1. Heritage Anniversaries in Kingston
Peter Gower, Chair, Kingston Municipal Heritage Committee

Kingston City Hall, George Brown Architect

Heritage Anniversaries

Recently the Kingston Municipal Heritage Committee celebrated a number of anniversaries. Firstly, it is the 50th anniversary of the first heritage committee in Kingston. On October 7th 1958, the Committee on Administration and Legislation recommended that a special committee be appointed to advise the City on methods of preservation of buildings of historical or architectural value, and on the construction of large new buildings, to the end that such new construction might be in keeping with the unique character of the City.

We no longer remember what prompted such a committee: it may have been the proposed demolition of City Hall, or the threat of new buildings to Kingstons heritage.

Alderman R. M Bruce, J. B. Sampson and Stewart Fyfe were among those who developed the idea and persuaded Syl Apps to introduce a Private Members Bill into the legislature, which became the City of Kingston Act, 1968  a 40th Anniversary.

The Act was not quite what was hoped for and so more lobbying, led by George Muirhead, resulted in the Ontario Heritage Act, proclaimed by Lieutenant Governor Pauline McGibbon in this very Hall, a third of a century ago in 1975. For his work in heritage, George received the Gabrielle Leger Award from Heritage Canada in 2005. Many still active in heritage may be in the photo of demonstrators at the Mowat Building in a booklet explaining the new Act.

Three years before that, Bob Cardwell had joined the Pittsburg Historic Building Committee, and he has served continuously on it and its successors for 36 years. His achievement was recognized at Queens Park in February with the presentation of the Lieutenant-Governors Ontario Heritage Award.

A mere 25 years ago, Bruce Downey joined the Kingston LACAC and has served continuously since, offering professional and personal advice to countless applicants.

Three citizens have received the Ontario Heritage Trust Lifetime Achievement Award. Margaret Angus and Lily Inglis were recognized a few years ago, and Helen Finley received her award this year.

I regret that Margaret Angus is not with us for this celebration. She, Sandy MacLachlan and Doug Stewart all played their parts in the early years of heritage in Kingston, and all have died this year.

Ian Wilson, who went on to bigger things as Librarian and Archivist of Canada., reminds us that In the basement cells of the city hall, I recall finding the city's 19th century records piled in a heap on the floor. In several minute books from the late 1830s, John A. Macdonald was attending as an alderman. We set up the City of Kingston Archives at Queen's but with ownership remaining with the city and I was formally a city employee with my salary set at $1 per year. I believe the city still owes me about $5.

From humble beginnings 50 years ago, Kingston has become pre-eminent in conserving and celebrating its built heritage. Thanks to all who have had a part in so doing.

2. Minister Carroll writes to Bob Moore about the Moore Farmhouse
The Honourable Aileen Carroll, Minister of Culture

Moore Farmhouse, to become a garage on the side of a new large house, complete with garage doors on the ground floor.

Letter forwarded to Built Heritage News by Donna and Bob Moore, descendents of John Moore

Dear Mr. Moore,

Thank you for sharing your concerns with me regarding the John Moore farmhouse.

When deciding whether to designate a heritage property, provincial significance-while a very important factor, is not alone the deciding factor. In making this decision, I must consider a range of issues, including the action of the municipality, the future potential of the property, and the level of community support for its preservation.

Under the Ontario Heritage Act, municipalities have the power to identify, designate and protect heritage properties in their jurisdiction. Once designated, the Act gives municipalities the ability to preserve properties of cultural heritage value to the community.

John Moore House has been saved from demolition because its owners, the municipality of Central Elgin and heritage supporters have pulled together to find an alternative to destruction. I understand you are not satisfied with this result, however I feel that it is a pragmatic and responsible solution to what otherwise would have been the complete loss of the Moore House. As a result the integrity of the remaining features of the Moore House will be retained.

The Ministry of Culture supports initiatives by municipalities to recognize and promote their cultural resources. My Ministry staff continue to work with municipalities to provide advice and training on how to use the strengthened Ontario Heritage Act to protect heritage resources.

Thank you again for writing to me.

Yours truly,

The Honourable Aileen Carroll,

cc. Steve Peters MPP, Elgin Middlesex

Catherine Axford, Executive Assistant to the Chairman, Ontario Heritage Trust

Editor's Note:
The Culture of Compromise has a life of its own.....even when both Minister and municipality have the power to protect. Disappointing to all who fought so hard for stronger powers. Tragic for the Moore family, and all of Ontario's historic places.

3. Leaside's Talbot Apartments Threatened
Geoff Kettel

Photograph from Leaside Property Owners' Association

Leaside's Talbot Apartments Threatened

The Talbot Apartments are a grouping of three redbrick apartment buildings (Kelvingrove, Glen Leven and Strathavon) in Georgian Revival style on Bayview Avenue opposite Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Dating from the late 1930s, the Talbot Apartments, named after the former Mayor of Leaside who built them, are threatened with demolition and replacement.

In 2007, at the community's request, Heritage Preservation Services of the City of Toronto reviewed the Talbot Apartments for their heritage merits, a multi-stage process culminating in Toronto City Council's decision to "designate" the Talbot Apartments under the Ontario Heritage Act. The owners appealed to the provincial Conservation Review Board (CRB). In October 2008, the CRB released its decision in support of designation.

In early 2008, the owner applied simultaneously to the City for a Zoning Bylaw Amendment and Official Plan Amendment to redevelop the property with condominium townhouses and an apartment building. City planning staff recommended refusal, and the application was rejected by North York Community Council and Toronto City Council. The owner has appealed to the OMB.

Later in 2008, the owners applied for a demolition permit, which the City has denied. It appears the owner will challenge this decision as well, based on its interpretation of the relevant time line.

November 17, 2008

4. Port Dalhousie Tower Hearing Finally Over
Carlos Garcia

Yes, after 71 days over 21 weeks and 10 months, the OMB Hearing on PDVC's proposal for a massive development, including a 20-storey high condo tower, in Port Dalhousie's low-rise heritage district is over.

Yesterday morning, community appellant Jeff Loucks, representing a number of other community appellants, delivered his final argument. Mr. Loucks delivered a professional argument that addressed key issues such as the developer's claim that the proposal should be approved because of the (totally unproven) economic benefits it will provide. Referring to the community, Mr. Loucks stated: "...the group I represent has never been filled with more pride about its community. The fundraisers and fraternity have been a wonderful side effect and I am glad to have been involved with so many outstanding individuals. The solidarity this community has in standing up for the principles by which it wants to develop will stay with us for decades to come."

Mr. Loucks was followed in mid-morning by the developer's lawyer who took the rest of the day in an effort to try and blunt the excellent legal arguments that have been made by those in opposition (as the applicant, they always get the final word). The Hearing was finally over at approximately 4 pm and Chair Susan Campbell told us not to expect her decision before late January. Please see link to Standard article.

Click here: St. Catharines Standard - Ontario, CA <http://stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1304940>

Everyone should be “proud” of the case Jane Pepino, one of Ontario’s foremost municipal lawyers has presented in behalf of our community organization. She did an outstanding job cross-examining the developers’ expert witnesses who claimed the tower fits in with a low-rise heritage district. She also brought out the best from our own expert witnesses who included: leading theatre expert Janis Barlow; Wayne Morgan, one of the Province’s most experienced heritage planners; David Cuming, also a highly-experienced heritage planner and the expert who drafted the heritage guidelines for Port; Phil Goldsmith, one of the top heritage architects in Canada; Herb Stovel, an internationally-renowned expert on heritage policies and processes and; Corwin Cambray, the former Commissioner of Planning for the Niagara Region.

It has been an extraordinary group effort by a community that lawyer Jane Pepino recognized early on is A VERY EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNITY. From what we know, it is unprecedented in Ontario for a volunteer community organization to be able to professionally stand up to a developer with deep pockets throughout a very lengthy OMB Hearing. We thank the many volunteers who made it happen by helping with fundraisers, attending the hearing and sending us so many expressions of support. We particularly thank those volunteers who gave their time to be at the Hearing most days including: Hank Beekhuis, Eleanor Lancaster, Pat Waters, Jeff Loucks, Phil Baranowski, Dorothy and Ken Mackenzie and Deborah Kehler. Deborah deserves special recognition as she took time off work to take detailed, professional notes of the full Hearing and assist Jane Pepino - an effort which saved considerable money.

We also express deep appreciation to Mayor Brian McMullan and our City Council for standing up for the approved policies in the city's Official Plan, Secondary Plan and Heritage Guidelines. These policies were very aptly and professionally defended by City Solicitor Annette Poulin in her case against the tower proposal.

While it is impossible to guarantee what the final ruling will be, we feel very confident that we have collectively presented an exceedingly strong case and have an excellent chance of success at the OMB. We are quite hopeful for a ruling upholding the existing Heritage Guidelines for all time and this will be very timely given the recent discovery of Lock 1 of the first Welland Canal in Lakeside Park. Such a ruling will also help protect the other 91 heritage districts in the Province.

As you will surmise, putting forth this case has been very costly –particularly given the longer than expected hearing. The total cost of the full defence of Port heritage at the OMB will significantly exceed our original estimate of $300,000. We have already raised over 75% of the funds required and are now in the process of raising the remainder. Many of you have already made very generous contributions and we really appreciate your support. We still need your help this final time and ask that you please consider a 2008 contribution to ACO-St. Catharines’ Port Dalhousie Heritage Fund. Please donate only to your own ability and donate from the heart (for more information you can phone Lorraine at 905-646-1264 or go to www.saveport.ca <http://www.saveport.ca> ).

5. Obituary Sir Bernard M. Feilden 1919 - 2008
ICCROM News Release, forwarded by Tamara Anson-Cartwright

Sad news struck ICCROM on Friday with the loss of Sir Bernard M. Feilden, renowned international expert the field of heritage conservation and restoration. Born in September 1919, Sir Bernard M. Feilden, started his career as architect to Norwich Cathedral, and pursued his work on historical buildings in the United Kingdom. He was nominated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as the representative on the Ancient Monuments Board in 1965. He also was elected in 1973 as Chairman of RIBA/COTAC (Conference on Training in Architectural Conservation) group, reporting on training architects in conservation. He became President of the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association in 1975 and, one year later, President of the Surveyors Guild.

He served as Director General of ICCROM from1977 to 1981. He brought to the latter role his 40 years’ experience in architectural conservation. From 1973 to 1994, he lectured at the Architectural Conservation Course (ARC) and also in many countries in the world, from the United Kingdom to China, giving advice to architects and restorers in India, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. He lectured extensively in the United States at various universities such as University of California Berkeley; University of Columbia; Columbus State University; Cornell University; University of Pennsylvania; and University of Virginia. Sir Bernard M. Feilden received several awards and honorary recognitions for his publications and for his works.

6. Two Threatened Collingwood Buildings up for Sale

Ditson House

Two designated late 19th century Collingwood buildings are up for sale. The 1888 Tremont House has been threatened by demolition since the Town of Collingwood purchased the property in 2005. The town has put out an RFP with a deadline of January 7, 2009. It is looking for proposals for the downtown property which is located next to the new library currently under construction. The RFP notes that preference will be given to proposals that consider the restoration of the Tremont in a manner that is consistent with the Town of Collingwood Heritage Guidelines.

Also for sale is a property known locally as the “Ditson House”. Located within the Heritage Conservation District in Collingwood, Ontario, this two storey red brick house is the last remaining original home in the downtown core. The property has been in the Ditson family since 1897. The home was occupied residentially on a continuous basis from its construction in the late 19th century through to 2004 since which time it has remained vacant. As a result, the structure is deteriorating including some of the attractive and original wooded elements. It requires substantial renovation but is fundamentally sound.

Both of these properties could be the subject of demolition applications in early 2009 if they are not sold to heritage friendly developers.

For more information please go to: www.heritagecollingwood.ca/forsale.html
 

7. Globe and Mail: Gehry's AGO
Lisa Rochon

Interactive Web pages with tour of New AGO and History

Frank Gehry has an appetite for more. His architecture craves abundance – for glass canopies hanging perilously from jutting timbers at the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London; for a floating cloud imagined at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris; even for the grand and occasionally surgical remodelling of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Because Gehry dreams large, new life has been given to Toronto's downtown. The AGO's monumental galleria in Douglas-fir timbers looks more densely planted than a West Coast forest. The central spiral staircase feels more out of control than a careening roller coaster. The titanium panels on the exterior of the gallery's back wall are more blue, more clarifying and more strident than a prairie sky on a winter's day.

Relax: This is not a stylistic flash in the pan by another architect in designer glasses. Thankfully, for Toronto and the rest of Canada, Gehry's transformation of the AGO is inspired not by personal ego but by allowing for a journey that goes deep into art and the city. It was eight years ago that AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum and the late Kenneth Thomson met with Gehry to spearhead the remarkable renewal. After his father's death, David Thomson became fully engaged by the gallery's transformation. Gehry, an old architectural warrior, came back to his hometown to do what he's always done: direct a compelling piece of theatre. His Toronto playhouse dazzles.

Editor's Note:
You can download a podcast walking tour from the website

Click here for Link

8. Globe and Mail: Loss of the Bars on the Don Jail
John Barber

SYMBOLISM: THE BARS ON DON JAIL

Don Jail Entrance

Will embracing a dark history dishearten the sick?

There are many scars on the walls of the old Don Jail, including one created 30 years ago as the result of a pioneering photo-op, when politicians and activists wielding a sledgehammer managed to knock off "one-foot-square of stone facing on the southeast corner," according to a report in this newspaper.

Contrary to the hopes of yesterday's reformers, the great grim hulk survived their crude assault. Today, more enlightened politicians are funnelling our money into a generous scheme to restore the original 1860s structure and incorporate it into the New Age "health-care facility" that is replacing Riverdale Hospital, just next door.

But symbolism dies hard. As enlightened as it may be, the coalition of government and professional interests promoting Bridgepoint Health, as the expanded hospital is now called, balked at the full embrace of dark history.

Yesterday, it petitioned city hall for permission to gentrify the historic prison by removing the ancient steel bars that fortify the windows of its impressive main façade.
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The Globe and Mail

As much as they were needed to keep prisoners inside, the prominent bars in question also served symbolically - to erase all doubt among outsiders as to the real purpose of this otherwise palatial civic monument. Their continuing power can be seen in the fact that Bridgepoint, which has spent years jumping through every hoop in the civic approvals circus, made its first-ever intervention at city hall to plead for their removal.

The reason Bridgepoint had to plead is that it had previously agreed to a heritage easement that explicitly forbade the removal of bars from the elegant windows of the building's central pavilion. But the prospect of living with them inspired regret.

The protection of the most prominent bars, its lawyer wrote recently, "undermines the overall vision for Bridgepoint Health as a community of care and wellness and will have a negative impact on all members of the Bridgepoint Health community."

City staff did not relent, arguing for "the honest expression of the original purpose and use of this important civic building." Why bother to preserve anything, they might well have asked, if survival demands that its meaning be suppressed?

Editor's Note:
The argument for demolition of the Riverdale Hospital was that doing so would spare the Don Jail.......heaven help anyone who questions the wisdom of healthcare providers.

Click here for Link

9. Globe and Mail: Palmerston Lights
Dave LeBlanc

A five-year battle waged for lamp posts

From College Street, courtesy Lost Rivers

Struggle to save a part of Toronto's built heritage sheds light on City Hall's priorities

'Palmerston Lights: Gone Forever? Is this what you want?"

Emblazoned across the top of a hand-delivered flyer, these shockingly direct questions were asked by Palmerston Boulevard homeowners and Palmerston Area Residents Association (PARA) members Johnny Lucas and Neil Wright exactly five years ago.

Three months before that, PARA had been told that the neighbourhood's historic cast-iron light standards with the little globes on top — beloved for a century from Bloor to College for their quiet dignity, orderly symmetry and soft glow — were ready for the scrap heap. They were too far gone, too expensive to maintain and didn't meet current lighting standards, the city said. Like it had done on Chestnut Park Road in Rosedale in 2002, it intended to replace them with "replicas."

This small-scale "demolition by neglect" didn't sit well with Mr. Lucas, then a 15-year resident of Palmerston, and a closer look revealed that, save for a little rust, they were not beyond repair.

With a little digging, he learned that the city's idea of a replica was "a shiny aluminum tube that was three or four feet higher than these, with a globe that was three times as big and a light bulb in them that was four times as bright," he explains.

"So I said, 'Wait a minute, this is [in] no way a replica; this is appropriate for a Calgary shopping mall!'"

Editor's Note:
For more on the Palmerston Lights go to http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/palmerston.htm

Click here for Link

10. Globe and Mail: Opening of Wychwood Art Barn
Lisa Rochon

ARCHITECTURE: ON THE RIGHT TRACK

The Wychwood barns have all the trappings of an artists' eco-haven. Outdoor bake-oven? Check. Rainwater to flush the toilets? Check. But none of that really matters - it's the soaring design that makes the place feel holy

The reinvention of the old Toronto Transit Commission streetcar-maintenance sheds in the St. Clair-Wychwood area of the city will banish forever your spontaneous, ill-considered desire to damn all urbanity and move to Cape Breton. Forget the lobster, this is a chance to feast on a version of urban heaven, a wondrous, hybridized redevelopment of something that had been left for 30 years to die a slow death. The Artscape Wychwood Barns, which open to the public this week, give us a new kind of temple in which art, community and urban agriculture are allowed to happily conspire.

The contemporary flaneur will wander through the complex for hours, possibly days.

Chuck the one-dimensional idea of what the city should be. (And, no, a green roof is no longer a startling idea.) The historic industrial site will be home to affordable artist studios, a performance space for Theatre Direct Canada, offices for groups such as the Hélène Comay Nursery School and the Latino Canadian Cultural Association as well as the Local Enhancement Appreciation of Forests. A large greenhouse, designed by Mike Dixon, a University of Guelph scientist who is also consulting on ways to install greenhouses on Mars, will allow people in the community to be educated year-round about urban agriculture.

Naturally, there is an outdoor bake-oven modelled on the one successfully started in Dufferin Park so many years ago by community leader Jutta Mason. Geothermal heating, which required drilling 50 holes down 120 metres to lay pipes under what is now a playing field, provides the most sustainable form of heat for the complex. Grey water captured from the roofs is being used to flush toilets.

Click here for Link

11. Eye Weekly (Toronto): Wych Will
Paul Gallant

Almost a decade in the making, Wychwood Barns is Toronto's newest pride and joy: a revitalized heritage site boasting live-work spaces for artists and environmentally sustainable infrastructure. Its future hasnt always looked so rosy

The restored brick walls and soaring ceilings conjure marketing campaigns for pricey lofts. The ad copy writes itself: exposed beams and park views in a heritage building just a stone's throw from a reinvigorated St. Clair West. Just wait till you see the other side, says Tim Jones, CEO of Artscape, all property-developer proud. His excitement is well founded. The Studio Barn contains sparkling loft spaces with unique floor plans and lots of natural light.


Note: The Artscape Wychwood Barns officially open Nov 20 at 3:30pm. The weekly farmers' market opens Nov 22 9am-noon. 76 Wychwood (at Christie). www.greenartsbarns.ca or www.torontoartscape.on.ca.

Click here for Link

12. Hamilton Spectator: Heritage Architect Leaves City Hall Project
Nicole Macintyre

'Pride' lost, City Hall firm quits

"City Hall is going to look very tired very quickly," he said, adding it's the first time the firm has ever backed out of a public project.Heritage architects have pulled out of the City Hall renovation because of council's decision to replace the heritage building's marble with concrete."We felt we had to draw a line in sand somewhere," said Edwin Rowse of the Toronto firm E.R.A. Architects Inc."We do this with a heavy heart."

Click here for Link

13. Hamilton Spectator: Rebuilt pipe organ thunders to heaven
Paul Wilson

Some used to believe the organ was the devil's instrument. So St. Paul's Presbyterian, that gothic landmark in stone at James and Jackson, opened without one. There was just the precentor, a leader with a good voice and a tuning fork, who was supposed to get the congregation singing those psalms on key. Eventually people realized the way an organ filled a church and made men quake must be the work of the Lord, not Satan. About 100 years ago St. Paul's got a fine organ, with thousands of pipes that could mimic flutes to foghorns.

Click here for Link

14. National Post: Hamilton's Rebirth
Scott Weir

THE SECRET: We can see why the cool kids are moving to Hamilton: it

Any Torontonian who has explored Hamilton is faced with a challenge  how to communicate the beauty and interest of that city in a way that will be convincing to friends back in Toronto, whose only experience of Hamilton has been gazing down on Stelco on their way from their glass penthouse to a wine tasting on the Bench. That single view from the Skyway Bridge conjures up visions of hell and has closed many minds.

Click here for Link

15. Burlington Post: Trying to hold on to a jewel of history
Marguerite Botting

Have you ever heard about Woodhill Farm?

Located in north Aldershot, it is the oldest farmhouse in Burlington  1833. Woodhill is Burlingtons jewel of history. It was built by Adam Fergusson  our very own historical figure  and it sits within a gorgeous 75-acre setting that highlights this special farmhouse.

But Woodhill is on the endangered list. Woodhill Farm was submitted by the Burlington Historical Society for inclusion to Heritage Canada Foundations List of Top 10 Endangered Places. Woodhill is adjacent to Waterdown South, not included in it, but on the other side of Mountain Brow Road. Waterdown South is a different parcel of land, a 444-acre land mass with a proposal to build 3,500 residential units for 8,900 people.
 

Click here for Link

16. Meet Ellen Molloy: 11 Year Old Heritage Activist
Catherine Nasmith

ellensheritage.com

Ellen campaigning to save the Roderick McConkey House

I had the pleasure of meeting Ellen after a talk I gave in Queensville last week. Check out her website, it will give all of you who have been long in the trenches a sense that the calvary may come after all.

She is an 11 year old who has been campaigning in Innisfil to save some key early  heritage houses. She has taken up a tough fight as the development boom hits her area, and needs all our help.

Between Toronto and Barrie are some of the earliest homesteads left in Ontario, as settlement patterns were along the lakeshore or up Yonge Street, the first road north from Toronto, laid out by Governor Simcoe as part of the province's first defenses.

It was such a delightful surprise to meet Ellen in an audience of primarily older activists. I hope she has lots of friends who appreciate the richness of the areas history.

The same evening a proposal to move some threatened buildings into a "heritage square" was discussed. These should be called heritage refugee camps and do little to respect the early patterns of settlement. They are less than half a loaf, but the way things are going it may be all that is possible in that political environment.

Click here for Link

17. Waterloo Record: HCD dispute
Terry Pender

Homeowner disputes heritage rules

Dan Howard learned the hard way that people who live in heritage districts can't always do what they want.

Howard installed a new front door, with a transom made of plastic and aluminum, on his Dill Street house in the Victoria Park heritage conservation district. Now he's faced with either undoing the $1,500 job or taking his fight with city hall to the Ontario Municipal Board, the tribunal that rules on land-use disputes.

Howard's mistake was to go ahead with exterior changes -- he bought the door and 14 windows for $25,000 -- without obtaining a heritage permit. Neither the door nor the windows conform to the heritage rules for Victoria Park. House exteriors within Kitchener's four heritage conservation districts are protected under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Much of the streetscape and essentially anything that can be seen from the sidewalk are also protected. The modern windows, transoms and door Howard bought can be installed on other sides of the house, just not the front. He hasn't installed any windows yet. In addition to building permits, homeowners must obtain a heritage permit after demonstrating the proposed changes are consistent with the neighborhood's heritage character.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/445813

Editor's Note:
This is sad news, and is a too often told story. There is no mechanism for alerting homeowners before they install new windows and doors to tell them that they need a heritage permit to make changes. If advice received early there are plenty of windows on the market which can meet heritage standards and avoid the hard feelings this will create.

Click here for Link

18. Georgetown Independent Free Press: Another one bites the dust?
Ted Brown

This week, a report landed on my desk.

It was a photocopy of the Town of Halton Hills 2009 Preliminary Capital Budget. As I perused the list of proposed projects, one jumped out at me: Former Armoury Demolition- $30,000.

The reference is to the original Georgetown Armoury, built in 1866, which stands inside the Park Street gates of Georgetown Fair-grounds. The armoury, constructed a year before Canadas Confeder-ation, was built by the village of Georgetown as a response to the Fenian Raids.

The drill shed was used for militia training, enabling the men to train year-round. During the First World War, it was also the recruitment centre for the 4th Battalion, which formed part of the Overseas Expeditionary Force in 1914. The 20th Halton Battalion Lorne Rifles, and later the Lorne Scots C Company, called it home until the new Todd Road Armoury was built in the early 1990s.

Many of the war dead whose names are inscribed on the Remembrance Park cenotaph in Georgetown, trained in that building before going off to war both world wars to fight and subsequently die for our country.

Click here for Link

19. Georgetown Independent Free Press: Armoury is facing wrecker's ball
Lisa Tallyn

Georgetown Armoury's days could be numbered if the Town of Halton Hills approves an item in its 2009 capital budget that calls for the building's demolition.

The budget, which budget committee is to begin deliberating Monday, includes a $30,000 expenditure to knock down the building, located in Georgetown Fairgrounds Park.

The vacant building, which dates back to 1867 when armouries were built across Canada in response to the Fenian Raids, is one of the oldest in town. The armoury served as the base for the Lorne Scots until the early 1990s when a new armoury was built on Todd Rd. A leaking roof, shingles that have fallen off, causing a hazard to people walking in the park, and a weakened structure are reasons provided by Town staff in a report to level the building.

If the building isn't demolished the report recommends a new roof, at a cost of $21,000, be installed immediately, and points out that an engineering assessment done on the building 10 years ago estimated $200,000 would have to be spent to bring the building into conformity with the Ontario Building Code.

Paul Stover, the Town's Manager of Facilities, said over the past several years the building, owned by the Town since 1997, has only been used for storage and on a temporary basis for special events such as the Georgetown Fall Fair and Highland Games. He said there has been interest shown in the building by various community groups over the years but they quickly abandoned their plans for the building after seeing what needed to be done to repair it. "From our perspective, there's not an identified appropriate use, and the costs to fix it are exorbitant," said Stover.

The $30,000 budgeted to take the building down includes an environmental assessment, disconnection of all services to the armoury, demolition of the building and removal of the debris from the site.

Halton Hills Regional Wards 1/2 Councillor Clark Somerville doesn't want to see the armoury demolished. He said before the Town approves demolition he would like to see if there's anyone in the community interested in saving the building.

Click here for Link

20. Owen Sound Times: No Designation for Louis'
Denis Langlois

Heritage designation off the plate for Louis'

Heritage designation off the plate for Louis'
Posted By Denis Langlois
Posted 13 days ago

Owen Sound’s heritage committee has chosen not to recommend city council protect Branningham Grove under the Ontario Heritage Act, but is instead pushing for a more flexible measure to prevent its demolition.

The committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend council place the 19th century building, best known as the former Louis’ Steakhouse, on the city’s heritage register. Owners of buildings on the list must provide the city with 60 days notice of demolition.

Council then has time to designate it.

The committee passed the recommendation after learning the building’s owners are now considering preserving it and incorporating it into an as-yet unannounced development.

Coun. Deb Haswell, the community planning and heritage advisory committee’s chairwoman, said listing the building, instead of designating it, proves the city is interested in co-operating with developers who wish to preserve heritage buildings.

“I think this shows a willingness of the city to work with developers and that the city is also flexible in its approach,” she said.

Owners of Ontario Heritage Act-designated buildings must receive council’s approval before demolishing it, moving it or altering any historically identified elements.

Heritage co-ordinator Sandra Parks said simply listing the building on the heritage register gives the developer more flexibility to do such things as move the structure to another area of the lot.

There have been cases, she said, of heritage groups suing municipalities for not following their own rules.

With the building on the list, Parks said the city will receive ample notice to designate it before it’s too late.

“It gives us a safety net of time,” she said in an interview.

Click here for Link

21. New York Times: Preserving Buffalo
NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF, forwarded by several readers

Architecture - Saving Buffalo's Untold Beauty

McKim Mead White Architect

ONE of the most cynical clichés in architecture is that poverty is good for preservation. The poor don't bulldoze historic neighborhoods to make way for fancy new high-rises.

That assumption came to mind when I stepped off a plane here recently. Buffalo is home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with major architects like Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright building marvels here.

Together they shaped one of the grandest early visions of the democratic American city. Yet Buffalo is more commonly identified with the crumbling infrastructure, abandoned homes and dwindling jobs that have defined the Rust Belt for the past 50 years. And for decades its architecture has seemed strangely frozen in time. Now the city is reaching a crossroads.

Just as local preservationists are completing restorations on some of the city's most important landmarks, the federal government is considering a plan that could wipe out part of a historic neighborhood. Meanwhile Mayor Byron W. Brown is being pressed to revise a proposal that would have demolished hundreds of abandoned homes. The outcome of these plans will go far in determining the city's prospects for economic recovery, but it could also offer a rare opportunity to re-examine the relationship between preserving the past and building a future.

Buffalo was founded on a rich tradition of architectural experimentation. The architects who worked here were among the first to break with European traditions to create an aesthetic of their own, rooted in American ideals about individualism, commerce and social mobility. And today its grass-roots preservation movement is driven not by Disney-inspired developers but by a vibrant coalition of part-time preservationists, amateur historians and third-generation residents who have made reclaiming the city's history a deeply personal mission.

At a time when oil prices and oil dependence are forcing us to rethink the wisdom of suburban and exurban living, Buffalo could eventually offer a blueprint for repairing America's other shrinking postindustrial cities. Touring Buffalo's monuments is about as close as you can get to experiencing firsthand the earliest struggles to define what an American architecture would look like.
 

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22. Buffalo News: Another Voice - Buffalo architecture - Times story continues neglect of Louise Bethune
Carla Blank

In his article Saving Buffalos Untold Beauty, (New York Times, Nov. 9), Nicolai Ouroussoff focuses his commentary on four prime examples of why a city tour of Buffalo can bring a person about as close as you can get to experiencing first hand the earliest struggles to define what an American architecture would look like.

Ouroussoff cites Louis Sullivan, Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted and Frank Lloyd Wright, familiar giants of American architecture who were among the outsiders who set up Buffalo offices in the last decades of the 19th century, when Buffalo could claim more millionaires than any other city in the nation. While acknowledging how important maintaining this American architectural museum is, Ouroussoff continues an unfortunate practice common to architectural discussions  and particularly relevant because he is writing about Buffalo: He omits citing a nationally significant woman architect, Louise Blanchard Bethune (1856-1913), who was based in Buffalo and designed schools and commercial, industrial and other public buildings and private residences throughout the Buffalo area.

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23. Buffalo News: Buffalo Praised for its Architecture
Mark Sommer

Architecture critic finds beauty in Buffalo - N. Y. Times reviewlauds city

Buffalo, take a bow. Sunday, the New York Times architecture critic lavished glowing praise on Buffalo in an Arts & Leisure review splashed across three pages with seven photographs. In the review, headlined "Saving Buffalos Untold Beauty  a counterpoint to an era when almost everything seems overexposed"  Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff calls Buffalo home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He specifically cited architectural marvels designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, Louis Sullivan, Frederick Law Olmsted and Frank Lloyd Wright. Ouroussoff praises a grass-roots preservation movement driven by . . . a vibrant coalition of part-time preservationists, amateur historians and third-generation residents who have made reclaiming the citys history a deeply personal mission. These residents have come to recognize through first-hand experience that social, economic and preservation issues are all deeply interwined, Ouroussoff writes. Ed Healy, spokesman for the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he was astounded by the scope, length and prominence of the review. The New York Times Sunday edition has a readership of 1.4 million, the nations highest, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, plus millions more who visit the Times Web site. Healy said the high-profile piece is bound to bring more tourists to Buffalo eager to experience the citys rich heritage and further put the city on the map for cultural tourism. This is by far the most significant article written about Buffalo in the seven years Ive been with the CVB, Healy said. A story of this magnitude and this profile is going to reverberate for some time.

Editor's Note:
Time to rent a bus and take a tour...ICOMOS did this a couple of years ago. Any interest?

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