Monthly Archives: October 2010

Photo Credit: Robert F. Bukatay

It’s that time of year again. With the disappearance of the summer sun, the leaves from the trees and the increasingly shorter days, the deep and long Canadian winter is just around the corner. And for many of us, that transition of seasons is marked by the arrival of Halloween. Like many holidays now in North America, Halloween has become increasingly commercialised over the last few years. Every year kids try to ‘one-up’ each other by having their school’s best costume, their parents vie for the best decorated house on the block, while others search endlessly for that perfectly round, deep orange, locally grown pumpkin to meticulously carve to perfection. Gone are my old childhood days of wagon wheels and raisins as trick-or-treat staples, which have been now replaced by brand name mini chocolate bars or crisp packets. (I think I was born too early!) Yet, the traditions surrounding Halloween remain the same.

Have you ever wondered why we see so many witch, black cat, and ghost imagery on Halloween? Is it true that Halloween was created as a ritual of human sacrifice? And where did this custom of dressing up and receiving candy come from? Is it just another result of the commercialisation of this night? As we will find out, these traditions have roots that go back 2,000 years to the British Isles and the north of France.  (more…)

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

For those of you in the Cambridge region who are just mad about military history, you’ll want to check out this event on Oct 30th. The Colonel J. A. McIntosh Armoury in Cambridge, which is home to the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada, will be holding their annual open house this Saturday, October 30th from 10am to 5pm. The event is free for everyone. The military museum on site will be open for you to browse through and you will be treated to displays of costumes, modern warfare equipment, historical artifacts and other little treats. I’m told that kids just love this event as there is a section for them to play a few games and dress-up with kid-sized uniforms. They will also, no doubt, get a kick out of the folks dressed in War of 1812 costumes as they recreate some battle scenes.

This event is quite a popular one and is well attended each year. So if you love military history, or if you are curious about how the current military operates, please check out the Armoury this weekend. Staff will be on hand to answer your questions and they look forward to seeing you there.

You can find the Armoury at 1 Valour Place, which is just off Ainslie Street in downtown Cambridge. For a brief history of the Armoury as well as the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada, please check out my previous post here.

Photo Credit: City of Vancouver, British Columbia

Do you live in a large Canadian centre and get the sense of just how much the urban landscape is changing around you? We are all aware of these changes. However, they may not seem as drastic over an extended period of time. It’s really when we see before and after photos separated by several years that we see just how much things have changed.

The City of Vancouver’s Planning Department embarked on a city wide documentation process in 1978 where photos were taken from major landmarks to document the landscape for future planning purposes. Twenty-five years later, in 2003, these places were revisited and re-photographed to show the changes, this time for educational purposes and for future heritage planning considerations. The change in one generation is astonishing. The Planning Department has now uploaded these pictures for everyone to see.

To view these pictures, click the link below. It will take you to the main page “The Changing City”. Each link will take you to the 1978 picture at the top of the page. Click on the 2003 button and watch the panorama shift from left to right showing you the changes over that time period. Don’t forget to check out the new uploads that will  show some changes between 2003 and 2007. Keep in mind that these more recent changes do not take into consideration the development of the False Creek area for the 2010 Olympic Village and venues, nor the condo development along parts of the old Vancouver Indy site.

Please visit The City of Vancouver’s Planning Department Community Services page.

It is a very interesting look into the progression of the urban landscape in Canada and a useful tool for future urban and heritage planning programs.

Photo Credit: Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site

Okay all you industrial built heritage experts out there, what do the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City, the Canadian Corvette HMCS Sackville, the rocket launch pad at NASA’s Cape Canaveral in Florida, numerous sugar refineries in Cuba and dozens of vintage steam class Canadian Pacific and Canadian National locomotives all have in common? Stumped? Read on and you’ll learn about a very interesting National Historic Site in Saskatchewan that links these places and objects together.  (more…)

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

A recent sojourn down Riverside Drive in Ottawa got me thinking about the pioneer families that contributed to the development of the National Capital Region. Long before Lieutenant-Colonel John By and his Rideau Canal and long before Canada was a united province let alone a confederated nation, there were some hearty families that settled the region, built homes, developed industries, and contributed to what would later become Ottawa. One such family were the Billings of Gloucester. Here, they built a magnificent home where the family would live for five generations. It is Ottawa’s oldest surviving framed home and has been a museum since 1975 celebrating their contributions to the development of Ottawa.  (more…)

Are you a heritage professional, an architectural or planning student, or a private citizen concerned about the preservation of built heritage in your community? Do you love historic architecture and want to contribute to the preservation and adaptive re-use of these structures?  If you answered yes, then there is an upcoming workshop being presented by the University of Waterloo’s Heritage Resources Centre you will find both interesting and useful.

This four day workshop, spread over two weekends, takes place this year at Hamilton’s Museum of Steam and Technology on October 23 and 24 and will conclude November 6 and 7. This workshop will help give you the tools to foster co-operation and teamwork at all levels of the heritage industry. It is open to anyone who has an interest in heritage from heritage planners and architects to students, heritage property owners and anyone from the general public who has an interest in how heritage planning works.

Considered to be one of the premier workshops of its kind in Canada, the Heritage Planning Workshop will explore such topics as heritage legislation including the Ontario Heritage Act, how to write heritage statements of significance, the heritage property business, the full range of heritage planning tools, plus many more significant topics vital to the heritage industry.

If you would like more information about the Heritage Planning Workshop, please go to the Heritage Resources Centre website or phone: 519-888-4567 ext. 36921, email: [email protected]

 This is always a very well attended and extremely popular workshop and spaces are limited so, please, contact the Heritage Resources Centre today to avoid disappointment.  The future preservation and adaptive re-use of historic places and cultural landscapes lies in each person’s hands in Canada. Without dialogue, co-operation and interest from all sectors of society, we will continue to lose more of our rich historic and cultural sites forever.

Photo Credit: Activehistory.ca

For those of you who are involved in municipal heritage planning or preservation, no matter where in Canada you are, you have surely heard about the demolition of 41 historic buildings along Colborne Street in Brantford, Ontario. This was a demolition of monumental proportions because of the history and heritage lost which affects not just Brantford history, but Canadian history and heritage. Why is it such a hot debate? Among these buildings were some of the most complete pre-Confederation buildings in Canada as well as the office of Alexander Graham Bell and one of the first grocery stores in Ontario. They ranged in architectural style from Italianate, Georgian Gothic, Victorian and Edwardian. It is not necessarily the loss of these architectural styles, or the personal history in these buildings, that holds the key to future appreciation of built heritage structures. It is, however, the loss of potential re-adaptive use. It must be acknowledged that these buildings, for the most part, had been neglected over the last couple of decades. Yet that doesn’t mean they could not have been revitalized and brought back to life through a marriage of past styles and modern functions to create a new environmental and corporate friendly existence.

Photo Credit: Brantford Heritage Committee. Reprinted in the Natonal Post, June 8 2010; nationalpost.com

The City of Brantford took control of the block of buildings along south Colborne Street in 2009 and applied to Ottawa for a Federal stimulus package worth $1.38 million to tear down the structures. There was no plan at that time as to what to do with the cleared site other than use it as a source of future economic development. Heritage groups, individual advocates and national foundations did what they could to stop the project. The project was halted briefly while City Council discussed the matter. In the end, demolition went ahead on June 8, 2010.

One positive thing that has come from this event is more and more city mayoral candidates in Ontario are being asked by the public their views on heritage preservation in their cities. In fact, similar questions are being asked all across Canada this fall as Colborne Street is not an isolated case. Every part of Canada sees some sort of significant loss of heritage sites and/or buildings every year. On October 7th, 2010 the Brantford Expositor published a story about how Brantford mayoral and ward councilor candidates are facing the public’s questions about Colborne Street and their views about heritage preservation and adaptive re-use of historic buildings. Heritage preservation and adaptive re-use is becoming an important topic of debate as many citizens are becoming more aware of their community’s history as well as the positive economic impact of adapting older buildings for new purposes.

Photo Credit: Activehistory.ca

There is still a long way to go in educating the politicians and the public in general. But at least debate is a step in the right direction. If you would like to read the full Expositor article, please click the link below.

Expositor Article by Michael-Allan Marion

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Of all the Canadian Castle owners, one of the most complex individuals was Sir Allan Napier McNab, the owner of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. He had a very eclectic and varied career from being a carpenter, actor, railroad tycoon, real estate investor, military officer, a Baron, and Prime Minister of the Province of Canada. He was a man of dual personalities in many ways. On the one hand, he displayed such dizzying wealth and power, yet was constantly trying to keep two steps ahead of his creditors and he died virtually penniless. He was considered a very compassionate and kind employer to his domestic staff for the time, yet he was not above breaking the law or imposing threats on people to get what he wanted in the business world. He was lauded by many business associates as being a fine example of a new and golden age dawning in the Province of Canada’s entrepreneurial world, yet many Boards and Committees he sat on would scheme endlessly to find ways to be rid of him. In spite of all this, however, McNab left a remarkable piece of architectural history that not only reflects the development of the City of Hamilton, but also of a young nation in the making.  (more…)