1. Last Call for Marygrove, Horwood and White designed Muskoka Resort
Catherine Nasmith

If you have ever dreamed of owning a Muskoka resort, with a gorgeous heritage building on it&this is your chance. But you will have to move quickly. A demolition permit has been issued for Marygrove, the retreat, and childrens camp owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph on Lake Joseph. The building was originally known as Glen Home, operated as a hotel by Lambert Love, whose family had also built and operated Elgin House. The building is an unusual Muskoka example of Streamlined Moderne, designed in 1937 by Horwood and White Architects. It is listed on the Municipal Register of Heritage Property. The designation report for the building which contains a full description of the buildings history and the significance of its architects can be found on the Architectural Conservancy of Ontarios (ACO) website, under Buildings at Risk. http://www.arconserv.ca/buildings_at_risk/show.cfm?r_id=2 Even though the former Muskoka Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee (MHC) recommended this building for Designation, Council failed to take the advice. As this was the third rejected designation report for vanishing Muskoka hotels, frustration triggered a much-publicized mass resignation of the MHC in 2006. Members of the committee have since founded the Muskoka branch of the ACO, and attracted over 50 members. When the MHC visited the site prior to writing the designation report they noted that the building had been kept in excellent condition with all of its original Moderne interior plaster and wood detailing in-tact. The 126 acre property has been on the market for about a year, with D.T.Z. Barnicke holding the listing. The realtor now believes that the site, zoned for a childrens camp, would be more marketable without the building on it. When contacted recently to get information on the real estate listing I was told by the listing agent that if there was a buyer interested in purchasing the former hotel they would need to act quickly, that the owners plans for the property be changing very soon. If you or someone you know might be interested in the purchase of this building contact Will Jephcott at DTZ Barnicke 416-863-1215. Unfortunately there is no listing for the property online.

2. Family Day/Heritage Day?
Catherine Nasmith

No one can argue that winter is not part of Canadian heritage but I have always wondered why Heritage Day and Week are in the depth of winter when weather limits the kinds of events, sometimes resulting in cancellations. I found the answer at last years Heritage Canada conference. When the idea of establishing Heritage Day and Week (in Ontario) was discussed it was hoped that initiatives to set up a mid winter holiday in February would result in co-incidence, and it would thus Heritage Day would grow to become a national holiday. The co-incidence has happened in Ontario with the establishment of Family Day, but is not reflected in the name of the holiday. Family Day is also a holiday in Alberta, and Saskatchewan so the name Family Day seems to have momentum. No doubt many families will use the occasion to visit Heritage Day events planned in their communities. If the heritage community wants this day to be Heritage Day, it is time to give our MPPs a call and remind them of the co-incidence and suggest that Ontario Heritage Day is the better name. After all we were there first! On the other hand, perhaps it is time to move Heritage Day activities to the long Civic weekend in August, (Simcoe Day in Toronto), another holiday that has never quite found a raison d'etre.

3. Ontario Heritage Tool Kit Reprinted
Bert Duclos

Due to popular demand, the Ontario Heritage Tool Kit has been re-printed!

The Ontario Heritage tool Kit is a series of five guides that explain different aspects of the Ontario Heritage Act, the Planning Act, the Historic Places Initiative and related programs. It is designed to help municipal councils, municipal staff, municipal heritage committees, land use planners, heritage professionals, heritage organizations, property owners and others understand the heritage conservation process in Ontario.

Hardcopies are available for a nominal fee through Publications Ontario.

Orders may be placed by visiting http://www.publications.serviceontario.ca, calling 1-800-668-9938 or in person at Service Ontario centres across the province.

Please note that the Ontario Heritage tool Kit can be ordered as a compete set or individual  titles. Additional copies of a free-of-charge CD-ROM are also being re-published. Electronic versions continue to be available at the Ministry of Culture’s website at
http:// www.culture.gov.on.ca/english/heritage/Toolkit/toolkit.htm

4. Jane Beecroft Gets a New Space
Toronto Historical Association

Community Heritage project has a new home, thanks to the Bank of Nova Scotia in donating the use of the second floor of their bank at the southwest corner of Queen and Church. It was a last-minute rescue which came into being two weeks after CHP had been moving its files and books into temporary storage space arranged by a member of the Gooderham family. It will take until the end of April at least to get everything together and organized in the new quarters. Battles with Rogers resulted in CHP going back to Ma Bell, and the telephone promised with its original number – will be hooked up on the 19th February.

5. Canadian Architect: Harbourfront launches Architecture Exhibition Space

Architecture at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre represents a new keystone to exploring current architectural practice in Canada

Toronto's public space is set to be redefined by a new exhibition location for architecture launching March 2008. Harbourfront Centre will establish the first public venue in Toronto devoted to presenting exhibitions which challenge, educate and question the prevailing thoughts, ideas and practices informing contemporary architecture. Quarterly exhibitions will present debates, dialogues and challenges between exhibiting firms - with each exhibition constructed specifically to investigate a proposed idea. Architects will present their ideas and speculations through constructed model forms/objects, printed images, new media and mixed media. This approach will encourage creative links within the architecture community while providing animated and educational public access. This space will also be used extensively with visiting school groups and the Urban Studies program in order to relate architectural practice to younger generations.


Harbourfront Centre is located at 235 Queens Quay West in Toronto.

For more information, please call 416.973.4000 or visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com.

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6. Globe and Mail: Parks Canada Conserving the Modern
Dave LeBlanc

Seeking an expanded notion of heritage

There's a reason art galleries are bright, airy spaces with little visual clutter. A simple step over the threshold takes you into a quiet, meditative world far removed from the frenetic pace of daily life.

Early on, designers of the Ontario government's massive Macdonald Block at Queen's Park (completed in 1968) realized that the wide, marble-lined corridors and many two-storey foyers would be perfect places to install original, commissioned artwork. In the process, they created what I consider to be one of this city's greatest modern art galleries. And it was there that I meditated, for two full days last month, on the future of modernist architecture.

I was attending "Conserving the Modern," a series of presentations and workshops by Parks Canada dealing with the rather new area of preservation and restoration of buildings from the 1940s to the 1970s. What came to mind wasn't that we continue to lose examples in the commercial world (the most recent being the former Bata Shoe headquarters by John B. Parkin Associates at Eglinton Avenue and the Don Valley Parkway), but rather the fate of residential architecture. Heritage preservationists are slowly raising awareness of the fact that commercial and institutional buildings of the 1960s qualify as heritage structures. (Witness the lengthy fight to save the former Riverdale Hospital, built in 1963.) But that effort will be nothing compared with the coming one to save examples of residential architecture.

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7. Globe and Mail: The Environmental Costs of Demolition
Mike Holmes

CONSTRUCTION WASTEFactor in disposal costs

8During a renovation, most owners spend a lot of time thinking about the new material coming into their homes. They seldom give a thought to what will be taken out. There may be a dumpster sitting in the driveway, but typically, the homeowner doesn't know where it comes from, or what happens to the contents.

Construction and renovations create a lot of waste — more than 3,500 kilograms of garbage are thrown into a landfill site in an average 2,000-square-foot renovation. You and your contractor need to pay attention to that number, because it represents a real cost in your reno, not to mention to the environment.

With construction waste, there is both an unloading cost at the landfill site and a cost reflecting the extra hours needed to do the work. Landfill tipping fees — the cost, based on weight, to make a drop off — differ from region to region, but scale charges in the range of 10 to 20 cents a kilogram are about average. Prices may range from $80 to $120 a tonne, with a premium for certain types of waste.

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8. Toronto Star: Possible Cost Award at OMB Worrying Citizen's Group
Sandro Contenta

Developer's cost claims raise fears of legal chill

Plans call for 473 new homes to be built in the village of Hillsdale, northwest of Barrie.

Potential OMB decision could make community groups wary of opposing development plans

When a developer wanted to more than double the size of her village, Tanya Mullings did what she had never done before – she got involved.

She joined Concerned Residents of Hillsdale, a group that saw the proposal for 473 new homes in the community northwest of Barrie as too big and out of place.

"It really doesn't fit," says Mullings, 43, who provides daycare services. "It's like moving a subdivision in Barrie to the middle of the country."

Last month, Concerned Residents took their battle to the Ontario Municipal Board and became, critics say, the first victims of an alleged attempt to stifle ratepayer opposition to development projects.

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9. Toronto Star: Dunlap Observatory Protest
Brett Popplewell

Observatory protest goes sky-high

Concerned community members protest sale of Dunlap site, parkland Beneath clouded skies and with snow up to their ankles, some 150 astronomers, naturalists and concerned community members gathered around the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill yesterday to protest its sale to a possible housing developer. Karen Cilevitz, member of the David Dunlap Observatory Defenders  a community group opposed to the sale  said she hoped the protest rally sent a clear message to the University of Toronto, which is selling the observatory and its 188-acre (76-hectare) parkland grounds....

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10. Toronto Star: Dunlap Observatory
Christopher Hume

The ivory tower has become a counting house

Christopher Hume It's enough to make you cry, but even an institution as august as the University of Toronto has been reduced to behaviour that would make the worst corporate money-grubber blush. Such is the lure of $100 million; not even the U of T can resist. That's how much the university could raise by selling the 77 hectares it owns in Richmond Hill. Too bad the site includes the venerable David Dunlap Observatory. Until money entered the picture, it was a place the U of T was proud to call its own. Of course, according to the university brain trust, selling the site is simply a matter of ridding itself of surplus property. Some might argue that there's more at stake for the institution than its bank balance or the fate of the country's most storied telescope  namely, the institution's moral authority.

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11. Toronto Star: U of T, Letter to Editor, Dunlap Observatory
Vivek Goel, Vice President and Provost, University of Toronto

A new day for astronomy

Sky falling at once-proud Christopher Hume's column fundamentally misrepresents the University of Toronto's decision to sell the David Dunlap Observatory and surrounding lands. First the facts. The land in question was donated to U of T in 1935 for one purpose: to create a world-class astronomy facility. As trustees of that gift, we are bound to the donor's original intent. Technological advances and urban sprawl long ago made it impossible to house a world-class astronomy facility on those lands. Indeed, neither our students nor any researchers we have hired in recent years make significant use of the observatory at all.....

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12. 24 HOURS: The End of the Hillcrest Motel
ASTRID POEI, Barry Veerkamp

City landmark shuts down

When the Hillcrest Motel opened its doors in 1949, rooms were renting for $5 a night.

When the Hillcrest Motel closed its doors last week, the building sold for more than $15 million.

It's a rags-to-riches story, fitting of the dozens of Hollywood movies starring the likes of Nicole Kidman and John Goodman shot over the years at the Lake Shore Boulevard and Park Lawn Road area property.

"We just felt the time was right to get out," the 42-year-old owner David Gadzala said.

"Financially, it was the right business decision, but emotionally it's been a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be."

Nearly 60 years ago, Gadzala's grandfather purchased the motel, which was just a few stucco units called Hillcrest Motor Court because it stood on the top of a crest on a hill along Lake Shore Boulevard.

In 1956, he bought an adjacent property and built the Hillcrest Motel, the two-storey building seen today.

By 1973, the family still had its eyes set on expansion and acquired the motel next door called the North American.

In 1990, a location scout spotted the dwelling within earshot of the Toronto skyline and approached the family to shoot "The Amy Fisher Story," starring Drew Barrymore.

Since then, the list of big-name stars that have passed underneath the glowing vacancy sign have included Martin Scorsese, Jeff Daniels and Wesley Snipes.

"There were times they were filming in our offices and we were renting rooms through the back door," recalled Gadzala, who has even appeared as an extra to help out on the sets.

Last month, after 59 years in the business, the family sold the land to condominium developers.

Despite its new wealth, the family has no plans to open anything larger than the little motel that could.

"I don't think we plan to get any bigger than our britches," said Gadzala, who has his eyes set on a location in Mississauga or Milton.

"We know how to run motels. We do that pretty good."

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13. Amherst Daily News: High insurance costs lead heritage owner to de-register
DARRELL COLE

Yet another heritage owner has asked Amherst to de-register his property because of what he feels are higher insurance costs. "My insurance company has a problem with the heritage designation,"John Dawson said. "Although I do not fully understand the nature of their problem, I do understand the ramification it is having on my coverage and it is not good. The end result is that I am paying more for coverage inferior to what I had before the heritage card came into play."Dawson, who is insured through Royal Sun Alliance, recently bought the former Bank of Nova Scotia House at 192 East Victoria Street, which is a municipally-registered heritage property. . .

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14. NiagaraThisWeek.com: Tower goes on trial - Combatants go head to head in next round of fight over proposed development in Port Dalhousie.The Ontario Municipal Board hearing could take up to 15 weeks.
Mike Zettel

Port Dalhousie became forever associated with the word tower in April 2004, when the development group Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp. presented its vision for the once independent village's commercial core. The PDVC proposal to city councillors, shown in a 3-D model, included a 100-metre (328 foot) glass tower with 80 condo units, a 70-room hotel to be constructed over the businesses on Lock Street, a 415-seat theatre and a more than 36,000 square feet of retail space. Almost immediately, residents from Port and the rest of St. Catharines began expressing their opinion of the proposal, both for and against. However, eventual leading tower opponent Port Realizing Our Unique Distinction (PROUD), which formed in 1999 to work toward the area's 2003 designation.

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15. Kingston Whig-Standard: Kingston loses an 'Old Stone'; Margaret Angus was passionate defender of historic architecture
Ian Elliot

Margaret Angus wasn't born in Kingston, but she embraced the city as tightly as any Old Stone. And that term - generally reserved for anyone who has at least five generations of predecessors buried in Cataraqui Cemetery - was one that she adopted for her own with the publication in 1966 of her legendary book, The Old Stones of Kingston, and a lifetime spent preserving the old stones that make up the cityscape. Angus, a passionate defender of Kingston's historic architecture from the days when few people gave it a second thought, died yesterday morning, three months shy of her 100th birthday. Her landmark book on Kingston's history is still generating royalties; her passion for the city, its buildings and citizens is still fondly remembered.

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16. Hamilton Mountain News: City can back Lister Block, Education Centre, mayor says
Richard Leitner

Mayor Fred Eisenberger says the city has enough staff to move into both a refurbished Lister Block and a massive development proposed at the downtown Education Centre. While the city has previously proposed relocating its health department to the Lister Block, the Education Centre redevelopment is a "perfect fit" because it would also include a McMaster University family medicine centre, he said. "There's obviously a direct synergy between family medicine and public health," Mr. Eisenberger said. "We would look for other city staff (for the Lister Block). There's a thousand other staffers that are outside of the old city hall building that still need to be accommodated somewhere, that are at various locations and at various times the leases come up."

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17. Hamilton Spectator: Charges laid in Dynes demolition
Nicole Macintyre

The city has laid charges against the owner of the Dynes Tavern for illegally demolishing the beach landmark last summer. Tony DePasquale tore down the tavern, operating since 1847, just days after a consultant found the historic building could and should be saved.

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18. Hamilton Spectator: Time to buy Lister, says Eisenberger
Nicole Macintyre

The city will decide within two weeks if it wants to revive the Lister Block by purchasing the downtown landmark. It would cost the city $32.4 million over the next 20 years to buy the restored building -- more than $9 million less than the cost of leasing the space.

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19. Niagara Falls Review: City hall caught in middle of church's pew dispute
COREY LAROCQUE

A dispute over the pews in the historic All Saints Anglican church has a group of parishioners looking to city hall and their bishop for intervention to keep them worshipping in the place they call home. About 90 remaining parishioners from the Robinson Street church are locked in a fight with the Anglican Diocese of Niagara over a historical designation the city gave the 150-year-old building and its contents. Most importantly, the pews - the wooden benches the Anglicans have used since 1857. "They're turning down the desires of 90 people to have their spiritual home there," said Dr. Jock Ainslie, a long-time parishioner.

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20. mykawartha.com: Cannington Town hall debate 'dragging' on
Scott Howard

"If there's such a big interest in saving the building, where are all the people?" Harold Lodwick wants his council colleagues to stop "dragging their feet" on the future of the Cannington town hall. The Ward 2 councillor tried to spur discussion on the issue at Monday's meeting, but was met with only limited success. Noting the minutes of the December and January meetings of the town hall board of management, Coun. Lodwick questioned if there was any interest in the community to restore the building.

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21. Globe and Mail: Death of Ted Tyndorf

TED TYNDORF 'THE CHIEF' Passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 16, 2008 in Toronto at the age of 54. He fought a valiant battle against cancer. Beloved husband of Christine for 31 years. Proud father of Matthew, Julie and Michael. Cherished son of Julia and the late Ludwik. Adored son-in-law of Stella Piekarski. Much loved brother of Henry and his wife Dianna and brother-in-law of Jerry and his wife Margaret. Sadly missed by his nephews Christopher, Mark, Taylor and Matthew and his nieces Teresa, Juliana, Evelyn and Cathy. Long time member of CIP OPPI and proud , alumnus of Ryerson University.

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22. London Free Press: Capitol facade worth saving
JONATHAN SHER

An architect's report says the front of the old theatre warrants preservation and restoration.

A city-hired architect has concluded the front of downtown's Capitol Theatre is in good shape, laying the groundwork for using tax dollars to subsidize its restoration. "It's pretty amazing," Controller Bud Polhill said yesterday. "There may be a premium to pay but there will be a great benefit, too." Built in 1920 and originally known as the Allen, the Capitol has been, in recent years, a poster child for the struggle to preserve heritage in London. Theatre owner Shmuel Farhi demolished its rear and warned he'd complete the job, leaving a gap on a key but struggling stretch of Dundas Street, unless the city worked with him to preserve it.

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23. Chatham Daily New: Heritage awards given
ELLWOOD SHREVE

Many of the recipients of the 2007 Mayor's Heritage Preservation Awards don't plan to rest on their laurels. This year's honourees officially received their award Wednesday during a reception at Willson Hall at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus. The Chute family, including sons Brian and Randy and their mother Mary, were selected for the People's Choice Award for the work they have done to preserve the Historic Park Street House of Worship. Other recipients included:

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24. Winnipeg Free Press: Grassroots build foundation for fort's future
Gordon Sinclair

The plan to restore and celebrate Upper Fort Garry is charging ahead. There will be no surrender. No waving the white flag to an intransigent mayor or high-rise apartment developer and giving up on reclaiming historically sacred land. That's me talking, of course. But it's not just me. Bob Cunningham, the chairman of fundraising for the Friends of Upper Fort Garry, is even more emphatic that we'll hit the $10-million target by the March 31 deadline. "We've raised in excess of $4 million in three-and-a-half weeks and we're well on our way to the finish line," Cunningham told me Friday. "We have donations coming in from all across Canada."

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25. Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Heritage advocate seeks new use for St. Mary school
Janet French

A local advocate wants the city's Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee to lobby to save the St. Mary Community School building."It has to be looked at. What could we do with this building other than just wipe it out?" says Margaret Hendry, a board member of the Saskatchewan Architectural Heritage Society and the Saskatoon Heritage Society. She also serves on the city's heritage committee.

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26. McGill University Health Centre: The MUHC signs Mount Royal heritage pact

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is pleased to announce that it signed this afternoon, in the presence of Mr. Gerald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal, and Ms. Christine St-Pierre, Minister of Culture and Communications, the Pacte patrimonial du mont Royal, which comprises fourteen institutions located on the mountain. By signing this pact, the MUHC has reinforced its commitment to protect and emphasize the heritage of Mount Royal.

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27. CNW Telbec: Heritage Canada Foundation Calls for Better Protection for Federal Heritage Buildings

Appearing yesterday before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates to comment on the federal government's sale of nine buildings (including three heritage buildings) in August 2007, the Heritage Canada Foundation's executive director, Natalie Bull, called on the government to recognize its important role as the trustee of legacy buildings and to put in place better protection for heritage buildings under its care and those transferred to the private sector.

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28. Heritage Canada Foundation Campaign

Landmarks, Not Landfill

The Heritage Canada Foundation and Canadians who care about historic places call upon the federal government to include financial incentives in its 2008 budget to keep landmarks from becoming landfill.

The Landmarks, Not Landfill e-campaign offers three ways for you to take action:

CLICK Landmarks, Not Landfill  <http://www.heritagecanada.org/eng/main.html>AND CHOOSE ONE OR
ALL OF THESE LINKS!

Send an online postcard to Parliament Hill. Click on the image of our postcard, follow the quick steps provided and your request will be sent to:

· Jim Flaherty, the Minister of Finance;
· Treasury Board President Vic Toews; and
· Rob Merrifield, Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance.

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29. Canadian Architect: Prix de Rome Awarded

Drew Sinclair wins the Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners

University of Toronto architecture graduate Drew Sinclair is the winner of the Canada Council for the Arts' Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners. He will have the opportunity to study regional spatial planning initiatives in six cities in northern Europe.

The $34,000 Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners is awarded to a recent graduate of one of Canada's ten accredited schools of architecture, who demonstrates outstanding potential. The prize winner is given the opportunity to visit exceptional buildings across the world, and to intern at an architecture firm of international stature.

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30. Rocky Mountain Outlook: St. Mary's hopes for historic registration
Cathy Ellis

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Banff is seeking special heritage recognition. The Banff Heritage Corporation has endorsed a move to add the church to the voluntary registry of recognized heritage resources, but it is now up to council to give its final blessing. The Catholic Church is considered an A-ranked property, the highest level of importance on the voluntary list, which does not carry any legal protection, but is more of an acknowledgment

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31. Montreal Gazette: Glass towers may swallow old stone convent
RENE BRUEMMER

On a plot of land on Rene Levesque Blvd. near St. Marc St. where a century-old former convent sits, two gleaming residential towers, 15- and 20-storeys high, are soon to rise. The stone-wall exterior of the original convent building, built in 1892 for the Congregation des Petites Soeurs des Pauvres as a residence for seniors, will be restored and preserved. Its interior will be converted into residences. About 300 new residences forecast for the $60-million project will cost about $350 a square foot, the average cost of downtown housing. But the view of the old building from Rene Levesque will be almost completely obscured by the building in front of it.

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32. Smithsonian Magazine: Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon - Efforts to restore the ancient temple of Athena are yielding new insights
Evan Hadingham

During the past 2,500 years, the Parthenon-the apotheosis of ancient Greek architecture-has been rocked by earthquakes, set on fire, shattered by exploding gunpowder, looted for its stunning sculptures and defaced by misguided preservation efforts. Amazingly, the ancient Athenians built the Parthenon in just eight or nine years. Repairing it is taking a bit longer. A restoration project funded by the Greek government and the European Union is now entering its 33rd year, as archaeologists, architects, civil engineers and craftsmen strive not simply to imitate the workmanship of the ancient Greeks but to re-create it. They have had to become forensic architects, reconstructing long-lost techniques to answer questions that archaeologists and classical scholars have debated for centuries.

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33. Pincher Creek Echo: Municipal District of Pincher Creek takes steps to preserve history
Angela Hill

The Municipal Heritage Partnership Program is hoping to preserve some of Canada's history. According to their website, over 20 per cent of Canada's historic buildings have been demolished. Matthew Francis, head of Municipal Heritage Services, met with the Municipal District of Pincher Creek to discuss seven potential sites in the district that could be considered for the program. The partnership program helps municipalities to identify, evaluate and protect their locally significant places. These seven sites were identified by the MD who had previously invited the general public to put forward sites that they felt were of value in the area.

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