2. Architectural Conservancy of Ontario calls upon Province to protect Gore Park
Lloyd Alter
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| Activists rally in front of threatened buildings |
Reprinted from Acorn in A Nutshell
Activists rally in front of threatened buildings
Toronto, Ontario -- January 20, 2013: Ontario's preeminent built heritage organization has formally requested that the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport exercise his authority under the Ontario Heritage Act to block the demolition of streetwall along Hamilton's central Gore Park.
Gore Park has been the heart of civic and commercial life in Hamilton for over 150 years. This triangular public space is defined by an essentially-intact streetwall which is made up of buildings of varied ages and architectural styles, with several dating back to the 1840s.
The south side of the Gore includes a stretch of pre-Confederation and Victorian buildings nestled between modern banks. This group includes two limestone-façade buildings from the 1840s designed by William Thomas, the leading architect of the early and mid-19thcentury who designed St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto and the Brock Monument in Queenston.
In December, the owner of this block of buildings applied for demolition permits for the entire stretch. In response, Hamilton's Municipal Heritage Committee recommended that the buildings be protected under the Ontario Heritage Act. However, representatives of the City have reached an agreement with the owner that the buildings will not be considered for heritage designation in exchange for the withdrawal of one (of two) of the applications for demolition permits. From local media accounts, it is understood that the owner now intends to proceed with the full demolition of the Victorian buildings (on the right in photo) and the partial demolition (and façade retention) of the William Thomas buildings.
The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario opposes the demolition of this Gore Park streetwall on several grounds. The buildings are of Provincial significance due to both the association with William Thomas and the quality of design, and are representative of commercial architecture of the pre-Confederation and Victorian periods. These buildings define the character of Gore Park through not only their individual qualities but their collective contribution to a pedestrian-scale streetwall. The buildings have been in continuous use and appear to be structurally fit and suitable for renovation and adaptive reuse. Finally, it is understood that there is no immediate plan for redeveloping the site where the buildings will be demolished.
This is not just a local matter. Under the 2005 changes to the Ontario Heritage Act, Minister Michael Chan is empowered to designate buildings to further the government's mandate to conserve our built heritage. Protecting built heritage is no longer a strictly local matter: the Act is now clear that the Province shares responsibility for ensuring the protection of our heritage buildings and landscapes. When these new powers were introduced, the Ministry of Culture quoted Jane Jacobs' reaction in its press release:
"These changes to the Ontario Heritage Act are long overdue and I believe that they will have a significant positive impact on the Province's heritage resources," said Jane Jacobs, world-renowned urban thinker and writer. "This new act represents real protection."
It is now the Province that is empowered to protect built heritage on behalf of all Ontarians, even when a local authority has failed to act. It is for this reason that the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario has requested Minister Chan's involvement to protect Gore Park.
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3. Toronto: City-Wide Tall Building Design Guidelines include Heritage
Geoff Kettel Chair North York Community Preservation Panel
The city is close to finalizing draft updated City-Wide Tall Building Design Guidelines. The updated Guidelines will be used to inform the design and review of all new tall building developments in all of Toronto, not just downtown. Understanding when and how the Guidelines apply is very important. They are in effect a secondary document that apply once it is decided (through the Official Plan and zoning bylaws) that a tall building is appropriate in that location and if it is determined that a tall building is supportable, and represents good planning , these Guidelines should then apply (draft Guidelines, page 12,v.). And as guidelines they do not have the force of legislation.
The document defines tall buildings as buildings with height that is greater than the width of the adjacent street right of way (ROW) or the width of two streets if located at an intersection. Since street ROW widths vary across the city, typically between 20 and 36 metres, with the suburbs at the higher end of the scale, it appears that tall buildings in the suburbs may potentially be higher before they are considered as subject to the tall building guidelines.
The updated Design Guidelines include several references to Heritage Conservation. One of the principal guidelines statements , 1.6, Heritage Properties, is Locate and design tall buildings to respect and complement the scale, character, form and setting of on-site and adjacent heritage properties . This appears to be consistent with language being proposed in the draft Heritage Policy under the Official Plan Review, also underway currently.
At the well attended January 15, 2013 information session held at Northern District Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd. (Yonge & Eglinton) there was a surprising amount of support for the tower in the park (or more frequently tower in the parking lot ), a stock of tallish buildings which likely represent the largest legacy of Modernist architecture in the city. Lynda Moon, President of the North Toronto Historical Society, was present and managed to get concurrence from staff that the Heritage sections were important.
Final draft guidelines are expected to go to Planning and Growth Management Committee on February 28 and to Council for approval.
You can learn more at: www.toronto.ca/planning/tallbuildingdesign.htm
4. Bala Falls CRB Hearing
Catherine Nasmith
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| aerial view of Bala, looking West North West |
As I was the expert witness for the Township of Muskoka Lakes in the recent CRB hearing regarding the proposed designation of 3 sites in Bala I will not report on the evidence. Once a decision is reached I will post a link to it. It may take a few weeks for a decision to be written.
The hearing went of for four days from January 7-11, and was chaired by vice chair Su Murdoch, and member Stuart Kidd. Members of the public and the municipal council were there for all four days. Representing the case of the objector, Swift River Energy Limited was Golder Associates', Dr. Marcus Letourneau and Dr. Chris Andreae.
In order to reduce the length of the hearing, the lawyers agreed to submit their final arguments in writing, rather than orally. Both final submissions are posted here:
5. Globe and Mail: To treasure or tear down Hamilton's Victorian storefronts? The debate rages
ADRIAN MORROW
Near the heart of Hamilton sit four Victorian commercial buildings, forming an even streetwall on the south side of Gore Park. Two of these storefronts were designed in the 1840s by William Thomas, the storied architect responsible for Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall; the others were constructed some thirty years later.
Now, the company that owns these structures has proposed tearing them down, touching off a battle over redevelopment in a city whose downtown is in the midst of a renaissance.
Some locals insist the buildings must stay, and say the incident shows up the city’s slipshod approach to heritage preservation. The owner, for his part, argues the structures are too far gone to save.
David Blanchard says the buildings – particularly the upper levels – were already shot when his company bought them more than a decade ago.
“They were filled with pigeon droppings and all kinds of lovely things that made it almost a brownfield above the ground floor,” he says. “It’s just come to a point where the buildings are in such poor condition that they need to either be removed, or some huge amount of money spent if someone wants to hold up the facades.”
Click here for Link
6. Toronto Star: War of 1812 Names Confuse instead of Celebrate
Bruce Campion Smith
Public could mistake Laura Secord building for candy store, feds feared
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| No New Name for Dominion Public Building in Toronto |
OTTAWA—Plans to rename a Toronto landmark ran into a sweet case of mistaken identity.
Federal officials wanted to rename a prominent federal property after Laura Secord but worried the building would be mistaken for the chocolate store, documents reveal.
As the Conservative sought ways to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812 last year, they looked at renaming federal buildings in Quebec and Ontario after prominent personalities involved in the conflict.
On their list was the Dominion Public Building at 1 Front St. W. — the sprawling five-storey structure that dominates the streetscape between Yonge and Bay Sts.
Almost a year ago, Canadian Heritage, the department responsible for overseeing the bicentennial celebration, drew up a short list of properties to rename, according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act.
Over the course of several months, officials debated names and locations, sought the advice of historians and finally juggled the demands of the Prime Minister’s Office, which delivered its own list of names it wanted honoured.
The Toronto site was to be named after Secord, who overheard Americans talking of plans to ambush a British outpost. Walking through fields and forests, she alerted the British to the pending attack.
Other candidates for renaming included 105 McGill St. in Montreal, after Charles de Salaberry, who led troops to repel Americans at the battle of Chateauguay in 1813. A Revenue Canada building in St. Catharines was picked to honour Sir Isaac Brock, who died at the Battle of Queenston Heights. Finally, officials proposed renaming an unidentified building — it’s been censored in the documents — after Tecumseh.
But just days after the proposed names were circulated, Ron Dale, the bicentennial project manager with Parks Canada, flagged trouble with several of the proposals.
Editor's Note:
Ron Dale offered excellent advice.
Click here for Link
7. Toronto Star: Brampton Cultural Heritage Landscape Preserved
Dan O'Reilly
Classic Ontario farmhouse to be preserved
If there is such as a thing as the afterlife, then Alexander Hutton will be able to walk up the laneway to his Bonnie Braes home in perpetuity. A master carpenter, Hutton and his sons built the first wing of the house, on what is now Credtiview Rd. in southwest Brampton, in the early 1840s.
Unlike so many of Ontario’s classic farmhouses which have been abandoned, demolished or destroyed by fire, Bonnie Braes and another nearby heritage home are being preserved, protected and enhanced under the strict conditions of a development agreement which is allowing approximately 1,800 homes to be built in Valleylands of the Credit River, a quadrant stretching from Creditview Rd. east to Chinguacousy Rd. and from Queen St. south to the Orangeville/Brampton railway line.
Those conditions encompass more than just the physical structure of Bonnie Braes, which was later enlarged and transformed by Hutton and his sons. At some point during the family’s ownership, a line of maple trees were planted along the laneway leading to the house, which well set back from the road.
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8. yorkregion.com: Heritage wins out over resale at meeting
Kim Zarzour
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| Heritage Home. Owners of this heritage-designated house on Richmond Street had second thoughts about the designation, after learning it may affect the selling price. Their request for the repeal of the designation was denied. STAFF PHOTO/SJOERD WITTEVEEN |
Richmond Hill councillors have declined a request by homeowners in the historic Mill Pond area to have their heritage designation repealed to make it easier to sell their home.
At a special council meeting Monday night, councillors heard from the homeowners of a 125-year-old home on Richmond Street who said the designation under the Ontario Heritage Act, intended to protect homes of historic value, has turned away potential buyers.
Judith Smith said she was shocked when the house was listed for sale in September and developers began asking if the home could be demolished (something she said she doesn’t support) and she discovered the heritage designation could be viewed as an impediment to buyers.
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9. CBC Hamilton: No hope for cultural heritage planning in Hamilton, says councillor
Flannery Dean
City councillors divided over approach to protecting city's architectural heritage
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| The controversy surrounding the potential demolition of a strip of buildings lining the south side of Gore Park sparked a motion in council to protect the city's historic properties. (Cory Ruf/CBC) |
The issue of how to better preserve and protect Hamilton's heritage buildings from demolition kicked off a heated debate between city councillors during Tuesday's planning committee meeting at city hall.
The end result had one councillor declaring defeat.
'At this point in time, I have no hope that cultural heritage has a future in Hamilton.'
—Brian McHattie, Ward 1 councillor
“At this point in time, I have no hope that cultural heritage has a future in Hamilton,” said Ward 1 councillor Brian McHattie after the meeting.
During the contentious meeting, city council was divided between those who wanted to see the city take a more proactive approach to preserving the architectural heritage of the downtown core.
The debate began after Ward 2 councillor Jason Farr and Ward 1 councillor Brian McHattie, who also sits on the heritage committee, put forth a motion that would have effectively placed nearly 800 buildings in downtown Hamilton on the Municipal Registry of Cultural Value or Interest.
By placing these buildings on the registry, the city would essentially buy itself more time to adequately consider applications for demolition. Currently, the city must respond to an application for demolition within 20 days. But once a building is placed on the registry it falls under the Heritage Act, which allows 60 days for an application to be considered.
For Coun. Brian McHattie, that extra time offers a “stay of execution” for heritage buildings, allowing councillors and concerned citizens to have discussions with developers without “having a hatchet over our heads.”
Editor's Note:
Councillors of the City of Hamilton are running scared while shadow boxing with the idea that many property owners would have their rights diminished in some unspecified way.
LESS then 1/10th of 1% of private properties in Hamilton are Ontario Heritage Act (OHA) designated.
The proposal to place 800 buildings on the Tier II Register of Properties of Architectural and Historical Interest, would offer little protection, and amounts to LESS then 3/10th of 1% of private properties in Hamilton.
What are Councillors afraid of??
During 2009 through 2012 not a single property was designated.
Click here for Link
10. CBC Hamilton: Here's the school they're not tearing down
Paul Wilson
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| Dundas District High, empty for six years, is the site of an $18-million condo project. It has scenery on its side. (Paul Wilson/ CBC) |
City Hall has shown no great love for our architectural history. But Tuesday, as a big-windowed wonder takes shape at the very foot of the escarpment, let’s give credit where credit is due.
Last year council amended the development charges bylaw. Now, if someone restores a protected heritage property, the development fees will be waived.
This is a big deal. And in a few weeks, Hamilton city council is to approve the first application of this new measure. It will be worth $657,219, and the development-fees break goes to Mike and Dave Valvasori, local brothers who have a good reputation for giving old buildings new purpose.
Their latest job is Dundas District High School, which opened 84 years ago on an old mill property at the west edge of town. If scenery sells, this project can’t miss.
The three-storey structure, with textured brick and fine stone detailing, was the first high school in Dundas, built long enough ago that the girls entered through one grand set of doors, the boys another. Each gender had to charge past a couple of scary carved-stone gargoyles.
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11. RaiseTheHammer: I Want to Believe
Ryan McGreal editorial
Advocates for downtown revitalization may be forgiven for feeling at times like Charlie Brown trying to kick the perennial field goal, our hopes raised again and again, only to be dashed by disappointment and betrayal
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| 18-22 King Street East will be revitalized |
This week I interviewed architect David Premi, whose firm is working with Wilson Blanchard on their proposed development for the block bounded by James, Main, Hughson and King, in which they will demolish of 24 and 28 King Street East while preserving the front half of 18-22 King Street East.
18-22 King Street East will be revitalized
Premi argued that skeptical downtown advocates should regard this as "a meaningful step to revitalize the property. This is a first step that's economically sustainable and can spur the next phase of development - how we can fill that hole."
The building at 18-22 has an interior courtyard that you can see from an overhead view of the block.
According to Premi, the back half of the building, behind the courtyard, is "badly degraded" and has not been occupied since before Wilson Blanchard bought it. Their plan is to remove the back half of the building and restore the front half so that it can once again attract high-quality tenants: retail on the main floor and several apartments on the upper levels.
Number 24 and 28, on the other hand, are in "really bad shape. Number 24 only has a few tenants paying low money because it's such a bad space." Premi's architectural firm, dp.Ai, is currently on the second floor of number 28.
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12. Quinte Broadcasting / quintenews.com: Hotel Quinte ablaze
Staff
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| Photos with the Quinte Hotel fire stories courtesy Quinte News news director John Spitters and Quinte News listener Bente Nielson. |
A downtown Belleville landmark and heritage building is up in flames at this hour.
Bystanders told firefighters that flames were first seen on the second floor of the Hotel Quinte at Pinnacle and Bridge Streets.
Firefighters are using two aerial ladder trucks to pour water on to the hotel’s roof and are working in a steady rain/wet snow mix.
The Hotel Quinte was under renovation and no one was believed to be in the building when the fire broke out.
Two restaurants were located in the hotel, but it’s believed they were not open at the time.
Editor's Note:
Hotel update - Tue, Dec 25th, '12 - 9:10 am It seems the Hotel Quinte was worth a lot more a few years ago than it was earlier this year. Court documents describing a bankruptcy proceeding involving the previous owners of the Belleville landmark show it had been valued at $7.9 million in 2007. The current owners purchased the hotel on January 25th of this year for just over $1.9 million. The bankruptcy proceedings show Receivers Pricewaterhouse Coopers had to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on dozens of problems in the hotel. http://www.quintenews.com/2012/12/hotel-update/38753/
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13. EMC Smiths Falls: Main Streets -Rural Heritage Symposium
Marla Dowdall
Mainstreets topic of first ever symposium
Speakers presenting at the first ever Rural Heritage Preservation Symposium, Oct. 26 at the Smiths Falls Station Theatre, were thanked by the town and members of the Municipal Heritage Committee. From left, Lorraine Allen, councillor, Ken Doherty, Presenter and Director of Community Services, Peterborough, Catherine Nasmith, Presenter, Architect, Toronto, Niki McKernan, Assistant Planner, Town of Smiths Falls, Jim Mountain, Presenter and Cultural Planner, City of Ottawa, Lynne Clifford-Ward, Cultural Planner, Town of Smiths Falls, Becky Dow and Tony Humphrey, Municipal Heritage Committee members. Missing: Anne Shropshire, Chair, Chris Cummings, councillor and Arnel Pattemore, Municipal Heritage Committee, Town of Smiths Falls.
EMC Lifestyle - Focusing in its first year on "Our Mainstreets" the Rural Heritage Preservation Symposium in Smiths Falls has been deemed a success.
Put together by the Smiths Falls Municipal Heritage Committee, the Oct. 26 all day event attracted a small crowd to the Station Theatre.
Exploring the topic of mainstreets, were three special guest speakers. The first was Ken Doherty, director of the community services department for the City of Peterborough who spoke on "Peterborough: A sense of place." Next up was Jim Mountain, cultural developer with the City of Ottawa, on the topic of "Revitalizing Saskatchewan's Mainstreet Program". The final presentation of the day came from Catherine Nasmith, of Catherine Nasmith Architect. Her presentation was entitled "Mainstreets as Old Growth Forests."
In introducing Nasmith, town councillor Lorraine Allen explained, she is the past president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, the founder of the Doors Open program in Canada and she has received the Queen's Jubilee Medal for Ontario heritage works, among many other accomplishments.
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14. Guelph Mercury: Avoid architectural vandalism at historic Elora church
Daniel Bratton
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| heritagetrust.on.ca. Church of St. John the Evangelist in Elora |
As a resident of the former Pilkington Township and a non-Anglican, I realize that expressing my views on the proposed alteration of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Elora may seem meddlesome.
I also respect the desire of the parishioners of St. John’s to make the church more accessible to disabled visitors and more functional to the congregation itself. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to address not only the process that has expedited and facilitated the proposed changes, but also the implications of these procedures.
To begin with, let’s look at the church itself. 1n the mid-19th century the “new medievalism,” also known as “Ecclesiologist architecture” or Gothic revival, dominated church building in southern Ontario.
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15. Winnipeg Free Press: Winnipeg's Paddlewheel Restaurant to close in the bay Downtown
Staff
The Bay's iconic eatery to close Jan. 24
This time, the rumours are true.
The Paddlewheel Restaurant is closing its doors after 58 years.
A spokesman for the Bay said the iconic restaurant on the sixth floor of the downtown store that has served meals since 1954 will close Jan. 24.
The decision was made jointly by the Bay and the company it hired to run its in-store food operations, the Compass Group.
"As a result of renovations to our stores and/or adjustments to our service offerings, the Bay and Compass Group made the joint decision to close the restaurant, supporting the Bay's continued efforts to improve and deliver an exceptional shopping experience to our customers," the statement from the Bay spokesman said.
The company would not disclose what it plans to do with the empty space. However, it said there are no plans to replace the Paddlewheel with another restaurant.
Downtown BIZ executive director Stefano Grande said the restaurant's closure is a reminder it will take hard work and innovative thinking to ensure the historic Bay building becomes a success story.
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16. Winnipeg Free Press: Winnipeg's St. Charles Hotel ultimatum
Jen Skerritt
60 days to fix up St. Charles Hotel
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| BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES CentreVenture CEO Ross McGowan says his group has a comprehensive plan for Albert Street once the St. Charles is taken care of |
TIME may finally be up for the owner of the St. Charles Hotel.
After four years of continued delays in redeveloping the 100-year-old property, a city committee has given immigration lawyer Ken Zaifman 60 days to bring the building up to code. If he doesn't, the City of Winnipeg will move to take possession of the hotel.
Zaifman has been working to redevelop the site into a boutique hotel since 2008. On Monday, Zaifman asked council's downtown development committee for a three-month extension to comply with a city order to install a sprinkler system to protect the building from fire.
The building does not have water or a working sprinkler system, and the city initially ordered Zaifman to decommission the existing system and install a new one in January 2012. City officials worry without adequate fire protection, the hotel could quickly go up in flames, suffering the same fate as the adjacent Albert Street Business Block, which burned down last year.
Zaifman initially said that fire would mean the development proposal for an expanded St. Charles Hotel would proceed more quickly.
However, Zaifman said Monday he has yet to install a new sprinkler system, since it will cost between $130,000 and $150,000, and he will have to rip it out when the building is renovated. He said architects are working on design plans of an expanded hotel project beyond the scope of what was originally envisioned.
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17. CTV News: Saskatoon's Patricia Hotel closes its doors
The hotel and bar stood as a pillar in downtown for just over 100 years. The building went up in 1912 as the annex for the King George Hotel to handle its overflow. In 1920, the name was changed to honour Princess Patricia, the daughter of the governor general.
The Pat is the second oldest hotel still operating in Saskatoon, coming second to the Hotel Senator that was built in 1908....
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18. Global News: Sask. home of former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker needs repairs
Canadian Press
The Prince Albert Historical Society in Saskatchewan is looking for money to help renovate the former home of Canada's 13th prime minister.
John George Diefenbaker only lived in the two-storey, wood-framed house from 1947 to 1957, but retained ownership until 1975.
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19. Globe and Mail: Saving a signature Hockey Arena
Les Perreaux
Citizens push back at Saint-Lambert
The bottom half of the skating rink in this quiet suburban town is a crumbling obstacle course of concrete, leaky pipes and ice that won’t freeze properly until the cranky refrigeration plant gets an assist from November chill. The roof, on the other hand, is a cathedral treasure with an undulating series of massive laminated wooden beams supporting waves of pristine cedar planks.
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20. metronews.ca: Winnipeg's St. Boniface Cathedral receives highest level of historic designation
Bernice Pontanilla
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| Metro/Bernice Pontanilla - St. Boniface Cathedral |
A Winnipeg landmark has received the highest level of historic designation and, to make it more notable, the grounds are included.
Members of the City of Winnipegs downtown development committee voted on Tuesday to place St. Boniface Cathedral on the Building Conservation list as a Grade 1 structure.
This means the only work that can be done on the site must be to restore and preserve it....
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21. Ottawa Citizen: Heritage designation recommended for Briarcliffe
Neco Cockburn
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| Ottawas Briarcliffe neighbourhood, a wooded area on the banks of the Ottawa River at the north end of Blair Road, is deserving of heritage designation, says a city report. |
OTTAWA — Briarcliffe is “a special place” in the city and deserves heritage protection, say city staff.
The neighbourhood in Rothwell Heights on the city’s east side was developed starting in 1959, and studies have looked into creating a heritage conservation district after one was requested in September 2010. Residents saw the designation under the Ontario Heritage Act as a way to protect the neighbourhood’s character.
It’s a good idea, staff say in a report to the city’s Ottawa built heritage advisory committee.
“Briarcliffe is significant as a rare, intact example of the architecture and planning of the Modern Movement,” the report states, and the neighbourhood “is associated with the growth of the National Capital in the post Second World War period when the public service grew dramatically and the city expanded significantly.”
Briarcliffe was developed by a group of like-minded people who shared a vision of houses set in nature, and contains homes designed by a variety of significant Ottawa architects.
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22. therecord.com: Restoration of historic farm house runs into difficulties
Terry Pender
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| The Schoerg House at 381 Joseph Schoerg Cr., Kitchener. Peter Lee/Record staff |
KITCHENER — The owner of one of the most historically significant houses in the city does not know how the building can be saved because of water damage, mould and crumbling bricks. The Schoerg farm house at 381 Joseph Schoerg Cr. is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act, but when the owner started working on the building a few months ago he discovered several problems. Patrick George, of JHS Properties Inc., said the old farm house had been sandblasted, which removed the hard surface from the bricks and allowed water to seep inside. . . Heritage advocates will be disappointed. For years, they struggled to preserve the historic buildings on the ridge overlooking the river. On a Saturday morning in December 2004, George had the Betzner Barn, which was built in 1830, demolished without a permit from the city. All that remains is the fieldstone foundation . . . John Ariens bought and lovingly restored the Betzner farm house at 300 Joseph Schoerg Cr. Ariens had to use the threat of going to a provincial tribunal — the Ontario Municipal Board — to get the city to enforce basic property standards at the Schoerg property. “That’s the birthplace of Waterloo Region,” Ariens said of the historic ridge.
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23. Vancouver's Waldorf Hotel runs out of time
Vancouver Province
Iconic Waldorf Hotel to close after operators run out of time
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| Waldorf Hotel on 1489 East Hastings Street. Photograph by: Handout, www.waldorfhotel.com |
The operators of the rejuvenated Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver are packing it in as of Jan. 20.
They say the owner’s pending sale of the historic eastside hotel leaves them on week-to-week eviction notice until they have to leave next September.
“There’s no guarantee whatsoever and we book things here six months in advance,” said Tom Anselmi, the former lead singer of Vancouver bands Slow and Copyright, who had joined with partners to renovate the once down-at-the-heels hotel.
They reopened in October 2010 as a vibrant cultural hub that hosted music, art and culinary events.
Mayor Gregor Robertson called the closing “a big loss.”
“They built a great culture hub, and it’s my hope that they’ll be able to relaunch and return in some form,” said Robertson, adding the city is exploring ways to support the Waldorf continuing as a cultural space.
The site is zoned for mixed-use commercial, not residential development, so city council would have to approve rezoning to make way for condos.
Anselmi and his partners spent as much as $1 million on renovations after an offer of a 15-year lease from owner Marko Puharich.
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24. BuffaloNews.com: Grand old buildings have a story to tell
Opinion - Erin St. John Kelly
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| Bethlehem Steel Administration Building - Lackawanna, NY (fixBuffalo photostream) |
I bring everyone who visits me in Buffalo on a tour of its vestigial heavy industry – the grain-storing and shipping, steel-smelting, car-making Buffalo. I love its earnest heart. The grand finale of the tour is a Beaux Arts columned building of stone, marble and copper that lies on the shore of Lake Erie at the edge of town, where it turns into Lackawanna.
I felt like the building was a secret. It is behind a chain-link fence, surrounded by overgrown bushes. It seemed forgotten, so I wasn’t worried about it going anywhere between my tours. I didn’t know it had a name, or what purpose it once had.
Mystery revealed. It’s the Bethlehem Steel North Administration Building. I know this because Lackawanna Mayor Geoffrey Szymanski wants to demolish it. Recently, a court order was lifted giving the green light for demolition. What an awful way to kick off 2013 for Buffalo architecture. Panicked preservationists are picketing, petitioning and begging him not to do it. My only hope is that Rep. Brian Higgins will see the beauty and possibility in saving Bethlehem Steel to make it a part of the waterfront development he supports.
Editor's Note:
for more detail on this magnificent building see,
http://www.buffalospree.com/Buffalo-Spree/September-2011/Preservation-ready-Lackawana-Iron-Steel-Companys-North-Office/
http://buffaloah.com/a/LACK/office/office.html
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25. latimes.com: Group using 3-D scans to digitally preserve California's missions
Steve Chawkins
Crews from an Oakland-based nonprofit called CyArk are mapping the fragile structures so that they can be accurately rebuilt in the event of a disaster.
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| ( CyArk / December 19, 2012 ) The exterior of the San Juan Batista church is recorded from various vantage points while dealing with trees, hills, and even tourists. |
When the Taliban used dynamite, artillery shells and rocket launchers to destroy two ancient Buddhas in Afghanistan, there was an unanticipated bit of blowback.
The 2001 attack on the Buddhas of Bamiyan also launched an Oakland-based effort to digitally preserve world historic sites, including, most recently, the missions of California.
Using cutting-edge 3D scanning technology, crews from a nonprofit called CyArk have wedged themselves into seldom-seen spaces in four of the state's 21 missions, bouncing 50,000 laser beams a second off centuries-old timbers. The idea is to map the fragile structures more precisely than they've ever been, creating virtual 3D models accurate down to millimeters.
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26. New York Times: A Fight Over Historic Preservation Brews in Art Deco Country
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| AlexShay.com - Dr. Leonard M. Hochstein and his wife, Lisa, paid $7.6 million for 42 Star Island Drive in a foreclosure proceeding last year. They want to raze the house to build a 20,000-square-foot replacement. |
MIAMI BEACH — When South Beach was little more than a forlorn chunk of beachfront property, preservationists clung to the idea that the faded, often derelict pastel buildings lining the streets were too precious to knock down.
Their campaign to preserve the area’s fanciful Art Deco buildings ushered in one of the country’s most successful urban revivals. Years later, South Beach is still a juggernaut.
Preservationists are now pushing hard to bolster historic preservation laws, a move that has ruffled wealthy property owners (and potential buyers) and stepped up pressure on local commissioners who are reluctant to wade into the politically precarious battle.
“We have reached a tipping point on Miami Beach where we are losing entirely too many pre-1942 single-family homes,” said William H. Cary, the assistant planning director for Miami Beach and the former preservation director for the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. “It appears it could begin to have a dramatic impact in changing the character of Miami Beach’s residential areas.”
While it had been brewing on and off for years, the campaign by preservationists to better protect these Miami Beach homes was abruptly set in motion last month by the planned demolition of one especially notable house: a gleaming white neo-Classical house, built in 1925 by Walter DeGarmo, a prominent Miami architect of the era, that sits on the aptly named Star Island and exudes old Florida grandeur.
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27. New York Times: Death of Ada Louise Huxtable
David Dunlop
Ada Louise Huxtable, Champion of Livable Architecture, Dies at 91
Ada Louise Huxtable, who pioneered modern architectural criticism in the pages of The New York Times, celebrating buildings that respected human dignity and civic history — and memorably scalding those that did not — died on Monday in Manhattan. She was 91.
Her lawyer, Robert N. Shapiro, confirmed her death. She lived in Manhattan and Marblehead, Mass.
Beginning in 1963, as the first full-time architecture critic at an American newspaper, she opened the priestly precincts of design and planning to everyday readers. For that, she won the first Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism, in 1970. More recently, she was the architecture critic of The Wall Street Journal.
“Mrs. Huxtable invented a new profession,” a valedictory Times editorial said in 1981, just as she was leaving the newspaper, “and, quite simply, changed the way most of us see and think about man-made environments.”
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28. New York Times: Grand Central Station turns 100
Sam Roberts
100 Years of Grandeur The Birth of Grand Central Terminal
One hundred years ago, on Feb. 2, 1913, the doors to Grand Central Terminal officially opened to the public, after 10 years of construction and at a cost of more than $2 billion in today’s dollars. The terminal was a product of local politics, bold architecture, brutal flexing of corporate muscle and visionary engineering. No other building embodies New York’s ascent as vividly as Grand Central. Here, the tale of its birth, excerpted from “Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America,” by Sam Roberts, the urban affairs correspondent for The New York Times, to be published later this month by Grand Central Publishing.
Read more articles in this week's Metropolitan section.
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The Secrets of Grand Central
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The Terminal Opens
Scroll through a special section of The New York Times from Feb. 2, 1913, on the opening of Grand Central Terminal.
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Times Topic: Grand Central Terminal (NYC)
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The idea for the new Grand Central Terminal came to William J. Wilgus “in a flash of light,” he recalled decades later. “It was the most daring idea that ever occurred to me,” he said.
Wilgus, the New York Central Railroad’s chief engineer since 1899, had supervised the costly renovation of Grand Central Depot just a few years before. Born in Buffalo in 1865, he studied for two years under a local civil engineer and later took a Cornell correspondence course in drafting. His creativity and expertise propelled him through the ranks of various railroads and finally to the New York Central.
A fatal 1902 crash, in which the morning local from White Plains had slammed into the rear car of a Danbury, Conn., train stopped on the tracks of the Park Avenue Tunnel, killing 15 passengers instantaneously, had convinced Wilgus that it was no longer possible to run a chaotic railroad yard two avenue blocks wide in what was becoming the very heart of the nation’s largest city.
In a three-page letter to W. H. Newman, the railroad’s president, dated Dec. 22, 1902, the 37-year-old Wilgus recommended an audacious and extravagant remedy: Raze the existing Grand Central and replace the egregious steam locomotives with electric trains.
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29. telegraph.co.uk: York Minster to be coated in fat to keep out rain
Eleanor Staefel
Experts battling damp at one of Britain's most famous places of worship have come up with a novel way of protecting its walls coating them in fat.
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| York Minster Photo: PA |
York Minster, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, is to be coated in a layer of fat derived from olive oil to keep out the rain.
It is believed the olive oil will repel the water but allow any moisture already present in the walls to escape.
The Minster, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year.
But the pollutants present in acid rain are taking their toll on the structure of the ancient building.
Conservationists are so concerned, they have turned to old-fashioned preservation techniques to find a solution.
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30. Broxstowe House in Oakville
Susan Schappert
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| An article from the Globe and Mail from July 1940 regarding the opening of Broxstowe House |
In 1939, Anne Brock (widow of Toronto lawyer, Henry Brock) donated her Oakville summer home at Lakeshore Road East and Park Avenue to become a home for young British war guests. The local community fixed up the house and grounds for the children (all boys), who were evacuated from England in the summer of 1940. They remained in the house, which was managed by a board of trustees, until 1944.
Does anyone have more information regarding other local (Ontario) group homes for children who were evacuated during WWII? Much of the information I've had access to relates to individuals and families who hosted children and I'm interested to find out more about group homes.
The house still exists, although the estate grounds were parceled off over the years. The house is now three separate residences (all three are on the Oakville Heritage Register as non-designated properties of potential cultural heritage value) and the Town of Oakville has issued a Notice of Intention to Designate in response to a demolition application for one of the three residences. The designation has been appealed and will be going to the Conservation Review Board sometime this year.
31. Context of Eric Arthur Founding ACO
Catherine Nasmith
I had the following question from Steve Otto in response to a question about the role of the Toronto ACO branch in Toronto preservation?
Perhaps a bright young graduate student would like to dive into this question. There is probably a Ph.D in it.
"I'd be interested to see someone take on the job of putting the founding of the ACO in context. There, in the depths of the depression, Eric recruited a very blue-blooded lot of 'friends of friends.' Yet I've no idea what example motivated his conviction that a 'Conservancy' was needed. Was it a personal quest for recognition in a city and society where he'd come to live only recently. What bearing did his aspirations to be the Head of the Architecture branch in the School of Engineering have on the initiative.
But remember, he had begun to assemble his photographic inventory of Ontario buildings some 3-4 years before. He used these, and the knowledge he must have acquired travelling the narrow corridor along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to Niagara, to establish measured drawings as a part of the curriculum. We know nothing about who was his photographer on these weeks-long excursions, except that Eric himself is not known to have taken photographs, or to have driven a car much, if ever.
Were there any well-publicized campaigns to 'save' buildings from more than the ravages of time? If not, when did the movement against demolition begin? Was it the Cawrhra House in Toronto? Did the ACO have any part in it? Or was it Tony Adamson's fight?
Steve
32. TAC Looking for Office Space for Rosedale Project Materials
Catherine Nasmith
The Toronto Architectural Conservancy is still looking for a temporary office space in the Rosedale area with access to photocopying, a large table, and shelves to store some 25 box files of research materials on Rosedale. We need the space for about a year to give an archivist time to go through the materials and organize with a view to publishing materials online and writing a book on Rosedale.
We have retained Sally Gibson to undertake the analysis, but cannot move forward until we find a temporary home for the materials. Once we have a better idea of what is there we can plan for a final home for them.
The materials are currently stored in a private garage.
