Posts Tagged Ontario

So is the buzz of last weekend’s Royal wedding still with you? Are you still in awe over the dresses worn by Kate or her show-stopping sister, Pippa? Well let me tell you about a new exhibit and upcoming fashion show happening at Baden, Ontario’s Castle Kilbride which will make the Royal wedding fashions an awful lot less spectacular! (more…)

Although the date of April 19, 1904 would suggest it must have been a very pleasant and mild spring day in Toronto, it was actually quite the opposite. The temperature was -4 Celsius and there were flurries in the air that evening in the downtown core. But the winter-like conditions were the least of Toronto’s worries. People were furiously jumping off the streets and onto the sidewalks to avoid the charging horse teams that pulled 7,500 pound fire engines down Wellington Street West at about 8:30 that evening. When the night was over, Toronto had lived through the worst city fire in its history.  (more…)

It’s always nice hearing from readers who have questions about my posts or if they are looking for specific information to something….and even when they are setting me straight on something! I got a great email from Judi in Kingston in response to my Casa Loma story telling me there was a castle I didn’t mention. So in this post, I will tell you a little bit about this castle which is also a perfect stepping off point to launch a new series dedicated to Canadian architects who have built some of this country’s most beautiful public and private buildings. The first architects to be profiled are John Power, and his son Joseph, who built many impressive dwellings in nineteenth and early twentieth century Kingston, Ontario.   (more…)

It’s been a busy month here at “History to the People” and I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you about some seminars and workshops I have taken part in recently that have been both helpful and have given me further knowledge in this wonderful world of built heritage and cultural landscapes.

The first event was a four day workshop hosted by the University of Waterloo’s Heritage Resources Centre which took place at the beautiful Museum of Steam and Technology in Hamilton, Ontario from October 23-24 and November 6-7, 2010. Here, Professor Robert Shipley and his staff led a series of lectures, group discussions, and team exercises on the world of heritage planning. As someone who eventually wants to become a heritage planner, I had literally been waiting all year for this workshop to take place, and it was worth the wait!  (more…)

So, you know that Lt. Col John McCrae was a surgeon with the Canadian Army during the First World War who just happened to write the most famous war poem of all time which would create a global symbol of war remembrance still in use almost a century after his death. Yet, you may be asking yourself who was John McCrae the man? There are a lot of interesting little stories about the non-military side of John McCrae that a lot of people don’t know. For example, what was the one thing he did to ease the pain of a dying child, what special thing  did he do for his nieces and nephews back home in Guelph, and who was the young woman who captured his heart? Read on and I’ll fill you in on some stories not so well known outside of Guelph and I’ll show you some rarely seen pictures, courtesy of Guelph Museums, of John McCrae.  (more…)

Remembrance Day is observed all across Canada through various services and memorials. Two that I had the pleasure in taking part in today were the services at the Colonel John McCrae Birthplace and Memorial Gardens and the Woodlawn Memorial Park Veteran’s section in Guelph, Ontario.  (more…)

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.

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.

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

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…)

One of the great things for me having relocated to the National Capital Region is the closeness to what’s going on in the heritage sector. Think about it, all the political history here in Ottawa is fabulous, Quebec is a hop-skip-and-a-jump away, Kingston is just down the road, and I’m only a few hours from the GTA and all the history and heritage down there. What could be better? So when I heard about Doors Open Ottawa, I was curious, because very few places out west have similar events. (more…)