1. Heritage loses Champion Caroline Di Cocco
Catherine Nasmith

Caroline Di Cocco

Ontario's heritage has lost an ardent champion in the electoral defeat of Caroline Di Cocco in Sarnia.

She was the Liberal Culture Critic during the Harris government and a strong voice within caucus for the changes to the Ontario Heritage Act. During the first term of the McGuinty government we were blessed with two very strong Ministers. Madelleine Meilleur expertly shepherded the changes to the Ontario Heritage Act in the beginning of the term. Di Cocco got her dream job as Minister of Culture when Meilleur moved on to the Ministry of during the second half of the McGuinty government's first term.

I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Di Cocco as president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. On practically her first day in office she moved to save the Lister Block, channelling provincial resources to bring about a locally negotiated solution. She addressed the Ontario Heritage Conference this spring. Perhaps the last piece of correspondence the Minister received was a plea to intervene to save Alma College.

More recently, Ms. Di Cocco interrupted her campaigning to stop the demolition of the Moore farmhouse in Sparta Ontario.

She will be missed, but no doubt this talented woman won't be idle long. Lets  hope the new McGuinty government will continue its tradition of appointing strong champions of Ontario's heritage as Minister of Culture.

2. Recycling keeps Landmark Church out of Landfill
Catherine Nasmith

restored interior, St. Patrick's Church, Kinkora Ontario

There is something poetic about a community that has kept its landmark church out of the landfill by recycling stuff.

The village of Kinkora Ontario is very determined to keep its landmark church. The tiny crossroads farming community is graced by the presence of its cathedral scale St. Patricks Church, built in 1882, designed by the famous architect Joseph Connelly. The church is reminiscent of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Formosa in being extremely ambitious in scale for its community, as well as having been designed by the same architect. The Formosa church was the inspiration for the Ontario church in Jane Urquart’s novel The Stone Carvers. Such buildings take monumental effort to create.

Open to the public on September 29 there was an opportunity to share the beauty of the building but also the remarkable story of its restoration. In just five years a congregation of only 150 families, with just over 50 very active members has managed to raise 1.4 million dollars. Another $600,000 is needed to re-instate the spire that was removed a few years ago because it had become unstable.

Congregation member Pauline Bokkers spoke of the ongoing effort. “Our ancestors built us such a beautiful building…..we just had to find a way to save it.” When they started, it was with a roofing project that had been estimated at $600,000. As is often the case, once the construction started much more was needed.

The story of how the monies were raised is inspiring. In addition to community bake-sales and gala dinners the congregation began to collect as many recyclables as they could and sold them. This was the most lucrative of the projects, but took thousands and thousands of volunteer hours. Millions of pop cans have been collected; crushed one by one by a blind volunteer who took this on as the thing he could contribute. Newspapers by the thousands were collected. Another volunteer spent months tearing the covers off of all the discarded library books from towns within a hundred miles to capture the paper.

Hats off to Kinkora. Faith, commitment, determination, and perseverance have paid off. The project has not only strengthened the congregation, but the community all around.

3. Big Plans for Old Places-Heritage Canada Conference
Catherine Nasmith

Edmonton's Hotel MacDonald against Skyline

Heritage Canada’s conference, Big Plans for Old Places might have been better titled the challenges of development in historic places.

Some national trends emerged. Many cities are struggling with out of scale development in heritage areas. Another issue was protecting everyday old buildings for the many important roles they play in communities.

Central Edmonton offered lessons in what happens when fine-grained mixed use historic fabric is razed for mega-projects. Edmonton’s new City Hall has a beautiful but absolutely dead plaza in front of it. The coffee bars adjacent are not enough to animate an area where no-one lives or shops. Key-note speaker Roberta Brandes-Gratz contrasted the plaza with Pioneer Square in Portland Oregon, designed by the same firm. The difference is the vitality of the surrounding city fabric. Portland enjoys small city blocks, and great downtown retail areas all around the square. As well Pioneer Square is connected to local transportation systems. Gratz made the distinction between Cities Reborn and Cities Rebuilt, two approaches to revitalization. Edmonton’s downtown is a city rebuilt, New York a city reborn. The key characteristic of the reborn is a vibrant street-life through all hours of the day.

Many Canadian cities enjoy such vitality but Toronto developer Margaret Zeidler warned of disaster about to strike the Queen West Triangle, an area that until now was enjoying rebirth as a major centre for Toronto’s arts community. At the heart of the Toronto debate is no. 48 Abell, a former factory now inhabited by artists, providing low cost housing and anchoring the neighbourhood. The Zeidler family had invested in the Gladstone hotel across the street, only to end up fighting major out of scale condominium re-development as reward for their success. Ms. Zeidler offered the best one liner of the weekend, describing the City of Toronto’s reluctance to designate 48 Abell as “The Noah’s Ark School of Conservation, ie. we already have some of those, so no need to protect this one.” Designation as a heritage structure is the only means available to protect such important fabric, but other tools are needed because of the important role that such old buildings play in communities.

Victoria, a city that was given one of the first Prince of Wales prizes, seems to be losing its luster with several inappropriately scaled developments in sensitive heritage areas.

The conference sessions ended with a blue ribbon panel of Canadian developers drawn from across the country. They described their projects, what draws them to heritage development, as well as the benefits and frustrations. Most have found ways to work without government finance, and a few chose to avoid assistance because of the cumbersome administration that comes with limited funding. However, Margaret Zeidler pointed to the many incentives available in U.S. cities that permit not-for-profits to participate.

A common theme was the love of working with historic buildings. Gene Dub of Edmonton, an architect turned developer confessed his business planning involved buying interesting property and praying. He has had a lot of success using that formula, no doubt because as an architect is able to make solid judgements on the future value of his properties.

Phil O’Brien of Vigor DMC talked about the marketability that heritage structures bring to his projects, but he looks for sites with development potential adjacent. “It is impossible to make a lot of money developing heritage buildings alone.” Others echoed the sentiment, but many were satisfied with more modest returns in exchange for the satisfaction of reclamation. Two of the projects presented had benefited from the now cancelled Canadian Historic Properties Incentive Fund. Neil Richardson of Heritage Property Corporation of Calgary indicated that CHPIF funding had been a critical component in making his business plan work, along with municipal assistance. He also found income from selling billboard space on his construction scaffolding….all ten stories of it.

One of the more interesting “frustrations” was a plea for clear heritage standards and processes. Neil Richardson said, “just tell us the rules, if it is facades fine, if it is whole buildings fine too, we just need to know what the rules are before we start”.

Chutzpah, confidence, and a sense of humour about the ups and downs of the process seemed to be the common denominator for these investors. Heritage Canada has committed to continuing the discussion on what is needed to make heritage development a more attractive option. The discussion so far was enlightening, and also very entertaining!

4. Havana Toronto Dialogues on Architecture
Alex Taranu

In early September Toronto hosted two lectures of one of the most prominent personalities in Cuban urbanism, architecture and heritage preservation, Professor Mario Coyula of Havana. The former Director of Planning of Havana, now Professor Emeritus, is the author of an impressive body of work including two landmark monuments and a reference book on Havana. He has taught and lectured at well know universities around the world.

The first lecture, hosted at the gracious Arts and Letters Club was titled ”Many faces of Havana” and presented an overview of Havana’s urban and architectural evolution toward the rich mix of astounding architecture, heritage, landscape and people that makes it on of the most fascinating cities in the world. Highlighting the huge problems that redevelopment and preservation encounter in his city, he also presented a critical view of the most recent urban developments and the open questions that Havana’s future presents.

This lecture was sponsored by Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI), Toronto Society of Architects (TSA) and DuToit Allsopp Hillier.

The second lecture, hosted at The University of Toronto’s Munk Centre and titled "The Sour Trinquenium and the Dystopic City. Autopsy of a Utopia" summarized the city’s rich history and creativity in architecture and urbanism. Professor Coyula focused this time on a grey period of recent history when the initial enthusiasm and energy of the creative years of the early sixties were suffocated by bureaucracy and dogmatism, with a significant impact on the city’s architecture and urbanism.

This lecture was sponsored by ICOMOS (International Committee of Monuments and Science) Canada, the University of Toronto Latin Studies Program, Catherine Nasmith Architect and Ventin Architects.

5. Uncertain Future of Deer Park United
Mike Filey

Deer Park United, St. Clair Avenue

Located near the busy St Clair Ave. East and Avenue Road intersection pretty little Deer Park United (formerly Presbyterian) Church faces an uncertain future. Erected 1911-13, when this part of Toronto was totally residential, the area has changed. Recently, the few members of the congregation who were left agreed to vacate the old building and now the question is will another congregation come to the building's rescue. Perhaps a sympathetic reuse can be found as the nearby Imperial Oil site is redeveloped. Or will Deer Park United simply join the hundreds of other Toronto landmarks now seen only in picture books?

6. Section 37 and Heritage Postponed to November
Richard Longley

The discussion of Section 37 to fund Heritage Conservation District Studies and Avenue Studies was postponed until the Planning and Growth Committee meeting on Thursday, Nov 1, pending Adam Vaughan’s negotiations with councillors and community groups who remain opposed.

Anyone who would like to mail, email or present their meetings to the committee at the Nov 1 meeting should contact Merle MacDonald

<mmacdona@toronto.ca> before noon on Oct 31, 2007.

Richard Longley
416-961-2766

7. A seven-year struggle brings results in Lakeshore

The Municipality of Lakeshore in South Western Ontario has been the site of a 7 year struggle by  two small rural communities to conserve their architectural heritage: two century-old village churches after they were replaced by a new church built on farmland outside the communities.  The buildings are located in the French-Canadian villages of Pointe-aux-Roches/Stoney Point (Annonciation church) and Saint-Joachim (Saint-Joachim church).

The campaign has been led by  SOS-Églises, a group  of residents led by David Tremblay, a former mayor, who proposed in 2002 that the two buildings owned by the Diocese of London be designated heritage sites.. 

To counter the proposal after receiving a letter of opposition from the Diocese, Lakeshore Council  adopted a policy whereby proposals for heritage designation would only be accepted if they came from the building owners themselves.  SOS-Églises challenged this decision at the Ontario Divisional Court level.  The Court declared the "owners' only need apply" clause was contrary to the intent of the Ontario Heritage Act, and the municipality was ordered to consider SOS-Églises' proposal

Finally in the Spring of 2006, Lakeshore Council announced its intention of  fully designating Annonciation church.  As for the 125 year-old Saint-Joachim church, the designation would only apply to its location (land), the steeple and the War Memorial in front of  the church.

Sos-Eglises and ACO appealed the partial designation intention of the  Saint-Joachim church  to the Ontario Conservation Review Board.

The Diocese appealed the full designation of Annonciation to the same provincial Commission.

In June 2007, Board hearings were held in L:akeshore.

The Board released its report in late August. It recommended that the Town of Lakeshore designate fully both churches.

Municipal administration recommended maintaining the original municipal intention, but on September 25, by a vote of 7 -1, Councillors agreed to  fully designated the two buildings in their entirety.

This decision is subject to appeal to the OMB by the Diocese of London.

For further information SOS-Églises, visit http://www.soseglises.com

8. Globe and Mail: Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs
John Bentley Mays

117God's greatest gift to Jane Jacobs, and, indirectly, to 20th-century Toronto, was a man named Robert Moses.

The public-works czar of New York City from 1934 until his fall from grace in 1968, Mr. Moses despised Gotham's old, established neighbourhoods and happily destroyed them when they got in the way of the huge roads he loved to ram through the city. He was not an original thinker, but he was an idealist, obsessed by the modernist notion that the future of cities belonged to the car.

He cowed and ran rough-shod over bureaucrats, politicians and community groups to get what he wanted: sweeping schemes for slum clearance, public housing, parks and playgrounds, new bridges and tunnels and roadways, and much else.

In his heyday — the Depression years to about 1950 — few people dared oppose him. Those who did, he ridiculed (in his words) as "partisans, enthusiasts, crackpots, fanatics or other horned cattle," and crushed them with a well-oiled publicity machine and by sheer political power.

Mr. Moses's usefulness to opponents such as Ms. Jacobs lay in his pugnacity, and in his public image, increasingly popular through the 1950s, as the incarnation of all that went wrong with post-war urban development. As such, he helped inspire the razor-sharp polemical edge of Ms. Jacobs's 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Ms. Jacobs's famously successful fight (alongside other women whom Mr. Moses dismissed as "a bunch of mothers") to stop the proposed destruction of Greenwich Village's Washington Square in the 1950s honed her talents as a brilliant scrapper.

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9. Globe and Mail: The architecture of Paul Raff
JOHN BENTLEY MAYS

A blend of muted stone and shimmering glass

Toronto architect Paul Raff is an artist of light. He loves it with the passion of those old-school modernists who built houses of glass, and he celebrates sunshine in every project he undertakes.

But unlike some pioneering minds of the modern movement in residential architecture, who liked to invite direct sunlight into every nook and cranny, Mr. Raff is interested in the subtleties of light — the infinite variety of ways it can be modified and modulated to create aesthetic effects, the ways it can be shaped. The result, as we have it in the luxury houses he has designed in Thailand and Toronto, is a distinctively poetic modernism, freed from starkness and too-great simplicity, yet loyal to the clarity of the best progressive residential architecture.

A beautiful new house by Mr. Raff in Toronto's posh Forest Hill neighbourhood is an excellent instance of what I'm talking about. In its basic layout, this building is not radically different from any other family home up and down its shady street. Entering the front door, the visitor finds the living room off to the left and the dining room to the right. The stairway to the upper levels lies ahead, with a spacious kitchen completing the ground-floor ensemble of rooms.

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10. Treehugger: Accident at Simcoe Hotel
Lloyd Alter

Demolition by Stupidity

Designated an historic structure, the Simcoe Hotel "was built in 1887 by Charles Ayre, who operated the facility as a small hotel which served the working-class neighbourhood “Riverside” (now part of Leslieville). The building is architecturally notable. It is a good example of a neighbourhood hotel that is distinguished by its pattern of brickwork, bay windows, and a corner entrance." Not noted in its designation is the fact that it was also famous as one of Toronto's first gay leather bars....

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11. London Free Press: Alma College to be demolished
PATRICK MALONEY

Alma slated for demolition

Alma at the turn of the Century

Critics are fuming that St. Thomas council struck a deal with the historic school's owner.

The final bell is ringing at Alma College, with a deal between its owners and St. Thomas city council essentially clearing the way for the landmark's demolition.

Advocates of the historic former girls' school -- hailed as one of Canada's most endangered places -- were stunned by the deal and are fuming at councillors, who in turn blame the imminent loss of the 130-year-old structure on the province.

"The most disappointing thing . . . is the absolute unwillingness of the City of St. Thomas to protect this building," said Andrew Gunn of the Alma College Foundation, a group pushing for the site's preservation.

Editor's Note:
In 2006 ACO president Scott Valens wrote to the Minister of Culture recommending provincial designation. Ontario Heritage Trust prepared a report for the Minister which is confidential, but given the obvious merit of the building, presumably supports designation of the property. Alma College is listed on both Heritage Canada and ACO's most endangered lists.

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12. St. Thomas Times-Journal - Alma College Vote in Question
Kyle Rea, forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Was Alma vote valid?

St. Thomas councils decision to clear the way for a demolition permit for Alma College at a closed-door meeting last Thursday may be null and void, according to the Ontario Municipal Act. In a 5-2 vote last Thursday, council voted at a special, in-camera meeting to grant a demolition permit to Alma Heritage Estate, owned by the Zubick family of London, Ont. The case is currently before the Ontario Municipal Board, which has the final say on the matter. Under the Ontario Municipal Act (2001), section 244 states, No vote shall be taken by ballot or by any other method of secret voting and every vote so taken is of no effect. And under section 239 (5), a meeting shall not be closed to the public during the taking of a vote.

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13. Hoffmeyer's Woodworking

Antique Woodworking Mill Sebringville Ontario

Near St. Mary's this mill has been operating over a hundred years, using the same equipment. Full of belts, wooden pulleys and fine craftsmen it is a great place to order custom made wood elements for your heritage building.

They keep a stock of old wood, and old glass to make/restore historic windows.

It is open as part of the St. Mary's/Stratford Doors Open, and of course is always open to its customers.

Click here for Link

14. Globe and Mail: Arson in Cannington

Fire marshal investigating two church blazes

Cannington -- The Ontario Fire Marshal is investigating fires that destroyed two churches early yesterday in the small community of Cannington, northeast of Toronto.

Residents are expressing outrage at a series of blazes in a six-block radius, which appear to have been ignited around 4 a.m. Durham police say a number of vehicles and neighbouring restaurants were also damaged.

One of the buildings destroyed was a 150-year-old church on the town's main street.

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15. New York Times: Levittown Anniversary
forwarded by Adam Sobolak

Change Blurs Memories in a Famous Suburb

LEVITTOWN, N.Y., Oct. 9 — Sixty years ago this month, the first families moved into this suburban outpost, and soon there were 17,447 houses that as the song “Little Boxes” noted derisively, were “all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all looked just the same.”

The Cape Cods that first became available in 1947 — with four rooms, one bathroom and among other modern amenities a Hotpoint electric range in every kitchen — were offered for $6,990, and 800-square-foot ranch homes went for $7,990.

These days, the little boxes have been individually renovated, remodeled and enlarged beyond recognition. A decade ago, there were perhaps 200 unaltered Levitts left, but only a handful remain today. Even the Smithsonian Institution has been unable to obtain one to display.Change Blurs Memories in a Famous Suburb

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16. New York Times: Architecture of Dwight James Baum
TUCK STADLER, forwarded by Alex Taranu

Architect's Legacy: Durable and Desirable Homes

Dwight James Baum Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library

IN 1931, as a home-building boom in America was giving way to the Depression, President Herbert C. Hoover summoned Dwight James Baum of the Bronx to the White House and awarded him an architectural Oscar.

It was a gold medal sponsored in part by the American Institute of Architects. The citation was for "best small-home design from 1926 to 1930."

The three-bedroom Greek Revival house that brought the architect the medal was built in the Fieldston section of Riverdale in the northwest Bronx for $10,000 for Dr. Francis Collins.

Another doctor's family bought it in 1981 for $210,000. The agent who handled the latest sale estimates the home would now sell for more than $500,000.

The biggest cluster of Baum houses is in Fieldston, a woodsy, rocky area of less than a square mile containing about 250 homes. John Brown, vice president of the 75-year-old Robert E. Hill agency, believes a third of the homes there were designed by Baum "in whole or in part."

Editor's Note:
After reading this piece, forwarded by Alex Taranu, I googled Baum. He left an impressive and prized legacy. In Toronto, we don't know our residential architects as well, but the work of developer Home Smith with his chief architect T.G. Mueller and others at Kingsway Park in Etobicoke seems similar in scope and quality to Fieldston which is a Historic District in New York. Anyone want to take on the challenge of writing the book on Toronto's residential architects?

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17. New York Times: Asylum Converts to Housing Project
BETH GREENFIELD, forwarded by Adam Sobolak

At Home in Infamous Surroundings

DANVERS, Mass IF the walls of Chris Bencal‚s apartment could talk, they might actually scream. That‚s because the 1878 building was the longtime home of the Danvers State Hospital ˜ formerly called the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers ˜ infamous for allegations of abuse and neglect that prompted its closing in 1992.

But that image changed for the good with the arrival of AvalonBay Communities, a developer that since 2005 has been transforming the property into a collection of luxury residences.

Just as the 1970s and 1980s saw an endless number of former factories converted into living spaces, the last decade has seen more improbable buildings ˜ shuttered asylums, hospitals and even prisons ˜ transformed into apartments and condominiums. Concerns that these buildings, with their murky pasts, might scare off potential buyers are quickly being put to rest.

AvalonBay ˜ which bought the state-owned Danvers site for $11.4 million and has invested another $72 million into its transformation ˜ had a hunch the property would be alluring to buyers. „We were attracted to the site because of the quality of the real estate,‰ said Scott Dale, the vice president of development. „It is, quite simply, a beautiful piece of land that overlooks Boston.‰

Most of the Danvers compound ˜ originally designed by Thomas Kirkbride, a 19th-century doctor renowned for his designs of mental hospitals ˜ was razed to make way for new buildings. But part of one structure ˜ a brick Gothic masterpiece with soaring sharp angles and spires ˜ has been restored.

Editor's Note:
Think Toronto's Riverdale Hospital....

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18. Globe and Mail: Louis Khan's National Assembly in Bangladesh
LISA ROCHON

A modern fortress, as light as transcendence

National Assembly Bangladesh Viewed across Man Made moat

In a country ground down by poverty, newly ravaged by floods, and living under military rule, Louis Kahn's masterwork, the National Assembly of Bangladesh, remains a monumental meditation on humanity, with the power to move both body and mind

1DHAKA -- At midnight, before getting to the haunting moon-eye of the National Assembly, I drive from the Dhaka airport past market vendors asleep in their enormous woven baskets, past rickshaw drivers finally pulled over for the night, past piles of freshly cut bamboo running 10 metres long. There is evidence, between the crush of tumbledown buildings, that the original deltaic city of water and lush greenery still survives despite the fact that Dhaka now accommodates some 14 million people. In their apartments, in the slums, on the sidewalks, families prepare to lie down for the night. The air is drenched in humidity, the sky bruised black and blue.

I am not expecting the moon-eye. I am expecting the monumentality, yes, and the kind of epic design that would allow a modern citadel belonging to a young democracy to rise out of a lake. Driving through the streets of Dhaka in the middle of the night, I steady myself for evidence of the architectural courage that belonged, could only belong, to the American genius Louis Kahn. He lived in Philadelphia, but he occupied the cosmic world.

And, beginning in 1963, he imagined a great, ordering architecture for one of the most desperate countries in the world. Surely there was Western benevolence at play, an American hero come to civilize the dirty, developing nation. But, the hunches, the images from books and magazines, all of my preconceptions dissolve when I am finally confronted by the National Assembly and its enormous circular window lit like the colour of equanimity. The moon-eye fixes its gaze across the reflecting waters and the surrounding parkland. It communicates a meditation on humanity, not to do with pointed questions or definitive answers, but offering something waxing and surrendering. Everything I have learned about this masterpiece of Kahn's, everything I had previously concluded about this modern wonder of the world, will have to be learned all over again.

What I'm about to discover is that Kahn's masterwork stands apart from the rest. It is not a luscious seduction like the work of Frank Gehry. It is not geometric volumes sent hurling into the air by the likes of Zaha Hadid or Daniel Libeskind. Nor does the National Assembly embrace luminosity the way Renzo Piano or Norman Foster do. Kahn's work in Dhaka moves the body and the mind. Simultaneously. Like no other.

Editor's Note:
This article is in Globe Insider and will require fee payment to read.

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19. Globe and Mail: David Chipperfield takes Stirling Prize for Architecture

German museum wins prestigious Stirling Prize for architecture

Museum of Modern Literature

LONDON — Britain's most prestigious architecture prize was awarded Saturday to Germany's Museum of Modern Literature, a classically influenced building of concrete, stone and wood.

Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, the museum opened last year in Marbach, southwest Germany. It houses Friedrich Nietzsche's death mask and original manuscripts including Franz Kafka's “The Trial” and Alfred Doblin's “Berlin Alexanderplatz.”

Judges of the Stirling Prize award described the museum as “simultaneously rich and restrained” and praised the architects for delivering style on a relatively small budget of about $17-million.

The judges called the building as “a small Acropolis” overlooking the River Neckar valley. Praising the subtly lit room holding the museum's permanent collection, the panel said there was “a particular theatricality about this space, as though the reflections, refractions and multiple shadows from the small intense lights collectively represent the soul of the German imagination.”

The $40,000 Stirling Prize is presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The winner must be a RIBA member, but the building can be anywhere in the European Union.

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