Heritage Canada Foundation Top 10 Endangered Places List Released
The 2012 Heritage Canada Foundation Top 10 Endangered Places was released today and included 2 modern Ontario sites: Ontario Place in Toronto and Hamilton Education Centre in Hamilton. The Ontario Place nomination as an endangered place was prepared and submitted by Docomomo Canada Ontario to the Heritage Canada Foundation. Included below are excepts from the backgrounder document from HCF:
Ontario Place
Why it matters
A considerable engineering feat, Ontario Place was a futuristic architectural marvel when it opened in 1971. It was designed by one of Canada’s most notable landscape architects, Michael Hough and RAIC gold medalist, architect Eberhard Zeidler. The values of Ontario Place survive in its continued recreational use, park-like waterfront setting, the Cinesphere (a spherical triodetic dome housing Canada’s first IMAX theatre), and its monumental interconnected mast-hung pavilions with bridges and platforms suspended over the water. Together they formed a singular cultural landscape that express the avant-garde architectural ideas of the time, including diverse influences such as Archigram, the Metabolists, Pop Art and Expo 67.
Why it’s endangered
In early 2012, citing financial concerns and declining attendance, the provincial government announced the immediate partial closing of Ontario Place pending a major redevelopment to be completed by 2017. An appointed advisory panel responsible for leading the rehabilitation is taking a “paper is blank” approach where “nothing is off the table.” Without any statutory protection, Ontario Place’s unique cultural landscape with its iconic structures and interconnected design components—that led to its listing on the Docomomo International Selection of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement—is at risk.
Where it stands
In early June, the advisory panel recommended against using the site for a new Toronto casino. The province intends to begin an international competition later this year on future plans for Ontario Place with a focus on commercial, retail, residential, recreation and entertainment uses. Heritage Toronto and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario have raised the alarm about the potential risks to this important cultural landscape, and the “Save Ontario Place” Facebook group has been growing daily.
Hamilton Education Centre
Why it matters
Thought to be Hamilton architect Joseph Singer’s signature work, this elegant modernist 8-storey building partly clad in white marble with elongated arched windows and library in the round is considered by many as the city’s best example of mid-century Modern architecture. Opened in 1967, the Education Centre was built as a monument to public education and is located opposite City Hall on prominent Civic Square land donated by the City as a way to convince the Board to remain downtown. Keeping the building from landfill preserves an important piece of Hamilton’s history, respects the civic component of the site, and makes ecological and environmental sense.
Why it’s endangered
On May 2, after months of debate, the City issued a demolition permit to the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB), which was part of the condition of sale McMaster University imposed to allow for the unfettered development of its new health campus on the site. Although the university’s plans are welcome in the downtown, it appears that no consideration was given to developing both the ample parking lot and lands on the Education Centre property, or on any of the acres of vacant lots in the city’s core. With McMaster declaring that the building footprint does not fit its expansion purposes—despite it being deliberately designed to allow for future expansion—no real feasibility studies have been undertaken on how the building could be integrated into the design.
Where it stands
With the demolition permit a condition of sale, McMaster has made it clear that it is not considering any preservation plans for the building. And although the Municipal Heritage Committee urged the City in 2008 to consider the heritage value of the building in its future renewal plans for the area, council backed the university’s demolition plans when it committed $47 million to the health campus project. On May 15, +VG Architects submitted its “HWDSB Education Centre Architectural Record” report to the Board that includes an appendix listing the firm’s recommendation that nine “features of interest” be incorporated into the new Education Centre, to be built outside the downtown. Objectors to the building’s demolition have made it clear that they are not against the health campus development. Efforts have been focused on “Adding Without Subtracting” for reasons of fiscal, environmental as well as heritage stewardship. McMaster has informed HWDSB that the building must be vacated by August.
Image credit: Archives of Ontario