1. Ned Kaufman Tackles the Question of Who owns Heritage
Catherine Nasmith

Ryan Premises, Bonavista Newfoundland

Heritage - My Land and Your Land

When we lose a community landmark the language is of death. We talk about reprieve when we stop the wrecking ball. Why do we do that? Do we have any right to that sense of attachment we have to the properties of others that are our touchstones, which shape the places in which we live our lives, or to the places that are important parts of societal memory, or to semi public places like the Inn on the Park which probably was part of the memory of people scattered all across the country, a place of weddings, proms, Bar Mitzvahs, or to churches, where we celebrate birth, death, marriage, places of contemplation, or to our attachment to a favorite view, and the anger we feel when it is plowed under?

If you knock on the door of a place you used to live, or you have some connection to, the present owner will almost always invite you in. We all understand that need to touch the places that connect to our stories and we pay respect to that in total strangers...what does this mean for preservation?

One of the most interesting arguments I have heard on that question was given at the Heritage Canada conference this month in St. John's. Ned Kaufman, talked about the sense of ownership, individual and collective we feel for places that we don’t actually own. He talked about the relationship of stories to places, and the way that stories connect us to each other.

Kaufman began by introducing the idea of “affective ownership”, that sense of attachment we have to places that are not our property. He contrasted an American flag, with a sign saying private property keep out. He used “This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land” (Canadian version in deference to the audience and organization) to introduce the idea that even though we have private property in North America we also all feel a sense of ownership to “This Land is Our Land”.

He challenged the audience with the following example. Old apartment building A is threatened with redevelopment, tenants will be evicted. As part of the defense the tenants push for the buildings historic designation. Celebrations ensue when developer abandons the project. Then developer B arrives and evicts tenants to renovate and sell units as a condominium. The preservation agenda has been satisfied…yet social displacement has occurred, and the people whose lives and their stories were attached to that building have been dispersed. Kaufman challenges us to think about preservation in a broader social way, to understand that preservation of the artistic value, and even the physical resource may not be enough if the way of life that is associated with the place has been lost.

One doesn’t have to look far to find places where classic heritage preservation has been the kiss of death. Quebec City, so well preserved as a World Heritage Site has been overwhelmed by tourism and made almost unlivable for anyone else. By contrast, the French Quarter in New Orleans remains a not as well preserved place, but one of very lively culture.

There is a sense of sadness in visiting a National Historic Site like The Ryan Premises in Bonavista Newfoundland which is a museum devoted to telling the story of the lost in-shore fishery. We are glad that the physical fabric is preserved (within an inch of its life) but its raison d’etre is gone. The buildings that were once full of industry and life remain, but one can no longer find the people or the activity that gave them meaning.

I bought his book, Place, Race, and Story, Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation. The first few pages are tantalizing and delightfully well written. (no heritage jargon yet) I will do a full report in an upcoming issue.

Based on the first few pages I would encourage subscribers to BUY AND READ THE BOOK.

Kaufman challenges us to find ways to preserve all aspects of places, and perhaps in so doing the need for the preservation movement as we know it will diminish.

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~nkaufman/speaking.html

2. The Social Dividends of Investing in our Existing Building Stock
Catherine Nasmith

The Hungry Heart Cafe, at Rawlin's Crossing, St. John's NFLD

Modest amounts of money strategically invested in our heritage building stock, in partnership with grass roots organizations, yields huge “bang for the buck”, in cultural, social and environmental dividends.

That was the message I took away from the Heritage Canada session entitled. Heritage Conservation as Catalyst for Social Renewal.

Tom Urbaniak described a program they are developing in Cape Breton for getting properties abandoned by their owners because the back taxes owing were greater than the property value repaired and re-inhabited as a form of social housing.

Rob McLennan, from Stella Burry Community Services, St. John’s described a project that took over two properties at Rawlin’s Crossing in St. John’s. The first project was developing social housing on the site of an existing building that was beyond repair. The project was used to train people in construction and some of those workers were housed in the project. They went on to take over another former grocery store and renovate, restoring it as a food enterprise that trains people who might otherwise have trouble making a living in food services. The resulting café, named the Hungry Heart, was opened by Prince Charles during his visit to Canada. It is a terrific place for lunch, and the café also catered lunches to some of the Heritage Canada sessions.

Government funds that went into these programs yield complex rich benefits. The projects are not only green, retaining existing built resources, they repair both the physical and social fabric of neighbourhoods. Because the "developers" are social NGO’s they take every opportunity to not only build but use the projects to provide training to people who might not do well in ordinary apprenticeships or community colleges. The Stella Bury programs give people confidence, self-sufficiency, and roofs over their heads.

Can there be a better form of infrastructure spending?

3. Heritage Toronto announces 2010 Heritage Toronto Awards Recipients
Recipients in Architecture, Book, Media and Community Heritage lauded October 5th at the Royal Conservatory of Music

Heritage Toronto is pleased to announce the recipients for the 36th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards. The Awards celebrate outstanding contributions by individuals and community organizations, as well as industry professionals and associations, in promoting and conserving Torontos history and heritage landmarks. Award recipients were announced at a ceremony Tuesday, October 5th, at Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music.

This year, nominations were solicited from the public in four categories: the William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship Award; Book; Media; and Community Heritage. Independent juries reviewed the nominations and recommended the award recipients. In each category (except the Community Heritage Award, which is a cash prize) there are two possible levels of award: Award of Excellence (the highest) and Award of Merit.

Heritage Toronto also presented its Special Achievement Award to long-time heritage activist Madeleine McDowell.

The William Kilbourn Memorial Lecture is held in conjunction with the Awards presentation. The lecture was introduced in 1996 to honour William Kilbourn's legacy and his commitment to Toronto as a viable, liveable city that honours its past and plans for its future. The speaker for this year's Lecture was Peter Oundjian, Toronto Symphony Orchestra Music Director who spoke on musics role in creating our citys soundscape, and how it has contributed to city building and a cultural resurgence in Toronto.

Recipients of the 2010 Heritage Toronto Awards

WILLIAM GREER ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION AND CRAFTSMANSHIP CATEGORY

This category honours owners who have undertaken projects to restore or adapt buildings or structures that have been in existence for forty years or more. In addition to the quality of craftsmanship, appropriateness of materials, and the use of sound conservation principles, the jury considers how well the project meets current needs while maintaining the integrity of the original design vision.

Award of Excellence

Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning
273 Bloor St. W.
Commissioned by: The Royal Conservatory of Music
Architect: Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
Consulting Heritage Architect: Goldsmith Borgal & Company Ltd. Architects
Crafts Persons/Contractors: Clifford Restoration Ltd.

Award of Merit

Allstream Centre
105 Princes' Blvd., Exhibition Place
Commissioned by: Board of Governors - Exhibition Place
Architect: NORR Limited
Heritage Consultants: Andre Scheinman; E.R.A. Architects Inc., James Bailey Architect
Crafts Persons/Contractors: Vanbots Construction Corp.; Clifford Restoration Ltd.

Residence, 82 Lowther Avenue
Commissioned by: Brandt Family Trust
Architect: Douglas Lawrence
Crafts Persons/Contractors: Heather & Little Ltd.; Clifford Restoration Ltd.

Honourable Mention

Bloor Gladstone Branch Library
1101 Bloor St. W.
Commissioned by: Toronto Public Library
Architect: RDH Architects Inc.
Heritage Consultant: Shoalts & Zaback Architects Inc.; E.R.A. Architects Inc.
Crafts Person/Contractor: Pre-Eng Contracting Ltd.

Other Nominees

Confederation Life Insurance Building
20 Richmond St. E.
Commissioned by: OPB Realty Inc.
Architect/Engineer: Halsall Associates Ltd.
Crafts Person/Contractor: The Restorers Group Inc.

Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Queen's Park)
111 Wellesley St. W.
Commissioned by: Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Architect: Ventin Group of Architects
Crafts Persons/Contractors: D.J. McRae Contracting Ltd.; TG Conservation Services Inc.; Traditional Cut Stone; Jenkins Stoneworks

The Toy Factory Lofts
43 Hanna Ave.
Commissioned by: The Toy Factory of Hanna Developments Inc.
Architect: Quadrangle Architects Ltd.
Crafts Persons/Contractors: Joblonsky Ast & Partners

BOOK CATEGORY

This category recognizes excellent non-fiction books published in 2009 that explore Torontos archaeological, built, cultural, or natural heritage and history.

Award of Excellence

A Progressive Traditionalist: John M. Lyle, Architect
Author: Glenn McArthur
Publisher: Coach House Books

Award of Merit

Art Deco Architecture in Toronto: A Guide to the City's Buildings from the Roaring Twenties and the Depression
Author: Tim Morawetz
Publisher: Glue Inc.

Death or Canada: The Irish Famine Migration to Toronto, 1847
Author: Mark G. McGowan
Publisher: Novalis Publishing Inc.

University of Toronto: The Campus Guide: An Architectural Tour
Author: Larry Wayne Richards
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Other Nominees

The Beach: An Illustrated History from the Lake to Kingston Road
Authors: Glenn Cochrane & Jean Cochrane
Publisher: ECW Press

The Humber River: The Carrying Place
Author/Publisher: Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

The Plate: 150 Years of Royal Tradition from Don Juan to Eye of the Leopard
Authors: Louis E. Cauz & Beverley A. Smith
Publisher: ECW Press

Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1856 to the Present
Authors: Steve MacKinnon, Karen Teeple, Michele Dale
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company Ltd.

The York Club: A Centennial History
Author: Mary Byers
Publisher: The York Club

York University: The Way Must Be Tried
Author: Michiel Horn
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

MEDIA CATEGORY

This category salutes projects such as films, videos, websites, and newspaper and magazine articles that educate the public about aspects of Torontos archaeological, built, cultural and/or natural heritage and history.

Award of Excellence

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800  1950, Website
http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/
Author/Director: Robert G. Hill
Designers/Producers: Verity Griscti; Joshua Hull

Hangman's Graveyard, Documentary
Director: Mick Grogan
Producer: Daniel Thomson
Distributor: Ballinran Productions

Honourable Mention
Violet August: The 1918 Anti-Greek Riots in Toronto, Documentary
Author/Director/Producer/Distributor: John Burry, Burgeoning Communications Inc.

Other Nominees

Death or Canada, Documentary
Director: Ruan Magan
Producer: Craig Thompson
Distributor: Ballinran Productions

Historicist, Series of Online History Columns
www.torontoist.com
Authors: Jamie Bradburn, Kevin Plummer
Publisher: www.torontoist.com

COMMUNITY HERITAGE AWARD

This award is open to one volunteer community-based organization in each of the four Community Council areas as defined by Toronto City Council. The organization must be currently active, and have either initiated and/or completed a significant activity that promotes, protects and/or preserves cultural and/or natural heritage in its specific Community Council area. This is a cash award and no organization is eligible to receive it more than once every five years.

Recipients
St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood Business Improvement Association (BIA)
Toronto & East York Community Council
Leaside Property Owners' Association
North York Community Council Area
Markland Homes Association
Etobicoke York Community Council Area

Other Nominees
Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter
Toronto & East York Community Council

Our 2010 Heritage Toronto Members' Choice Award was presented to the Leaside Property Owners' Association.

For a complete list of recipients, descriptions and photos, please visit www.heritagetoronto.org.

4. Openings on Toronto Preservation Board and Preservation Panels
City of Toronto

Volunteer Opportunity

Heritage Preservation Services of the City of Toronto, needs volunteers to participate on the Toronto Preservation Board and four Community Preservation Panels. With your participation, the board and panels help City Council make informed decisions about the conservation of the city's heritage buildings and sites.

It's an opportunity to meet new people who value Toronto's history and have input into heritage issues that will affect Toronto now, and for decades to come. With support from City of Toronto staff, members provide advice on a range of issues in their communities and throughout the city.

For More Information and Application Form

Visit the Heritage Preservation web site at

www.toronto.ca/heritage-preservation

Or contact Barbara Holt at 416-338-1076 or by email at bholt@toronto.ca

Applications due Monday, November 15, 2010 (4:00pm)

Editor's Note:
As a past chair of the Toronto Preservation Board I encourage subscribers to take advantage of the opportunity to serve. The City has strong preservation staff now, and they need the support of a equally strong Board.

5. New Book on Goderich Architecture caps Contributions of Bob Davis
News Release, forwarded by Heather Lyons

The book “Archtectural Styles in the Port of Goderich”, is the work of a most talented “Heritage Goderich” volunteer – Mr. Bob Davis. A retired school teacher, he and his wife Sheilagh came to town seven years ago and he’s been educating himself about local architecture ever since. This hobby has evolved into several cultural heritage projects!

As a new member to the municipal heritage committee in 2005, one of his first challenges was to coordinate a wonderful map and illustration for the town’s first Doors Open event - when 18 locations participated. Bob Davis volunteered his skills and many hours over a two year period – in the creation of the town’s ‘Municipal Register of Significant Cultural Heritage Properties’. It is a valuable resource to municipal staff as well as to the general public. He worked with ‘Marine Heritage” volunteers and friends of the ‘Light’ to come up with a two sided interpretive sign for Lighthouse Park – and recently restored Lighthouse (a project honoured this year by a provincial Communities in Bloom preservation award!).

Bob’s creative skills were pivotal in the redesign of the “Port of Goderich Marine Signage Tour” brochure. Mapping it from a lakeshore approach, it leads you on a journey of local history. Fifty interpretive signs dot the lake bank, boardwalk and trails.

These signs have been an ongoing project that included the efforts of many volunteers over the past ten years. When people come to the Port of Goderich to enjoy the Harbour and Lake Huron…it is much more than a trip to the Beach or Marina! Bob’s skills also revived the “Heritage Hunt” contest of ten years ago and the new brochure has become a creative visual learning tool for local residents, “architourists” as well for students at the three schools here in town!

In 2006, Bob reorganized the historic buildings tour. With hundreds of historic properties and several ‘character areas’ in quite a compact space; he devised four separate self guided walks – each intersecting the historic downtown. They come in one packet and each are an easy 45 minute walk. These little self guided tours have become popular with ‘Nordic pole’ urban hiking folks, and have been used for school field trips! A ‘natural’ enhancement to a healthful walking experience…one can walk past lovely gardens, historic architecture and also learn something new about something old! It is hoped such resources will be attractive to tour bus excursions and continue a steady increase of ‘rurban daytrippers’ to the area!

On this recent project “Architectural Styles in the Port of Goderich” - Bob invited local architects to look at his draft hoping to catch any glaring errors we volunteers may have missed! They were pleased to see such a resource and impressed with his knowledge, organized layout and images. The “Heritage Goderich” committee is very grateful to all the heritage professionals and volunteers who share their special skills – but a very big thank you is due to Bob Davis for work he has done and continues to do! We are delighted that receipts of book sales go to the heritage fund to continue support of cultural heritage projects and improvements. The committee hopes many folks will want this book and will share the gratitude we extend to property owners - spanning 17 decades of caregiving! We salute the many distinctive residential and commercial buildings and features - here to enjoy at the Port of Goderich.

 To order this book: 

Send a cheque  payable to:   “Town of Goderich”, for $15.00 - and on the cheque note “Arch Styles Book” and mail to:

Editor's Note:
What a difference one busy person can make! Congrats to Bob and to Goderich....one of my favorite Ontario towns. 3 of my brothers were born there and I have many fond childhood memories from there.

6. Restored Historic Lighthouse and Garden in Goderich Wins Communities in Bloom Award
Heather Lyons, Council Liaison to

The Port of Goderich is ‘in bloom’ again this year for accomplishments cited at the Twenty Ten - Ontario Communities In Bloom awards.

The CIB award for “Natural Cultural Heritage Conservation” goes to the “Project Goderich Lighthouse and Garden Project”…in the OSUM (Ontario Small Urban Municipalties) category. A true testiment of Collaborative Volunteer Efforts of Goderich Municipal Committees - “Marine Heritage”, “Heritage Goderich” and “Communities in Bloom”.

Working together to bring forward official Municipal Designation on October 13th, 2009; the heritage committees and the many ‘Friends of the Light” won full support from Council and the Muncipal staff for the restoration of the historic lighthouse. In addition, a most beautiful two sided interpretive sign and map now graces Lighthouse Park and improvements by the Parks Department to the gardens and bluff stairs - continue. The Lighthouse is also nominated for the Canadian Registry of Historic Places.

It started in earnest 3 years ago, with the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario “Preservation Works!” Program that enabled a most comprehensive study of the lighthouse to be produced by Architect John Rutledge.

This Lighthouse (c.1851) as old as it is, is the second lighthouse to have been built at this Port. Restoration work and park improvements were highlighted with challenges, but all well managed by Parks Superintendent Martin Quinn. Mariners will continue to appreciate ‘the light’ from off shore – but this nautical “Blue Heritage” point of interest - can also now be enjoyed with greater pride – close up - from the ‘on shore’ view of this beacon on the bluff. It is a favourite ‘photo location’ for weddings, a delightful spot for family picnics and a special stop for cyclists and daytrippers - to view the sun setting near the breakwalls.

Just relax, play in the park, or follow the maps of the “Marine Heritage Walk” or Tour # 2 of the “Four Heritage Walking Tours”! Local urban hikers, school classes, tourists, historians, pleasure craft and commercial mariners; can thank the Citizens of Goderich, Mayor Shewfelt, Council, and the many friends well beyond the town – inland and along the lakeshore – who have helped give another hundred years of good life to the “Light” at the Port of Goderich, Lake Huron. Congratulations to All and thank you to CIB Ontario for encouragement and recognition to communities large and small.

7. City Zoning Proposal Flouts Heritage Commitment
Heritage Ottawa Press Release, forwarded by David Fleming

OTTAWA, September 13, 2010 – Tomorrow, the City’s Planning and Environment Committee will vote on a re-zoning of Lansdowne Park that violates policy protecting the historic Horticultural Building and Aberdeen Pavilion and opens the way to demolish and move the Horticulture Building in order to make way for a parking garage and commercial development.

The re-zoning plan flies in the face of provincial policy requiring that a Cultural Heritage Impact Statement be prepared for any new development adjacent to a heritage property. If the CHIS finds that the potential impact of the development is detrimental to the heritage property, the new development must be re-planned to respect the heritage property. Since, to date, the City has not disclosed any heritage impact statement, the re-zoning appears to be a device to flout heritage protection legislation.

“Heritage Ottawa agrees that Lansdowne Park has been neglected for too long, and neglect is the enemy of heritage,” says David Flemming, President of Heritage Ottawa. “We have consistently supported the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park and many specific aspects of the plan. But Ottawa deserves enlightened development that showcases, rather than diminishes, the heritage value that could provide historic, aesthetic and commercial value to Lansdowne Park. This re-zoning plan ends all pretence of the City’s commitment to protection of heritage.”

A report to City Council in June had promised that no decision would be made on the relocation of the Horticulture Building until the successful completion of the heritage impact assessment. The historical overview prepared in February by the City’s heritage consultant, Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd., falls far short of what is required for such an impact statement. Heritage Ottawa urges the disclosure and public discussion of the Cultural Heritage Impact Statement before any discussion of re-zoning, in conformity with the legislation and principles of transparency. For anyone worried about the process the City is using to push the development plans, the PEC meeting on Tuesday is the last opportunity to launch an appeal of this development to the Ontario Municipal Board.

The proposed re-zoning would also constitute the City’s formal endorsement of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group insistence that the Horticulture Building be moved to convenience them in their commercial pursuit. “Relocation of a heritage-designated building is only considered in the rare case when a building is in physical danger from causes such as erosion or other environmental damage,” Flemming explains. “The inconvenience of its location to a private developer who wants to build a parking garage and offer more retail outlets does not come close to being a credible reason for moving the Horticulture Building.”

The claim by City staff and OSEG that relocating the building “would be a compelling way to preserve the building and re-establish it as a dynamic urban place grounded in, and reflecting its history” is spurious because this would hold true – and more so – in its current location. The only reason for relocating it is that OSEG wants to build on and under the present site. This is not a justification that would even be considered under any international and national standards and guidelines for the conservation of historic places.

Flemming called on Parks Canada, the National Capital Commission and the Ontario Heritage Trust, all heritage partners with the City in this development, to take public positions on the flouting of heritage principles. The more so, he says, because there is every reason to doubt that the Horticulture Building would actually be moved and restored successfully. There is a discouraging record of botched attempts to move old buildings or unforeseen budget constraints that have a way of cropping up to preclude completion of heritage relocation projects.

The City estimates the cost of demolishing and relocating the Horticulture Building at $3 million. This cost, to be borne by Ottawa taxpayers, amounts to nearly 9% of the $35 million budget allocated to the Urban Park component of the Lansdowne Limited Partnership. Flemming noted that one implication of the relocation would be that the Horticulture Building would never qualify for federal government funding as a national historic site and therefore would not benefit from the federal cost-share programme for restoration of heritage properties. The Aberdeen Pavilion, by comparison, has received $1 million of such federal funding.

“This is a travesty for taxpayers who do not want their dollars wasted on the unnecessary relocation of a heritage building, as well as for citizens who care about a culturally rich future for this city,” said Flemming. “They will see re-zoning as the official plan to put the developers before the voters. Heritage Ottawa urges members of the Planning and Environment Committee to prove them wrong.”

- 30 -

Contact:

info@heritageottawa.org

tel: 613 230 8841

WHAT HAPPENED:

The zoning report was recommended by Planning Committee late in the afternoon on a 5-4 vote. The only reason that it wasn't a tie (which would have meant its defeat) was that the Mayor, using his position as an ex-officio voting member on all of the City's Standing Committees, showed-up and vote in favour of it. In my nine years of attending standing committee meetings I don't ever remember Chiarelli or O'Brien voting at such a meeting before today unless he was a regular member of a particular standing committee.

DAVID FLEMING

Editor's Note:
There is an election coming up. Hopefully some of those who supported this will go down to defeat.

8. Globe and Mail: Al Purdy's cabin safe
John Barber

Heritage group takes on task of saving Al Purdy landmark

Already supported by financial contributions from the venerable bard Leonard Cohen, novelist Yann Martel, ageless scold Farley Mowat and retired publisher Avie Bennett, the campaign to save a home-built cabin where poet Al Purdy composed his greatest work and mentored a new generation of confident Canadian writers has found a permanent caretaker in the form of Hastings-Prince Edward Land Trust, a local Ontario group dedicated to preserving cultural and natural history.

The effort to save the humble monument, an A-frame cottage on Roblin Lake in Prince Edward County, gained urgency with the proliferation of weekend retreats built by wealthy Torontonians, according to Vancouver writer Jean Baird, who heads the Al Purdy A-frame Trust. The participation of a local organization that “understands the heritage value of the property” is a milestone, she said. “It’s as safe as you’re ever going to get to protect a property in the long term.”

“Absolutely everything is in place,” Ms. Baird said, speaking from the porch of the A-frame while Mr. Purdy’s widow Eurithe prepared dinner. “We have a ways to go but things are rolling and we’re in good shape.”

Click here for Link

9. Globe and Mail: Chez McClelland
Dave LeBlanc, forwarded by Geoff Kettel

At home in a Toronto Special

McLelland on balcony facing over Mount Pleasant Cemetery

You've seen them.

No, really, you have, because they're everywhere. You just haven't noticed them. A few weeks ago in these pages, Adele Weder wrote about the “Vancouver Special” – low-cost, basic, boxy 1970s-era houses enjoying a renaissance as west-coasters discover their adaptability.

Toronto has something quite similar, but there's no catchy nickname and they're not found in areas of high-concentration like in Vancouver. They are the hundreds of large, boxy, hip roofed, large-windowed infill homes built from the 1950s to, perhaps, the late-1970s in practically every older neighbourhood, usually by immigrant builders in batches of two or three.

Michael McClelland, a founding partner of E.R.A. Architects, has noticed them. So much so that, six years ago, he got together with two friends who were renters like he was – “I'd always put all my money into my business,” he explains – to purchase one on Merton Street.

You've heard of Mr. McClelland.

No, really, you have, if you follow heritage architecture, because his firm is everywhere: the Don Valley Brick Works, the Distillery District, the King Edward Hotel, the Don Jail and the Carlu…just to name a few (some with partner firms).

Wait a minute, that Michael McClelland? Shouldn't he be living in Cabbagetown or something?

Editor's Note:
A nice place to live, and an easy walk to the office. Re-using a building others would overlook, a home that makes a statement of principal......the hallmarks of an architect's choice. Nice to get a look inside....and who knew that Michael also plays guitar!

Click here for Link

10. Globe and Mail: Mixing Old and New
John Bentley Mays

A reverence for the old that stymies the new

Toronto's mood swings with regard to its architectural heritage have long been extreme.

In the years immediately after the Second World War, nobody much cared when some old building was knocked down. Whole Victorian districts were bulldozed to make way for social housing and apartment towers. And as recently as the 1970s, Toronto even gave serious thought to destroying Union Station and our gruffly Romanesque Old City Hall.

For many good reasons, this kind of reckless erasure is unthinkable today. But over the last few decades, Torontonians have speedily gone from flagrant contempt for our pre-war building stock to obsession with it. Every Victorian brick and plank, every beaux arts and art deco façade, is now viewed as holy by planners, citizens' groups, and even developers – however artistically or structurally worthless it may be. A new building in an old neighbourhood is always expected by the urban designers at city hall to nod politely to the historic fabric around it – even when that fabric is indifferent or downright awful.

This new public attitude of unquestioning reverence for everything old is bad for architecture, because it thwarts the free imagination of contemporary designers. And it's bad for the city, because it means that the architects designing for Toronto are too often asked to look backward for inspiration, into Toronto's deeply provincial creative culture of the past, instead of opening toward the cosmopolitan future where this city's destiny surely lies.

Two towers, both proposed for the urban core and both designed by Toronto architect Rudy Wallman, serve as cautionary examples of what I'm talking about.

Editor's Note:
A better question might be is such an out of scale building appropriate in that environment? Has intensification run amok? Oakville has directed its intensification to the area adjacent to the Go Station. Toronto has no such clear policies on where new development should go, so we end up with what Tony Tung called a fractured environment.

Click here for Link

11. Globe and Mail: Redeveloping the RMCI site
John Bentley Mays

Turning the corner on University Avenue

University Avenue is downtown Toronto’s most spectacular failure of urban imagination. With thoughtful planning and a strong public will to make beautiful places, this magnificently broad boulevard could have become our city’s Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Instead, the street was allowed to degenerate from one of Toronto’s toniest addresses into the long, cheerless strip of hospitals and boring office buildings it is today.

The aesthetic damage done to University Avenue can’t be corrected in a day, or in a century. But it seemed possible that a corner in the architectural fortunes of the boulevard might be about to turn when Tribute Communities, a development firm known best for its suburban projects, announced that it intended to put up University Avenue’s first new residential building in living memory. That corner would be turned, of course, only if the proposed tower broke decisively with the tiresome knock-off modernism that has too long characterized its neighbourhood.

Editor's Note:
Bentley Mays beats the same drum again as last week. Agree that these new and old compromises are rarely win-wins....but is the answer the old should go? What Mays fails to deal with is the significance of University Avenue as part of the cultural heritage landscape setting for the seat of Ontario democracy, the Legislative Assembly Building at Queen's Park. Retaining RCMI on this site relates to this place of memory, including memories of war seems to have been forgotten. The history of placing civic institutions, with height limits and material controls because of University Avenue's significant cultural role is being undermined in a sloppy, thoughtless way. If we want University Avenue to be different then we need to have a conscious discussion about its future, instead of just letting it slip away to development whims.

Click here for Link

12. Globe and Mail: Tim Hortons takes over the Roxy
DAVE LEBLANC

Reel Revival: Danforth theatre restoration boosts neighbourhood

Now

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Toronto— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 9:08PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 9:19PM EDT
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Can one building transform a neighbourhood?

A half-century ago, the intersection of Danforth and Greenwood avenues was a vibrant place, with the 775-seat Allenby theatre serving as its hub. Movie theatres had that sort of pull back then. Even as recently as the late-1970s and 1980s, the renamed Roxy was still enjoying success as a revival theatre with a new crowd of punk rockers and new wavers gathered for late-night screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

But at some point in the 1990s or early 2000s, the area stopped being a place to gather. The Roxy suffered through a succession of owners and insensitive renovations, surrounding businesses closed and even a popular fast food chicken outlet was reduced to the look of a bombed out ruin, its skeletal bucket-shaped signage now a beacon for decay.

Click here for Link

13. Gravenhurst Banner: Bala, Nasmith Talk Heritage Conservation Districts
Karen Longwell

Heritage designation could stop hydroelectric project, says group

SOUTH MUSKOKA - Bala could consider creating a heritage district to stop the proposed hydroelectric project at its north falls, residents recently heard.

The community has remained untouched for 40 years and the area, including the Bala Falls, should be a designated as a heritage district, Gunta Towsley, president of the Muskoka Branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) suggested at the group’s Sept. 19 annual general meeting.

“There is no physical feature that defines Bala more than the falls. They are a landmark,” said Towsley.

The Muskoka Branch of the ACO has decided to ask Muskoka Lakes council to partner with it on a study with a view to establish a heritage conservation district in Bala.

The decision came after Catherine Nasmith, architect and past president of the ACO, gave a keynote presentation on heritage conservation districts.

According to Nasmith, the Ontario Heritage Act has provisions to allow a municipality to designate the whole or any part of an area as a heritage conservation district.

The Heritage Act is stronger than the Planning Act in terms of esthetic and cultural values, Nasmith said. A municipal government cannot override a heritage district plan, she added.

“That really is quite a powerful protection because councils change,” said Nasmith.

The Green Energy Act also says cultural and heritage landscapes must be protected, she noted, adding that a municipal council can make the province aware of certain heritage features in its community.

“I understand that there has been a sense that as a municipality (or) lower-tier government, you cannot fight the province, but (that) is actually not correct,” she said.

At a bare minimum, a municipal government can tell the province what is important to its community, she said.

Currently, only the stone church in Bala is identified as a historically significant site, Nasmith noted.

“We all know there is a whole lot more here (in Bala),” she remarked. The people of Bala should tell the province the historical importance of their community, she added. “There is every reason to tell the province what you think is important here.”

The idea to designate a heritage district should come from the community, not the government, because individual property owners will be impacted, she suggested.

“If there isn’t community support, then your district just isn’t going to work. It is going to be a dogfight from day one.”

A heritage district would define unique features of the area and would manage change and protect the look of the area from inappropriate development, she explained. Some communities, she said, form a district just to stop a specific development.

According to Nasmith, there are historical characteristics in areas of Muskoka that are worthy of protection. These include white porches and stone foundations for the buildings in Windermere, for example.

Building traditions, too, have evolved in Muskoka, such as rock barrier roadways and certain types of fencing, she said.

Community members may raise concerns about the ability to make changes to their property if a heritage district is in the works, Nasmith said.

Studies have shown, however, that once a heritage district is established property owners do like living in the area and property values tend to increase, she added.

Editor's Note:
I didn't say an HCD would stop the project, but did say that proponents would have to take into consideration identified heritage features but if there are none identified, then it is impossible to make an argument they should be conserved. By not idenifying heritage resources, the town takes a passive acceptance of destruction.

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14. Chatham-Kent Daily Post: Good News for Ridgetown's McKinley Block?
Marlee Robinson

McKinlay Block in Ridgetown Sold

From Chatham Kent Daily Post

A Sold sign was posted on Ridgetown’s McKinlay Block late Friday afternoon by Brian Peifer. He could not comment on the new owner but local rumour suggests Victor Boutin has added this to his necklace of purchased Chatham-Kent buildings. Certainly it would fit into Boutin’s perceived interest in heritage both here and elsewhere. Suggestions around Ridgetown are that the intention is to do a sympathetic restoration of the block with high quality shops on the ground floor, a small boutique hotel on the middle floor and options for cultural uses on the top opera house floor.

Ridgetown’s first three-storey brick building, the Porter House Block (now known as the McKinlay Block) was commissioned by Henry Porter and opened in 1878 during a time when Ridgetown was booming thanks to a rail link connecting Niagara with Hamilton and Detroit. A heritage architect recently suggested that this is the largest commercial block of its era left in Ontario.
The top floor of the building housed one of Ontario’s earliest opera houses, a free-span structure which is said to have magnificent acoustics. Its first performance was the play “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Below were hotel rooms and ground floor shops.

William G. Malcomson (1853 – 1937) was the architect of the Porter House Block. He also designed Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church (1878), St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church (1880) and was the supervising architect for the 1876 Erie Street United Church designed by noted Toronto architect Henry Langley (1836 – 1907).

On 13th June 1882 Toronto-born Malcomson married Jessie McKinlay, the daughter of Ridgetown’s Mayor, John McKinlay, solidifying his connection to the town.

By the time of his marriage Malcomson was based in Detroit where he founded Malcomson and Higginbottom. Malcomson was extremely productive: his firm designed over 75% of Detroit’s schools between 1894 and 1923. A number of those schools are now designated as being of Historical Significance by the State of Michigan. In addition Malcomson’s firm was responsible for countless award-winning churches and created Henry Ford’s first home. Malcomson was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1916 and the same year took over the Presidency of the Michigan Society of Architects.

Editor's Note:
Yippee, Too bad we lost the federal program to assist with preservation of heritage properties....this block would be a perfect candidate. It is hard to expect a private investor to do all that is necessary to preserve such a fine building -- let's hope this property has a sympathetic new owner.

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15. Armstrong Teams with NBC School Pride
forwarded by Brian Dietrich

Inspiring Story of Volunteer renewal of a California School Property

One might also ask what kind of awful depletion of public resources could lead to a school getting into such a mess....California is reaping the rewards of tax reductions.....

Nonetheless, the volunteer response to the situation is inspiring. Lets hope Ontario schools never get this bad.

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16. British Journal Planning: Update on Haymarket Development, Edinburgh
Rupert Boddy

Revamped Plan Fails to Woo Campaigners

Go to Page 5, Scottish Section, bottom right corner of the page.

Herb Stovel gave evidence against the previous proposal at a public inquiry. 

Richard Murphy is one of the country's most talented architects, and has designed some of my favourite contextual buildings in Edinburgh. But this one not his best in my opinion.

Back to the boards???

The way the online magazine is presented is also terrific.

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17. King Township Sentinel: Designation of Shift has been put on hold
David Anderson

King council has decided to hold off attaching a heritage designation on the Shift sculpture in King City.

The decision was made last Tuesday at a special meeting, at which council also announced it would like updates from Great Gulf Group on the status of talks involving the owners of the property containing Shift and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

The Shift is a wall sculpture created by American artist Richard Serra, which is on a vacant stretch farmland. It is a collection of zigzagging pieces of concrete wall, built in six sections.

The issue has been before the Township for a couple of years now. There have been some in favour of designating the famous sculpture under the Ontario Heritage Act, while there have been others who are opposed, such as Haydn Matthews, vice president of Hickory Hills Investments who owns the property containing the sculpture in the southeast quadrant of the village.

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18. National Film Board online: Out my Window
forwarded by Penina Coopersmith

An interesting look at highrise buildings, interiors and the people who inhabit them all around the world.

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19. New York Times T. Magazine: Artists in Detroit

Artists in Residence

Rome has nothing on Detroit. The industrial ruins in this American city are at least as spectacular, and largely unmatched in scale anywhere in the United States. They are also fertile ground for a growing number of artists like Scott Hocking, who find inspiration in the tatters. To make his large-format photographs, Hocking has built anomalous sculptures in two ghostly auto plants, Fisher Body and Packard, both designed by Detroit’s leading industrial architect, Albert Kahn.

Last winter Hocking stole onto the Packard’s grounds, now so devastated they suggest the aftermath of an earthquake, and installed junked TVs atop fluted columns that had supported the roof of one building. Standing on hilly terrain that was once the level top floor, we could see the unblemished 1963 Mies van der Rohe apartment towers in Lafayette Park across town. The juxtaposition of a living civilization against its vast remains was so disquieting I couldn’t speak.

Today Detroit, home of the American automobile industry and a once-mighty symbol of enterprise and ingenuity, is a city of haunting contradictions. Spread over roughly 140 square miles, it has a business district that resembles a ghost town: it is not unusual to spot wild dogs on downtown streets, pheasants in backyards or tumbleweeds rolling down sidewalks. There are an estimated 33,000 empty houses and 91,000 vacant lots, many of which sit cheek by jowl with pristine Art Deco skyscrapers, glorious estates and freshly painted single-family homes.

All of it packs a visual wallop, which is one reason this failed metropolis has become such a magnet for contemporary artists, who include important figures like Matthew Barney and the Detroit-born Mike Kelley as well as rising stars like Cyprien Gaillard and Jordan Wolfson.

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20. Planetizen: Rebuilding in the 9th Ward, New Orleans
Lynn Vande Stouwe

What 'Make it Right' Gets Wrong

Tim Culvahouse argues that while the widely published and discussed post-Katrina rebuilding project is a worthy undertaking, its designers should take more cues from local building traditions.

Historic typological house models like the Creole Townhouse, with its street-facing stoop and balcony, or the Shotgun House, with its generous front porch, not only defined a New Orleans aesthetic, but also created a unique mode of casual, serendipitous socializing that persists throughout the city today. Other design conventions, like detached and isolated kitchens at the rear of the house, are environmentally logical in a sub-tropical climate and also encourage enjoyment of the backyard, says Culvahouse.

While some Make it Right models embrace these traditions, like David Adjaye's simple yet inspired design that bears resemblance to the traditional Camelback House, others miss the opportunity to create a modern yet distinctly New Orleans architecture, he says.

Culvahouse writes:

'Taking just this small set of typological patterns — the front stoop in intimate contact with the street, its space shaped by the scrolled overhang above; the balcony as a celebrated re-emergence of privileged social space into the wider streetscape; and the interconnection of kitchen to the out-of-doors — we might suggest a starting point for any housing endeavor that aspires to widespread deployment in New Orleans.'

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21. World Architecture News: Awards for Modern Restoration
WAN Editorial, forwarded by Robert Allsopp

2010 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize awarded to two dutch firms

Bierman Henket architecten and Wessel de Jonge Architecten, leading practitioners in the restoration of modern buildings, have been awarded the 2010 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize. The award was given in recognition of their exemplary restoration of Zonnestraal Sanatorium in Hilversum, The Netherlands - a little known but iconic modernist building designed in 1926 by Johannes Duiker and Bernard Bijovet.

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