1. Section 37 Debate: Good News and Bad
Catherine Nasmith

The meeting of the Planning and Growth Committee Meeting on Thursday, November 1 was gruelling. The use of Section 37 monies for Heritage and other planning studies was debated until just after noon. The outcome was a vote to use Section 37 funds for heritage conservation districts only in the South District (Toronto and East York). This was a solution that FONTRA (Federation of North Toronto Residents Association) and CORRA (primarily Willowdale residents) were willing to accept, which would mean that they wouldn’t appeal to the OMB the amendment to the Official Plan to allow Section 37 funds to be used for HCD studies. Such an appeal would further delay the possible use of this funding. The Planning Department was also agreeable to this compromise.

However FONTRA and CORRA did not speak for everyone there. Representatives from Weston and Scarborough spoke up to say that there may not be as much development in their areas as there is in the downtown wards, however, there is still encroaching development, and in the case of Weston, it was definitely starting to encroach on their heritage areas.

The City is trying to come up with post-amalgamation citywide consistency. Councilor Milczyn came up with an excellent suggestion, consistent with the heritage management plan being proposed by the Planning Department, to indicate the areas of the City that should be Heritage Conservation Districts and currently are not, so that when Section 37 funds are being negotiated for a neighbourhood, if the neighbourhood sees this as a benefit, then the expenses for the study could be negotiated through Section 37. That would also address the concerns of Bill Roberts (FONTRA and CORRA's lawyer) that it makes more sense to define areas by heritage merit than by political boundaries of wards.

Councillor Vaughan agreed to collect suggestions for areas for this list so email him and your councillors on this. You may wish to email Councillor Milczyn as well (councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca ).

What You Can Do

1. The item will go before City Council on November 19 and no one can depute at Council. Supporters are encouraging those from outside the downtown to push their councillors to vote in Council for this policy to be city-wide.

2. Email your councillors and copy Councillors Vaughan (councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca ).

3. Ask your heritage and resident organization members to support the policy citywide.

4. Get suggestions on important potential HCD's in Toronto to Councillor Vaughan and Milczyn.

councillor_milczyn@toronto.ca
councillor_vaughan@toronto.ca

2. The Erosion of a 250-year-old Legacy at Exhibition Place
Andrew Stewart

The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place is proposing to develop some of the last remaining open land on the historic shoreline of Lake Ontario (now an embankment along the south edge of Exhibition Place). The site includes part of a War of 1812 battlefield (the Battle of York, 1813) and Toronto’s main garrison defence establishment, the New Fort (1841-1953). The proposed development, a privately financed convention hotel to be sited south of Princes’ Blvd and west of the Automotive Building on the CNE grounds, includes the foundations of the New Fort, now under a parking lot, and the Stanley Barracks, the only building of the New Fort that remains standing. The plan, which includes underground parking, was released by Exhibition Place on 24 Sept 2007. It shows the Stanley Barracks located within the project footprint, with most of the development occurring in the east half of the New Fort site next to the Automotive Building, which is projected to serve as a conference facility.

The Battle of York (27 April, 1813) was Toronto’s most traumatic event: a 6-hour battle by outnumbered British, Canadian and native allies to resist a US invasion force that succeeded in capturing Fort York and occupying Toronto for 10 days. Most of the fighting among about 3000 combatants occurred within what is now Exhibition Place. (A new book by historian Robert Malcomson re-examining this event – True Cause: the Capture of Little York, 1813 -- is to be published in March 2008.)

The New Fort, a palisaded set of limestone buildings around a parade square, was built in 1841 on a promontory of the lakeshore that was part of the earlier battlefield. Serving as a cavalry and infantry school, it was garrisoned by the Royal Artillery, the Royal Canadian Dragoons (who taught the RCMP their musical ride) and the Royal Canadian Regiment. It was torn down by the CNE in 1951-3 in what Dr. Carl Benn, Chief Curator of Toronto’s museums and historic sites, has called “an astonishing act of architectural vandalism.” The fort’s foundations, with thousands of artifacts, remain sealed under a parking lot. Test excavations by archaeologists three years ago show the integrity of these remains to be high.

The prospect of another lost opportunity looms over this entire site, Toronto’s most historic precinct. The battlefield, part of the Defence of Toronto National Historic Event, is, in view of the approaching bicentennial of the War of 1812, internationally significant. The New Fort archaeological site, about 4 ha in area, has possibly the same cultural and economic value and potential for display and interpretation as the foundations of Old Montreal that are exhibited in the Pointe à Callière museum. Exhibition Place, with its ensemble of exhibition buildings and its legacy of archaeology, history, architecture and landscape, which dates back to Fort Rouillé (1750-9), combined with Fort York, Garrison Common and the Fort York Armoury, with its regimental museums, forms a unique historic precinct. Surely this legacy deserves a comprehensive heritage study before being subject further to piecemeal development.

3. GreenTOpia: Recycling Toronto's Buildings a Strong Theme
Catherine Nasmith

Three essays In GreenTOpia, the third in the Coach House series on ideas from Torontonians about Toronto, make the link between recycling buildings and the environment.

Graeme Stuart writes on revisiting our ideas about Toronto's 60's slab apartment blocks. He shows how Russia and Europe have introduced meaningful public spaces and improving the pedestrian environment in these neighbourhoods of the 50's and 60's, and also been able to make such ubiquitous buildings more energy efficient. He also points out how this "type" is a rarity in other North American suburbs. His ideas are already being looked at seriously by Mayor David Miller's office.

In "The New Workplace Commons (and the green of Older Buildings) Margaret Zeidler and Erin MacKeen tell how conserving the heritage elements of 401 Richmond for thrift and aesthetic considerations has turned out to be sound environmental practice.

And the third essay, by this author, entitled "Waste not Want Not: Buildings are not Garbage", makes the argument that recycling whole buildings should be a cornerstone of sustainability.

4. Book Review: Canadian Churches/ an architectural history Book Review: Canadian Churches/ an architectural historytory
Shirley Morriss

Book Cover

Author Peter Richardson and Douglas Richardson
Firefly Books Ltd.
440 pages, $85.00
Reviewed by Shirley Morriss

Those who seek out churches on their travels will surely henceforth consult Canadian Churches, an east to west exploration of this country’s religious architecture. This sumptuous book will direct us to a skyline punctuated with spires, a valley with a distant steeple, or a city thoroughfare dominated by a cathedral façade. Beginning with the Atlantic provinces, Peter and Douglas Richardson provide a rich multiplicity of churches describing how they represent cultural and denominational traditions. Along the way they help us to interpret the buildings we encounter.

Most of the photographs – a veritable feast of colour – are the work of John de Visser. Others are from the authors themselves. Many settings give a sense of the rural environment: the waiting horses and buggies encircling the Mennonites’ Old Order Meetinghouse at St. Jacob’s, Ontario; the Lutheran church of Grund, Manitoba, standing in a grassy field. And then there’s the singular beauty of Sharon Temple near Toronto, the shimmering onion dome of the Ukrainian church now located at Mundare, Alberta. The authors have provided archival illustrations that add to our understanding of the history of these spaces; occasional plans and drawings show structural complexity. They have expanded captions that amplify the text with details concerning architects and builders, with explanations of the meaning of stained glass windows and the carvings enriching interiors.

During the course of the journey, the Richardsons lead us through complexities of style. The church buildings of early communities recalled, however reduced in scale, those of the homelands, thus for much of the period this book covers, “revival” styles held sway. But we are told how these were often mixed in an eclectic blend, or how they were adapted to local conditions and emerging ideas about the nature of worship and related activities. In the chapters dealing with Quebec, Western “Modernism”, in “Byzantium in Ontario” and elsewhere, we come to see how architects freed themselves from subservience to ‘historicism” to develop new ideas just as expressive of the call to worship as those they inherited.


Many photographs highlight the importance of materials used in construction and in enhancing interiors. Eastern Canadians took particular delight in the possibilities of wood. Walter Critchlow Harris’ design for St. Mary’s in Indian River, P.E.I., is an outstanding example. We learn that boat builders crafted its vaulted wooden ceiling.

The older Quebec churches seen here are generally stone, whether village churches or ambitious urban structures such as Notre-Dame de Montreal. In southern Ontario, where brick was plentiful, it was as likely to be used as stone – see St. Michael’s and St. James’, Toronto’s mid-nineteenth-century downtown Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals. Gradually architects sought more creative ways to use brick to dramatically shape the building. In the 1960s, for St. Mary’s in Red Deer, Alberta, Douglas Cardinal created an undulation of brick walls to enfold the worshipper.

And concrete. The authors explain its technological advantages and illustrate its use in “Modernist Stirrings”, e.g. the striking geometry of Vancouver’s St. James’, built in the 1930s. The “intersecting parabolic forms” of the cathedral in Nicolet, Quebec, from the 1960s, demonstrate how concrete has been exploited to create an exhilarating sculptural expressiveness.

The final chapter tells of Christianity’s beginnings and its search for forms to symbolize its message. It summarizes the influences that have led the Church to where it is today and concludes with a thoughtful discussion of contemporary trends.

The many rewarding hours readers are sure to enjoy with this book make it a wonderful addition to anyone’s library.

Editor's Note:
Tonight is the Book Launch at Mirvish Books on Markham Street

5. Dorothy Duncan Wins Gold for Canadians at Table
Catherine Nasmith

Canadians at Table, Dorothy Duncan's introduction to the diverse culinary history of Canada has received the Gold  in The Canadian Food Culture Award program, jointly run by Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph.

The book goes from lessons of survival of the first Nations, the foods that fueled the fur traders, and the adaptability of the early settlers in their new environment.

From the self-sufficient First Nations and early settlers to the convenience foods of today, Canadians at Table gives us an overview of one of the most unique and fascinating food histories in the world and how it continues to change to serve Canadians from coast to coast.

Contact: Ali Pennels, The Dundurn Group, telephone 416 214 5544 x 222, apennels@dundurn.com

6. Globe and Mail: Book Review CANADIAN CHURCHES: An Architectural History and OLD CANADIAN CEMETERIES: Places of Memory
John Bentley Mays, forwarded by Jane Irwin

Birth. Baptism. Communion. Burial

CANADIAN CHURCHES: An Architectural History and OLD CANADIAN CEMETERIES: Places of Memory These big, handsome books from Firefly Books, each illustrated by well-known architectural photographer John de Visser, survey the extant buildings in which Canadian Christians have worshipped for the last 250 years, and some places where Canadians of all religious traditions (and none) have buried their dead for much longer. They are generous banquets for both eye and mind, architectural field guides for the curious, treasuries of information about realms of Canadian material culture that, to my knowledge, have never before been given popular treatments more ample. Peter Richardson and Douglas Richardson's Canadian Churches catalogues sacred spaces throughout Canada, though the emphasis is on religious structures in the provinces settled by European Christians longest ago: the Maritimes and Newfoundland, Quebec and Ontario. All of Canada's most culturally important churches are here: St. Paul's in Halifax, the Victorian cathedrals of St. Michael (Roman Catholic) and St. James (Anglican) in Toronto, the huge basilica of Notre-Dame de Montréal, and Douglas Cardinal's St. Mary's in Red Deer, Alta., among many others. While the authors give over most of the book to high-style urban architecture, many of their most charming examples were done by anonymous or local craftsmen working with limited means: See especially St. Saviour's Anglican, in Barkersville, B.C., the Old Stone Church (Presbyterian) near Beaverton, Ont., and the Ukrainian Catholics' tiny timber Assumption of the Mother God in rural Manitoba. 

Click here for Link

7. Globe and Mail: Feature on William N. Greer, Heritage Toronto's Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Dave LeBlanc

A heritage soldier fights the good fight

"Bill Greer was always there for us. When we had to deal with important matters, important whether they were large or small, Bill, on call, always showed up. Any city that can have people like Bill Greer serve it for so long is a city, hopefully, that can work hard to deserve him." — David Crombie, before presenting the Heritage Toronto Special Achievement Award to Mr. Greer on Oct. 15, 2007.

It makes me sleep better knowing architect William Newton Greer is out there fighting the good fight for architecture in this city.

Since becoming chief architect for the Toronto Historical Board in 1976, when the province's Heritage Act was a mere two years old, the 82-year-old's determination, enthusiasm and guiding hand have been responsible for the conservation of the Music Building at the CNE, Osgoode Hall, the Arts and Letters Club, Whitney Block, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the heritage elements of BCE Place, the former Toronto Stock Exchange (now the Design Exchange) and Spadina House. That's to name just a few — as an architecture writer, I can't tell you how many times I've been reading a report on a heritage home or commercial building and up pops Mr. Greer's name.

Click here for Link

8. Toronto Life: 200 Russell Hill Road

There Goes the Neighbourhood

Will be lost and replaced with five storey condo

Does the demolition of a grand old house spell the end of Russell Hill Road as we know it?

Well-heeled homeowners on Russell Hill Road, the ravine- hugging street near St. Clair and Avenue that Harry Rosen once called home, are getting their Burberry knickers in a knot about impending condoization. They’ve already suffered the humiliation of losing some of their street’s 19th-century mansions to infill townhouses, but at least those were single-family dwellings. Now a company calling itself Russell Hill Investment is demolishing 200 Russell Hill Road, a mammoth Tudor-style house built in 1910, to make way for a four- and five-storey condo with 22 units combined. Neighbours, who unsuccessfully tried to put a stop to the demolition, are anxious about what the condos will do to their street (not to mention their resale values). Here, a few of the most expensive—and storied—properties on the block.

Click here for Link

9. Now Magazine: Development in Kensington Market
Micheal Louis Sullivan, forwarded by Marcia Cuthbert

Market forces

More of this?

With condo-mania creeping into Kensington, can community really lead nabe's changes?

The wolves are at the door! No, actually, they’re in the room with us. This is the sentiment of most of the 80 or so merchants and residents of Kensington Market gathered at a meeting October 17 at the invitation of their councillor, Adam Vaughan.

The first guests of the evening here at the Kensington Lofts on Nassau are local developer Lorne Gertner and his associate from SMC Alsop Architects, Caroline Robbie. Gertner, an investment banker and small-scale developer, tells us how much he loves Kensington Market, how his father and grandfather both had stores here, and how he's concerned that unfettered development will change the "energy" of the neighbourhood.

He appears to have interests in the area between Bathurst and Spadina from Queen to College (basically Alexandra Park and Kensington Market). He assures us, "We have nothing planned. We're just kicking around ideas." (Later, when I ask him what properties he actually owns, he responds, "Sorry, no comment.")

Editor's Note:
Councillor Vaughan seeking to use HCD status to protect Kensington Market, recognized as a National Historic Site

Click here for Link

10. Globe and Mail: Richard Florida in Toronto's Kensington Market
Peter Scowen

At the intersection of immigrant and hippie

Conventional and Organic Green Grocers in KM

Editor's Note:
BHN is published from Kensington Market

Click here for Link

11. Globe and Mail: Book Review CONCRETE TORONTO
John Bentley Mays

Concrete's brutal beauty uncovered

A new book argues for a fresh appreciation of some of Toronto's least-loved built heritage

Among some architectural savants and much of the general public, concrete gets no respect. The stuff may be tolerable in big, broad-shouldered infrastructure projects such as bridges and expressway ramps and decks, where its toughness is a definite asset. But, unfortunately (according to this opinion), concrete has snuck out of its utilitarian pigeon-hole and found its way into all kinds of buildings, ranging from libraries and universities to downtown office towers and suburban high-rise apartment blocks, that people have to look at, work in and live in on a daily basis.

I prescribe Concrete Toronto: A Guidebook to Concrete Architecture from the Fifties to the Seventies, a new book from Coach House Press, as a $29.95 remedy for this dour point of view. In its 360 tightly printed, illustrated pages, this fat little volume argues forcefully and effectively for a fresh appreciation of Toronto's built heritage in concrete.

Assembled by Michael McClelland and Graeme Stewart, respectively principal and designer at E.R.A. Architects, the book features an annotated field guide to 52 projects in or near Toronto, and contains interviews with creators and observers of concrete Hogtown, including engineer Morden Yolles, architects Macy DuBois and Uno Prii, among others.

Click here for Link

12. Globe and Mail: Residents Call for an end to Lets Make a Deal Planning
John Lorinc

Residents challenge cash-for-development program

7A quiet revolution in city building is under way in pockets of Toronto where councillors and residents groups are challenging the city's system for procuring cash benefits from builders.

At issue are the city's use of "Section 37 agreements," which allow the city to receive money from developers for public projects in exchange for zoning concessions. But some councillors and residents are rebelling, alleging that city council has become less accountable in its use of Section 37 funds.

"There's a perception that the planning process isn't transparent," said Councillor Karen Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton Lawrence), who helped engineer a new kind of agreement for future development sites on Avenue Road between Lawrence and Wilson Avenues.

Now, a coalition of north Toronto residents groups and some Avenue Road property owners have devised what they hope will be an alternative to Section 37's quid pro quo approach to development approvals: Just say no.

Click here for Link

13. Globe and Mail: Chainsaw Tree Massacre at Sharon Temple
Anthony Reinhart

Chainsaw-wielding mayor enrages museum board

Politician apologizes after personally cutting down dozens of trees without permission on the historic site of the Sharon Temple

EAST GWILLIMBURY, Ont. — As views go, Mayor James R. Young enjoys an enviable one from his office in the East Gwillimbury Civic Centre, which sits next to one of Ontario's most prized architectural sites: the Sharon Temple, an architecturally rare frame structure erected more than 175 years ago, and now a museum.

The view became all the more clear on Oct. 24, when a town works crew - aided by a chainsaw-wielding Mr. Young and a council colleague - cut dozens of trees from the national historic site north of Newmarket without clear permission.

At a council meeting yesterday afternoon, a contrite Mr. Young apologized to outraged members of the museum's board, including former Toronto mayor John Sewell, before they had a chance to unleash their ire.

"I'd like to offer a full apology for what took place," he said, explaining that "a little bit of a rush and a little bit of a miscommunication" led to the felling of far more trees than the museum's supervisor had agreed to allow.

Click here for Link

14. Globe and Mail: Feature Young Canadians Don't know their History

Canadian history lesson

"Even for a jaded pollster like me these are jaw-dropping statistics," the Dominion Institute's Rudyard Griffiths writes today in his column Let's not be a rootless nation of amnesiacs

"Only one in four Canadians 18 to 24 -- the graduates of some of the world's best-funded school systems -- can give the date of Confederation.

"Less than half can name Sir John A. Macdonald as our first prime minister. If there is any solace for the Old Chieftain in these dismal findings, it is that barely one in four young adults are familiar with his arch-nemesis, Louis Riel.

"These results, compared with an identical survey we conducted a decade ago, indicate that young people's knowledge of Macdonald, Confederation and Riel is declining, on average, a percentage point a year.

"Given what we know now about the links between civic literacy, political participation and the cohesiveness of diverse societies, our latest 10-year benchmark study raises the question: What can be done to stop us from becoming a rootless nation of amnesiacs?"

Editor's Note:
take the online Canadian History Quiz at this page, my bet is BHN readers will all score high

Click here for Link

15. Mountain News: Is Lister Block Stalled?
Kevin Werner, forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Lister Block restoration project in dark: heritage activist

At least one heritage activist is worried about the lack of action being done publicly to restore the Lister Block.

Grant Head, a member of Heritage Watch Hamilton, and a member of the Lister Block working group, told members of the city's heritage committee last week he is "quite concern" there is no information" being released about the restoration process of the Lister Block.

"The details of what is to be done have not been fleshed out," said Mr. Head.

Mr. Head's issues include the minimal information being made public about the city appointing a person to oversee how the province's $7 million, is being spent, and the hiring of a heritage architect to make sure the restoration plans include details on how to preserve the building's historical significance.

The Lister Block working group, which was formed to save the Lister Block, said Mr. Head, specified the Lister Block's arcade would be preserved, and the facade was to be protected. In addition, the two buildings on either side of the Lister Block, one on James Street and the other on King William, have yet to be subjected to a heritage impact assessment, he said.

Click here for Link

16. London Free Press: Demolition by Neglect ends in fire at Locust Mount
Jennifer O'Brien, forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Open flame' sparked fire

damaged beyond repair?

A fire inspector says officials were concerned homeless people were inside.
By JENNIFER O'BRIEN, SUN MEDIA


Homeless people squatting in the vacant and derelict heritage house may have caused the fire that ripped through Locust Mount Saturday. (DEREK RUTTAN, Sun Media)

A weekend blaze that devastated a London heritage building easily could have been set accidentally by one of many homeless people squatting there, a fire inspector says.

Amid the ruins at the 147-year-old mansion, Locust Mount, fire investigators found charred mattresses, furniture and liquor bottles, Mike Owens, an Ontario Fire Marshall inspector said yesterday.

Editor's Note:
Locust Mount is a building that could have been saved if London Council had taken advantage of their powers under the Ontario Heritage Act

Click here for Link

17. Cornwall Standard Freeholder
Kevin Lajoie, Rob Hamilton

Si of relief?; Saving the old barn sounds good in theory, but it wouldn't come cheap

Kevin Jordan is quick to point out he's not a Cornwall taxpayer. But that doesn't stop the London, Ont., native from having an opinion about the fate of the Si Miller Arena. His opinion? If at all possible, the 71-year-old arena should be saved...Jordan has concluded there's only a handful of pre-World War II spectator arenas still standing in Ontario, and the Si Miller is one of them (Windsor, Cambridge, Stratford, Barrie and Belleville are the others Jordan knows of)...

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18. St. Catharines Standard: New Setback for Port Dalhousie Tower Project
Marlene Bergsma, forwarded by Carlos Garcia

Another setback for tower builder?

St. Catharines city council is poised to deliver another blow to Port Dalhousie’s tower developer with a motion to cut off any access to city-owned lands.

The controversial tower proposal, first filed in September 2004 as a 30-storey project and then revised in February 2006 as a 17-storey project, has always included Hogan’s Alley and a narrow strip of land near the old jailhouse (next to Lakeside Park) as part of the development plan.

But a new notice of motion from Port Dalhousie Coun. Bruce Williamson, introduced at Monday’s council meeting, says the city should refuse to sell or trade both Hogan’s Alley and the narrow strip of land.

Williamson said his motion is meant to send a strong message to Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp. to abandon the current plan and come back with a proposal that fits the heritage guidelines for the historic lakeside community.

“PDVC should be advised that this council welcomes and strongly encourages development that is consistent with approved planning regulations,” Williamson said at council.

PDVC should withdraw its application and “submit a new application that conforms to the spirit and intent of the city’s existing (bylaws) and heritage guidelines, and does not include any public land,” he said.

PDVC’s lawyer, Tom Richardson, said he can’t predict what impact this latest tactic will have on the project

Click here for Link

19. London Free Press: New Atorney General a Champion for Elgin Courthouse
Chip Martin, Forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Bentley hailed on heritage

His appointment as attorney general is seen as a boost for the fate of the old Elgin courthouse.
By CHIP MARTIN, SUN MEDIA

The appointment of Chris Bentley as Ontario attorney general is being hailed as more good news for the historic Elgin County courthouse in St. Thomas.

A few months ago, Bentley, MPP for London West, announced the province would restore the crumbling former London Normal School to save the 1898 structure from possible destruction. The exterior of the now-vacant south London structure will be restored first.

Now, as head of the province's courts, it's hoped he'll bring a new sensitivity and concern for the fate of the 1853 courthouse in St. Thomas where he often practised his trade as a lawyer.

"I'm very optimistic," St. Thomas Mayor Cliff Barwick said yesterday, knowing Bentley is now in charge of the administration of justice.

"He's been in the building," Barwick said, unlike Queen's Park bureaucrats who have undertaken a courts amalgamation study and are seeking a site in St. Thomas to bring together lower courts from the police station and the high courts that currently are the only tenant of the stately Wellington Street building.

"We have an attorney general who is from the area, who lives 18 minutes away."

Barwick noted Bentley was prepared to sink millions into the Normal School when it doesn't even have a tenant.

"We have a use for this building," he said.

The Ontario Realty Corp., is conducting a search for suitable courthouse sites in St. Thomas and has said the old courthouse is in the running. The building has been owned by London businessperson Shmuel Farhi for years, but he has offered to donate it to the city to ensure it has a future.

Click here for Link

20. Hostel World: Jails as Hostels
forwarded by Penina Coopersmith

Several Jails converted to Youth Hostels

Hi-Ottawa Jail Hostel, Ottawa, Canada

If your Halloween travel plans will keep you in North America, the Hi-Ottawa Jail Hostel is your best bet for a fittingly eerie experience. The only hostel in North America located in a former prison, it offers a realistic—perhaps too realistic for the faint of heart—prison experience. You’ll sleep in actual prison cells, or maybe even the former prison hospital. If that’s not enough to get your heart pumping, take a trip to the un-renovated 8th floor for a look at what life was like for inmates in this prison which operated for more than 100 years. Tours are available, during which you can hear inmate stories or maybe even come across a few inmates who “never checked out.” When it comes to comfort, you have no reason to be afraid. This Victorian-era architectural relic has been completely renovated and boasts a friendly, experienced and knowledgeable staff. The Hi-Ottawa Jail Hostel is located in the heart of downtown Ottawa and is convenient to the city’s many dining, recreation and shopping options.

Editor's Note:
Several other jail hostels on offer at this website in Sweden, New Zealand. Might be an easier conversion than what is currently proposed for the Don Jail in Toronto

Click here for Link

21. Yahoo News: Historic Hotels
DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer, forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Historic hotels given second chance

ATLANTA - Elaine Hernando planned to stay in one of the city's big-box hotels, but when she saw The Ellis, she canceled her reservation and booked a room at the renovated historic hotel instead. On the outside, the 15-floor hotel retains its stately 1913 architecture, complete with a traditional open-air balcony on the second floor that was a must for elegant Southern hotels in the era before air conditioning. Inside, however, the hotel rooms boast 21st century comforts, including plush beds, flat-screen TVs and even a place to play music from iPods...

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22. Simcoe.com: Banting Homestead
Kurtis Elsner, forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Entire Banting homestead protected

Board has recommended that all 100 acres of the Banting Homestead be protected as heritage land. "The board is convinced that had Frederick Banting not been a 'farm boy' and son of a farmer who embraced experimentation, he might not have been successful in his approach to diabetes research," board chair Peter Zakarow and vice-chair Su Murdoch wrote in a 25-page report released Friday afternoon. The recommendation is the result of a two-day hearing in September that explored the merits of a Town of New Tecumseth plan to protect the property from development under the Ontario Heritage Act. The recommendation is not binding, but does add weight to any municipal bylaw protecting the land should it be challenged in court. The current owner of the land, the Ontario Historical Society Foundation, objected to applying the designation to all 100 acres of the land.

Click here for Link

23. Durham Region News: Town Buys St. Francis de Sales Church
Keith Gilligan forwarded by Rob Hamilton

Ajax buys historic Pickering Village church - 'No doubt it's the most striking landmark in town'

St. Francis de Sales Church, Church Street Pickering

The former St. Francis de Sales Church building is going from the business of saving souls to probably being used to putting on shows. After more than 130 years as a church, the former St. Francis de Sales building on Church Street is going to be used for something else. The Town has bought the building from the Toronto Archdiocese for $50,000 and will now study what to do with it, says Brian Skinner, the chief administrative officer for Ajax.

Editor's Note:
A particularly satisfying story for the editor as I wrote the Preservation Works Report that resulted in its designation when the Catholic Church wanted to demolish.

Click here for Link

24. Brampton News: Habitat for Humanity Restoring two Heritage Houses in Brampton
Rob Hamilton

Habitat for Humanity Dream Playhouses

The holiday season is starting with a bang at Shoppers World Brampton; the bang of a hammer, that is. Shoppers World is partnering with Habitat for Humanity Brampton to raffle off four full-sized children's playhouses, with all proceeds to go to Habitat Brampton's current building project: the Elliott House Heritage Build. Elliott House is a designated heritage farmhouse which was donated to Habitat Brampton and is being relocated, renovated and restored to become homes for two local families.

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25. Woodstock Sentinel Review: 1874 Church to be Demolished
By Hugo Rodrigues submitted by Rob Hamilton

Church Site destined to be a residence

WOODSTOCK - The former St. Mary's Catholic Church is destined to become a 72-unit seniors’ residence. The city's planning committee took a first pass Monday at the proposal, which will be back before full council Thursday for endorsement of the needed official plan and zoning amendments. The former church on Oxford Street, along with the associated hall fronting onto Drew Street, would be demolished and replaced with a four-storey retirement residence. This is what we feel is a quality development for Woodstock," said Jim Anderson, from Solutions + Plus, part of a trio of companies looking to redevelop the church. We have met with the neighbours and explained our plans in detail. There has been support and follow-up. Anderson faced several questions from the committee regarding any attempt to preserve the historical architecture of the church, which built in 1874, was the city's first Catholic church. The building is not designated at any level for its history, other than its listing as a building of historical and cultural interest in the official plan.

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26. Bloomberg.Com: Party at St. Pancras Station London
Colin Amery, Rob Hamilton

St. Pancras Brings Taste of Grand Central, Romance to London

It's going to be a swell party on Nov. 6 when Queen Elizabeth II -- with 1,000 guests, the Royal Philharmonic and a great deal of champagne -- declares the magnificently restored St. Pancras train station open. London has gained something as significant as New York's Grand Central Station because the new terminus will give the city a great new public space that is much more than a station. The hyperbole in this case is right: It is a destination. The station is a triumph as an engineering feat and as a meticulous restoration of a Grade I Listed Building, which puts it in the same category as Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. The terminus opens to the general public on Nov. 14.

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27. Washington Post: The Future for Modern Buildings
Roger K. Lewis

Deciding the Fate of Modern Buildings That Don't Age Gracefully

Two modern but aging and problem-plagued works of architecture in downtown Washington -- the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and the Third Church of Christ Scientist -- pose a thorny question likely to arise much more frequently in the future: What should be the fate of such buildings in the face of mounting pressures to modify, modernize or demolish them?

The answer comes easily for architecturally undistinguished buildings that are dilapidated and functionally obsolete and underuse their sites: Tear them down. That's what happened with the District's ugly, not-so-old convention center.

Thanks to increased public awareness, the answer likewise comes easily for buildings considered to be cultural and architectural icons: Preserve, restore and, when appropriate, adaptively reuse them.

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28. What is going on with Plans to Replace RCYC Clubhouse?
Catherine Namith

Rumours abound about the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's plans to demolish their Sproat and Rolph designed Club House on Toronto Island.

For the time being, plans have only been shown to Club members and reports from some indicate that the planners of the new Club House have the impression that they have the nod from "the heritage people" at the City to pull most of the club house down.

However, others suggest that RCYC can not expect smooth sailing at the City on this. 

The building is listed on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Property, giving the city an automatic 60 days notice to designate if a demolition permit is applied for. According to the online listing in the inventory it was constructed 1896, designed by architects Dick and Wickson. Even if the plan is put forward as an alteration to the existing structure it would still come to the attention of heritage staff, although as a listed property would not have to go to the Toronto Preservation Board unless staff are recommending designation.

With pro heritage Councillor Pam McConnell as the ward councillor it is highly unlikely that this project could fall victim to the kind of behind closed door negotiations that cost Toronto the Inn on the Park. In the case of the Peter Dickinson designed hotel there was significant pressure on staff from the local councillors to avoid TPB or Council discussion, and it was not until the TPB acted independent of staff that the matter was forced out in public. 

No one who has had the pleasure of a drink on a summer evening on the club house porch would let this building go easily. It is not only the last timber building of this scale in Toronto, it is a touchstone with the slower life of Toronto's last century.

With its royal charter, could the RCYC building be of interest to Prince Charles?

Can any of you shed more light on the actual state of the project and its approval process?