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Behind the ACO Awards: The Eric Arthur Lifetime Achievement Award

The Eric Arthur Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals or groups who have made an outstanding contribution to the heritage conservation movement in Ontario over a sustained period of time. The state of the Province’s architectural heritage today would not be the same without the significant activities of this nominee.

The award honours our ACO founder, Eric Ross Arthur, who initiated and inspired the preservation movement in Ontario with his visionary leadership and professional expertise. He founded the ACO with others in 1933; led the charge to save Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall and the Gooderham flat iron building, among others; and established a student programme of measured drawings in 1959 that became an invaluable record of the province’s finest architecture. Among his strongest passions was discovering the merits of Ontario’s early vernacular architecture which eventually led to the Conservancy’s purchase in 1939 of the 1817 Barnum House in Grafton, Ontario. Today, the restored Barnum House is owned by the Ontario Heritage Trust, open to the public as a museum, and serves as the ACO’s defining logo. In 1964, Eric Arthur expressed the pride he had in his adopted city through his book, Toronto, No Mean City, a seminal work which was expanded and revised by Stephen Otto in 1986.

Quote of the Day: Peter Peter Kuitenbrouwer on our Industrial Heritage

In Toronto, part of the designated Canada Malting structure is coming down, although the silos are being saved in a victory for heritage. Peter Kuitenbrouwer writes in the National Post:

"A gentleman riding on the bike path suggested on Wednesday we knock the silos down.

“Surely there has gotta be some kind of common sense approach to the word ‘heritage,’ ” he scoffed. “Do you think this is heritage? How many old factories do you think we should leave up?” Well, judging from the runaway success of the conversions of old factory buildings in Liberty Village, I would say all of them."

Peter Kuitenbrouwer: The fight that saved the lakeshore silos

Is Heritage Designation Meaningless?

Apparently, yes. In Ottawa, they are demolishing and relocating a designated structure to build, get this, a parking garage. David Flemming of Heritage Ottawa says: “Relocation of a heritage-designated building is only considered in the rare case when a building is in physical danger from causes such as erosion or other environmental damage,” Flemming explains. “The inconvenience of its location to a private developer who wants to build a parking garage and offer more retail outlets does not come close to being a credible reason for moving the Horticulture Building.”

He also notes, as we have above, that it is not exactly fiscally prudent to demolish, relocate and generally pander to those offering glitzy baubles: “This is a travesty for taxpayers who do not want their dollars wasted on the unnecessary relocation of a heritage building, as well as for citizens who care about a culturally rich future for this city.”

The Restored Tremont Opens Tonight in Collingwood

The Tremont in Collingwood opens tonight. It is a great heritage victory; Rick and Anke pulled this building from the jaws of demolition and have spent a year restoring it. The building incorporates sustainable and environmental measures, along with an historically correct restoration and is now protected by a conservation agreement.

Congratulations to Rick and Anke for being such role models. I wish I could be there.

Past President Catherine Nasmith Wins The Jane Jacobs Prize

Sorry for the lousy picture, I only had my cellphone

Our own Past President Catherine Nasmith just got the Jane Jacobs Prize. John Sewell's review of her career surprised me; I have known Cathy since university yet the breadth of her accomplishments astonished. John Sewell said in his intro:

"Cathy's story proves the point: never underestimate the power of one smart, energetic, and determined person who thinks the best of people, searches out their good qualities, and then has the ability to bring them together for a common cause. Jane Jacobs justly admired people like Cathy as we do too."

Congratulations to Spacing Magazine which also won, and to Ideas That Matter for doing this..

Heritage is Frugal, Conservative and Just Right For These Times.

I took my mom to visit my uncle at the former Riverdale Hospital yesterday and admired the curved double halls, the touches of warm brick, the balconies. My uncle was not in his room so we really toured the joint, finally joining him in the auditorium for bingo. On the way out I saw the model of the redevelopment of the site and told my mom that they were knocking the place down. She shrieked in upper case: BUT THIS IS BRAND NEW!  THIS IS WHERE MY TAX DOLLARS ARE GOING, TO TEAR DOWN PERFECTLY GOOD BUILDINGS?
At that point a lightbulb lit up in my head- this is a message that we have to get out, to reclaim our place in the political dialogue. If you want to be thrifty, you fix what you have instead of throwing it away. If you want to be responsible, you use something until it has worn out. If your needs change, you renovate. If it doesn't work for its original purpose, you repurpose it. (The old wing of Toronto General makes a very nice MaRS building now). If you read the sycophantic press release in the Star yesterday you would learn that the bathrooms are not up to today's standards and it is crowded. But that doesn't mean you have to knock it down; you fix it.

Heritage is thrifty, responsible and thinks long term. It doesn't throw everything away for a shiny new bauble. It adapts. That is a message that can resonate in these times.

Heritage Does Not Belong To Smug Rich Lefties

Heritage, like just about everything else, has become political and polarized. The Toronto Historical Association and Heritage Toronto sponsored a debate about heritage and the candidates all showed up to face a full house of people described in one blog as "smug hippy liberals." who want to "spend tax dollars to protect symbols of the elite."

In Brantford, it made the Brant News that CIHC executive director Karen Dearlove is using our questions. She says "Heritage is primarily a municipal issue. In Brantford, although these issues might not have been so apparent a year ago, there are a growing number of people with concerns." The commenters there  reacted by calling heritage activists "rich lefties who want to take away our property rights."

I don't know when heritage became a left/right split issue; I always thought it was deeply conservative. We have do some serious work in this area,  we have to look for supporters all over the political spectrum and get them elected this October.

Concerns about Lansdowne Park

Rollo Myers is general manager of the ACO.

There are many examples in Canada of old buildings put to new use, competing favourably with brand new construction.

Municipalities that support heritage preservation reap the rewards in terms of increased investment and visitation, and seek out developers who recognize the advantages of adaptive reuse and heritage preservation.

Recent examples include the Distillery District, Don Valley Brick Works and Wychwood Barns (former tram sheds) in Toronto, Alton Mills, the Whig-Standard Building in Kingston, the Merriton Cotton Mill in St. Catharines, the School of Architecture in Cambridge/Galt and many others.

Thus the nation-wide concern as the City of Ottawa is embarking on a sole-sourced private redevelopment of a quarter of Ottawa’s historic exhibition grounds “short-circuiting the normal open and competitive process that a site of this complexity and history warrants”.  The historic Horticulture building will be moved to make way for access to a parking lot. The 1898 nationally-listed Aberdeen Pavilion “one of the great buildings of Ottawa” is to have its easement-protected sightlines threatened.

The outcry by the public, the Heritage Canada Foundation, the Ontario Heritage Trust, Heritage Ottawa and several Ottawa councillors has been strong. 

The staff zoning report to the Planning and Environment Committee has been delayed to September 14 as “an administrative error” resulted in the report not being distributed sufficiently in advance of the meeting. Critics say that this is yet another example of what they see as a deeply flawed process. 

Behind the ACO Awards: The Peter Stokes Restoration Award

As we eagerly anticipate the upcoming awards dinner in November, we look at the purpose and meaning of each award, and the person behind the name on the award.

The Peter Stokes Restoration Award recognizes those responsible for the exemplary restoration of significant heritage structures, undertaken in accordance with the accepted policies and practices of heritage conservation in Ontario.

It honours the ACO’s pioneering restoration architect, Peter Stokes, best-known for bringing international standards of heritage conservation to his projects throughout the province. We know of  Peter Stokes’s illustrious career through the previous presentation made to him of the Eric Arthur Lifetime Achievement Award. His many commissions and volunteer activities attest to the premium he placed on saving historic buildings of the finest quality, no matter how challenging the work. 

The Race to Be Mayor of Toronto: The Heritage Debate

image via blogTO

Summer student Shannon Clayton writes:

On Monday, August 23, a mayoral debate was held by Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Historical Society to discuss the current state of heritage in Toronto, and each of the candidates plans for the future. The event was held at the historic St. Lawrence Hall in downtown Toronto.
Seven questions were prepared by the heritage community, which addressed seven of the most important topics concerning heritage today;

1. General - what does heritage what does it mean to you? What is Toronto’s track record?
2. Problems with the heritage inventory
3. Problems with the provincial legislature
4. Cultural landscapes - how to advance the protection of them?
5. Natural heritage - what is significant to Toronto?
6. Amalgamation – how do we make the city feel like it really is one?
7. How can the City of Toronto could tell its story and display our history? – possibility of a Toronto Museum