Linda Mondoux

Linking past and future

Preservationists mourn lost buildings, but some developers find worth in saving urban history

Some days, it seems Toronto's built heritage is becoming, well, a thing of the past.

A row of 19th-century houses on Charles St., just west of St. Thomas St., will soon be torn down to make way for a condo. Walnut Hall, built in 1856 and the last standing row of Georgian townhouses on Shuter St., was demolished last year after decades of neglect led to bricks falling to the sidewalk.

But there are also "wins' in the battle to preserve the city's past.

The design studio of John Lyle, the man responsible for some of the city's most treasured early 20th-century architecture, including the Royal Alexandra Theatre, will get new life as part of the One Bedford condo on Bloor St. W.

Parts of the 1820s Bishop's Block at Adelaide and Simcoe Sts. will be restored and incorporated into the Shangri-La condo-hotel project, while Burano, a tower on Bay St. north of College, will soar above the classic 1925 building that for decades housed the Addison on Bay car dealership.

Fuelled by a strengthened Ontario Heritage Act, which in 2005 gave municipalities more control over historic buildings, saving the past has become an issue that appears to resonate with many Torontonians and a few developers.

The heritage conservation district (HCD) is one weapon in the preservationists' arsenal.

Catherine Nasmith, president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, a Toronto-based non-profit advocacy group working province-wide, says there can never be too many of them. "Word has got out ... that this is a good way of preserving neighbourhoods," says Nasmith, publisher of the electronic newsletter Built Heritage News. "You may not be able to save the whole town, but you can save where you live."

Editor's Note:
Cip this one, it contains useful answers for all those questions that come up in opposition to Heritage Districts.

Click here for Link

13. St. Catharine's Standard: Port Dalhousie Planning Testimony
Peter Downs

Port heritage planning guidelines don't govern heights of commercial buildings: planner

Heritage planning guidelines don’t limit the height of buildings in Port Dalhousie’s commercial core, an Ontario Municipal Board hearing was told Tuesday.

A three-storey height limit recommended in the Port Dalhousie Heritage Conservation District Guidelines refers only to buildings in the community’s residential area, planner Thomas Smart testified.

That means a 17-storey condominium tower proposed for the lakeside community’s commercial district doesn’t breach height restrictions in the planning policy, Smart maintained.

“It’s my submission and my evidence ... that height limits of two and three storeys are for residential areas,” he said.

Smart, a director of BLS Planning Associates in St. Catharines, was testifying during Week 8 of what’s expected to be a 15-week OMB hearing into the controversial Port Place proposal to revamp Port Dalhousie.

Smart’s planning firm was hired by Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp. to help develop plans for a 17-storey condominium tower with 80 units, a hotel with approximately 70 rooms, a 415-seat theatre and commercial centre.

The height of the planned condo building has been the main bone of contention among vocal opponents of the project.

Click here for Link

14. St. Catherines Standard: City Planner's Testimony on Port Dalhousie Tower Project
Grant LaFleche

Approving Port tower project was 'gut-wrenching decision,' city planner says

St. Catharines planning director Paul Chapman says he has never faced a more difficult decision than approving the proposed tower project for Port Dalhousie. Ive never had to make a more difficult, demanding and gut-wrenching decision in my 35 years as a planner, he told an Ontario Municipal Board hearing Tuesday afternoon. During his second day on the stand in the hearing that will decide the fate of the Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp. project, Chapman explained how he navigated through competing interests when deciding if the proposal was acceptable or not. Heritage, economics, community sustainability and municipal concerns like parking all had to be factored in when he gave the PDVC project the thumbs-up. PDVC lawyer Mark Noskiewicz spent the entire day taking Chapman through a host of reports and planning documents related to the application to build a 17-storey condo tower with 80 units, a 70-room hotel and 415-seat theatre.

Click here for Link

15. Windsor Star: City heritage at risk
GREGORY HEIL

I have served on the Windsor Heritage Committee for 10 years, most of those in the capacity of chair. I'm proud to be associated with the achievements the WHC has made toward protecting our city's heritage. This has included the recent preservation of the Holy Rosary Convent and John Campbell school buildings and multiple other property designations under the Ontario Heritage Act. We have been grateful for the strong heritage awareness and support exhibited by the current city council for these initiatives. As well, the committee has carried on a long tradition of annual local heritage celebration through community recognition awards, Heritage Highlights video clips, heritage property funding, youth colouring contests and many other projects. Indeed, the vibrancy of Windsor's heritage advocacy was recognized in 2005 as a provincial standout by the Ontario Heritage Trust.

Click here for Link

16. Windsor Star: Building Department Dropped the Ball in Recent Loss
Doug Williamson

History erased, city hall blamed

The chairman of Windsor's heritage committee says the city's building department "dropped the ball" when it approved the demolition this week of a former fire engine factory on Walker Road.

The Seagrave Building was on a heritage inventory list that was supposed to give it a 60-day grace period before a permit is issued, so the building could be evaluated for its historical significance and possibly protected.

The demolition permit application for the brick structure at 933 Walker Rd. should have been forwarded to the heritage committee before being approved, said Greg Heil.

"It was a very significant industrial building that we had hoped to designate (give it official historical designation) someday," Heil said Thursday. Such designation would have protected it from demolition.

Instead, it's now rubble.

"The building department dropped the ball," Heil said of the approval to demolish the structure.

Click here for Link

17. Windsor Star: Outrage over Seagrave Demolition
Gord Henderson

Trashing the Past

If it's gold, treat it like trash. If it's trash, treat it like gold. That appears to be the guiding principle of Windsor mandarins who let bonafide heritage buildings be demolished overnight while irredeemable eyesores linger for years. The tragedy of the Seagrave Building on Walker Road, knocked down this week because someone in the building department "dropped the ball" in issuing a demolition permit, is that it hadn't become the kind of building Windsor seems most adept at preserving, like an abandoned, charred motorcycle gang clubhouse with fuzzy ownership, taxes owing and neighbours howling for action. An inquiry is underway and evidence is being collected to determine who screwed up in handing out a permit to demolish the former fire engine factory which was on a heritage inventory list and should have been red-flagged, given that it was headed for designation as one of Windsor's historical treasures. This calls for more than an inquiry. It calls for a reign of terror to root out the guilty. A powerful message must be sent, with one or more guillotined heads bouncing down the city hall steps, that this kind of behaviour, accidental or otherwise, won't be tolerated.

Click here for Link

18. Windsor Star: Low-Martin House will be Restored
Doug Williamson

Pharmacist bitten by the reno bug /Martin house restorations $500,000

It's Windsor's ultimate fixer-upper, but to Francesco Vella it's a genuine labour of love. Vella, 29, is the proud new owner of the Low-Martin house in Walkerville, after months of negotiation to secure the historic piece of property best known as the former home of Paul Martin Sr. and his wife Nell. But securing a treasured part of Windsor's past comes at a price: Vella estimates it will cost at least $500,000 to restore the 4,000-square-foot English cottage-style home. He wouldn't reveal the purchase price, but one source said it was between $400,000 and $500,000. "The landscaping bill is going to be massive," Vella mused as he conducted a tour of the property Thursday, one day after the deal closed with former owner Wayne Pike, who had been living there. Built in 1928 by rumrunner Harry Low for $130,000, it was originally called Devonshire Lodge. The home went through several owners before being bought by Martin Sr., the Pearson-era MP and cabinet minister, in 1961. His son, former prime minister Paul Martin, spent summers there and it stayed in the Martin family's hands until 1995, when Pike purchased it.

Click here for Link

19. News Durham Region: Oshawa's Rundle House to be demolished

Goodbye Rundle House, hello cancer lodge

Council ceases efforts to save historic home/ Rundle House: Why the fight to save it?

- Rundle House is recommended for designation under Part IV of The Ontario Heritage Act

- the house presents an opportunity to commemorate the Rundle family of medical practitioners who made many contributions to the city

- the property is the southern gateway to a tree lined cluster of Edwardian and period revival homes on Simcoe St. N.

- Rundle House is an example of Edwardian Classicism, a style seen in Ontario between 1900 and 1930 and associated with the reign of British monarch Edward VII

- The house has many intact heritage attributes including unpainted red brick, segmental brick arches over some windows, low gabled roof, Tuscan inspired wood columns on brick piers and stone masonry above grade
OSHAWA -- It looks like Oshawa will finally have its cancer lodge.

On Monday night, councillors ended years of bitter debate when they decided to halt any further attempts to save Rundle House.

"We waited two-and-a-half years for this and during that time costs went up and patients sat in a motel," said Chuck Powers, chairman of the Oshawa Hospital Foundation as he shook hands with well-wishers minutes after the vote. "Now we can finally get started."â?¨ He said the foundation has one more environmental study to wrap up before it can submit an application to demolish Rundle House, located at 364 Simcoe St. N.

That's expected to be done this week and from there, the City has 10 days to issue a demolition permit.

After that it will be a matter of rezoning the property from R1-C residential to a site-specific zoning for a cancer lodge. Mr. Powers said he hopes to break ground within a year and have the lodge built less than a year after that.

There is also the possibility a small amount of extra fundraising will need to be done.

"The original cost was $1.5 million, but now we're dealing with four-year-old numbers, because this has been delayed for so long," Mr. Powers explained.

While Monday's vote was cause for celebration in the foundation's eyes, many councillors voted with heavy hearts, wishing they could have found a way to save historic Rundle House from the wrecking ball and build a sorely needed cancer lodge.

"Usually when I put my effort into something I can get a positive resolution and it breaks my heart that I couldn't this time," said Councillor Louise Parkes, who has been heavily involved with the issue from day one. "When it comes down to heritage and health care and I can't do anything else, I have to vote for health care."

Click here for Link

20. Heritage Oshawa Site: Rundle House Designation Report

After being reassured for years that the Oshawa Hospital Foundation would use the existing building for a Cancer Lodge, Heritage Oshawa was informed, in May of 2005, that the new plan would mean the demolition of the home to build new.

Heritage Oshawa forwarded a designation proposal to Council, met with the Foundation and proposed that the existing building be used, an addition be put on the back and that the community be asked to donate time and materials to make up for the higher costs of adaptive reuse. Negotiations are continuing.

Although the designation proposal was defeated at Council, the Heritage Conservation District Study was passed and Rundle House is in the study area effectively stopping demolition until October 2006.

Click here for Link

21. Daily Commercial News and Construction Record: Grand Valley Construction Association announces 2008 award winners
PATRICIA WILLIAMS

Redevelopment of the historic Hespeler Library netted Waterloo

Completed last June at a cost of $3.9 million, the project encases a historic 1922 facility in a modern glass structure. The renovation doubled the original building's size while also modernizing the facility. The project was built from the inside out. "The library is a deceptively complex project and in many ways, an unforgiving design from a construction perspective," said architect Alar Kongats of Kongats Architects.

Click here for Link

22. Grand River Sachem: Records need to be taken before our heritage collapses
Art French

The recent partial collapse of a building in the downtown core of Hamilton has resulted in a number of reactions from various sources. Finger-pointing, "not me" syndrome, "they"; did or didn't do something, all are typical reactions to an event of this nature. It is not in the scope of this column to join in the howling, baying and calling for heads to roll, but to point out another aspect of the situation, one that is positive in nature.

Click here for Link

23. Owen Sound Sun Times: Another school being lost to "Prohibitive to Repair"
DENIS LANGLOIS

Another heritage building slated for demolition; School board says 1891 section of St. Mary's High School too costly to save

A late 19th century schoolhouse listed among Owen Sound's most significant heritage properties is slated to be demolished. The oldest section of St. Mary's High School, an 1891 Romanesque revival-style structure, is to be torn down following construction of a new addition, principal Glenn Miller said Monday. City councillors got their first look at the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board's plan Monday night. The city has received a request to change the zoning of a chunk of adjacent board property to accommodate a school addition. A public meeting on the plan is to be held April 28 at 7:30 p.m. at city hall. The board's plan comes after it secured $3.7 million from the Ministry of Education to build a new wing to replace the deteriorating northwest section. "The ministry deemed (the old section) cost prohibitive to repair," Miller said in an interview. The old building is on Owen Sound's Heritage Register Index, a list of properties of cultural heritage value or interest. It is not protected under the Ontario Heritage Act. "My problem is there goes another building in our heritage," Coun. Peter Lemon said at Monday's council meeting. ";We've lost so many."; If demolished, it would join several buildings dating back to the 1800s lost in Owen Sound in recent years including the 135-year-old Queen's Hotel and original 1848 Earl Georgas commercial building in 2006 and the Corbet Factory and 1866 Victorian-style Primmer Place earlier this year.

Click here for Link

24. Owen Sound Sun Times: Fight over Paisley Inn heads to court again
Scott Dunn

Municipality to ask judge for permission to tear down at least part of 145-year-old building

Photo, Catherine Nasmith-The Paisley Inn sits at a key intersection, framing the square

Arran-Elderslie is returning to court for permission to demolish all or part of the 145-year-old Paisley Inn.

The municipality's lawyer, Ross McLean, said Tuesday he expects to ask a Superior Court judge on May 16 for permission to hold a hearing at which testimony from engineers would be presented in support of the municipality's bid to demolish all or part of the building.

Arran-Elderslie council on Monday supported its chief building official's recommendation to deny Burke Maidlow's latest building permit request because they say it was incomplete.

Mayor Ron Oswald said in an interview Tuesday he hopes the judge will decide if the building will be repaired or not.

If Maidlow can renovate and restore the building to code "then I would think that would be great. But if he can't then council has no choice but to have it taken down," either in sections or all at once, Oswald said.

Oswald also confirmed a tax sale is another possibility to recoup tax arrears, which include legal costs. If the building doesn't sell, it would fall into municipal hands, McLean said.

Maidlow disputes the costs levied by the municipality, which he said have climbed to about $100,000.

Maidlow and the municipality have been deadlocked since early 2006 over whether he has met conditions required before chief building official Craig Johnston will issue a building permit to allow repairs to the inn. Without it, structural repairs recommended by a town engineer cannot be completed.

Click here for Link

25. Niagara Advance: Heritage School to Close in Queenston
Penny Coles

Parents resigned but disappointed about closure of Laura Secord School

The building is considered one of the best examples of early 20th century educational facility architecture with its Classical Revival pediment, supported by four (slightly bowed) Doric columns. The Queenston community has been living with a cloud over their heads-the threat that their cherished community school would close-for more than 30 years. Now that it is about to happen, many are disappointed, but not surprised at the recommendations from a local review committee and the school board staff that the almost century-old school close its doors for good. Although board trustees have until June 10 to consider the recommendations and make their decision, parents have taken the recommendations in their stride, with little opposition

Click here for Link

26. Chatham Daily News: Designation turned down; Staff recommendation rejected by councillors
TREVOR TERFLOTH

Chatham-Kent council has rejected an effort to designate the Cadillac Hotel as a heritage structure. The municipality's planning department made the recommendation during Monday's meeting. Built in 1872 by John Bishop Sheldon, the Talbot Street West hotel was a noted accommodation for southwestern Ontario travellers. It also served as a bus station, entertainment centre and meeting place over the years.

Click here for Link

27. Victoria Times Colonist: Adaptive Reuse of former Bay Building
Andrew A. Duffy

Walls are tumbling at former Bay building - Demolition crew is finishing work in preparation for $50-million project

If you stand right beside the building and listen carefully, you can hear something that sounds like distant thunder. And with the street-level windows blacked over and entrances boarded up, it may be the only indication you'll get that there is a flurry of activity going on at the Hudson development on the site of the 86-year-old Bay building on Douglas Street. The rumble is the demolition crew finishing up its work, tearing out the interior of the building in preparation for the $50-million Hudson project -- the first phase of a $300-million development that will eventually see three more residential towers rise from what is now the Bay parkade. There is now just rubble in small piles dotted around some of the floors of the former department store, which opened in 1921 and closed in 2003. The massive concrete foundation columns have been exposed, as well as brick and concrete walls and floors and massive windows that will eventually transform into 152 well-lit modern suites.

Click here for Link

28. Wall Street Journal: Destruction of Historic Greyledge Mansion to build New House
PHILIP SHISHKIN

Out With the Old: Storied Mansions Fall in Greenwich - In Rush for Empty Lots, Buyers Demolish Homes, The Passing of Greyledge

GREENWICH, Conn. -- Col. Raynal Bolling, an architect of American air power in World War I, died of a German bullet in 1918. The aviator's Greenwich mansion, featuring 13 fireplaces and a shooting gallery, survived until 2007. Hedge-fund manager Spencer Lampert spent $7.6 million to buy the home, designed by the same firm that created the New York Public Library. Then, last year, Mr. Lampert razed it to the ground. Asked to describe what he has in mind for the now-vacant six-acre lot, he said in an e-mail: "Planning on building a house." While much of the nation is mired in a housing slump, this Connecticut enclave is keeping alive one tradition of the late, great U.S. home boom -- the teardown. In the first three months of this year, 19 homes in this wealthy coastal town of 64,000 were demolished to make way for new ones. That keeps pace with the rate over the past three years, when more than 70 homes in the town were demolished annually, according to the city government's Historic District Commission.

Click here for Link