• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: David Leonard,

The Ontario Heritage Trust’s Doors Open Ontario program works with communities and partners to open the doors, gates and courtyards of Ontario’s most unique and...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

One of the greater pleasures of working in architectural conservation in Ontario is the opportunity it provides to work with traditional building materials: the timber...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Christina Jennings,

Shaftesbury is the company behind the hit television series Murdoch Mysteries and Frankie Drake Mysteries, both of which air on CBC in Canada and are...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Emily Sajdak,

Nestled in the old city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Old St. George’s United Methodist Church is a “mother church” of the denomination and the oldest Methodist...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Erin Semande,

Location: 1 Block House Island Road, BrockvilleOwner: City of BrockvillePartners: Brockville Railway Tunnel Committee (plus countless generous donors)Original use: Canada’s first railway tunnel and part...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Food
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Erin Semande,

Location: 1198 1st Avenue East, Owen SoundOwner: City of Owen SoundPartners: Kloeze Family (Mudtown Station Inc.)Original use: Passenger train station (Owen Sound Canadian Pacific Railway...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: John Coleman,

Heritage has always been at the heart of the University of Windsor’s ambitious plan to preserve the century-old Windsor Armouries and transform the building into...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Gail Lord,

Museums and heritage are engines of urban redesign and revitalization. Lord Cultural Resources has worked in 450 cities worldwide on some 2,600 museums, cultural plans...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Indigenous heritage
  Community
• Author: Kayleigh Speirs and Art Hunter,

Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre, the Place of the Long Rapids, is a historically significant meeting place located along the banks of Manidoo Ziibi (Spirit River or...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Michael Emory,

I work for Allied Properties – a leading owner, manager and developer of urban workspace in major Canadian cities. Allied’s units are publicly traded on...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Kiki Aravopoulos,

Location: 277 Camelot Street, Thunder BayOwner: David Sun, Business owner/InvestorPartners: Ascend HotelsOriginal use: CourthouseCurrent use: Hotel The former Thunder Bay District Courthouse sits perched atop...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Jennifer Campbell,

In 2010, the City of Kingston released its first Culture Plan – a document that shared a sustainable, authentic, longterm vision for cultural vitality in...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Paul Shaker,

There are competing views about the value of heritage properties. On the one hand, there is a growing consensus on the esthetic and economic development...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Environment
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Clare Ronan,

Raising the Roof is a Canadian charity that provides national leadership in homelessness prevention through various initiatives. Reside is one such project that creates affordable...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Thompson M. Mayes,

In Why Old Places Matter, I wrote about the many reasons that old places help people flourish. Yet, I intentionally saved the discussion of how...

• 01 Oct 2019
• Economics of heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Beth Hanna,

Over the past few years, I’ve spoken and written extensively about value – exploring questions of what we protect, how we make those decisions, and...

• 20 Mar 2019
• Indigenous heritage
  Communication
• Author: Anne Taylor,

When one makes the journey to Kinomaage Waapkong – known in English as Petroglyph Provincial Park – one is struck by the incredible beauty of...

• 20 Mar 2019
• Indigenous heritage
  Communication
• Author: Amber Lloydlangston and Bimadoshka Pucan,

In 1938, Londoner Dr. Edwin Seaborn worked with Anishinaabe Elders, Pe-wak-a-nep (also known as Robert Thompson) and his wife Eliza to record Anishinaabeg stories and...

• 20 Mar 2019
• Indigenous heritage
  Communication
• Author: Duncan McCue,

Losing our talk I’m from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation in southern Ontario. My people refer to ourselves as Anishinaabe, which translates literally...

• 07 Sep 2018
• Economics of heritage
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Philip Cote,

“The importance of knowing your story is to have a sense of belonging and if you have this, you will have a sense of responsibility...

• 07 Sep 2018
• Expanding the narrative
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Gord Jones,

On July 1, 2018, during the 42nd Session of the World Heritage Committee in Manama, Bahrain, Pimachiowin Aki was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage...

• 07 Sep 2018
• Expanding the narrative
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Anne Taylor,

According to all First Nations on Turtle Island, ALL LAND IS SACRED. We do not consider that some places are more sacred than others. All...

• 20 Mar 2018
• Women's heritage
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux,

What has it been like to grow up in a society only now beginning to take note and respect the contributions of Indigenous women? When...

• 20 Mar 2018
• Women's heritage
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Rita Rose,

Elsie Knott was born at her Curve Lake home on September 20, 1922 to George and Esther Taylor, the fifth of six siblings. Because of...

• 08 Sep 2017
• Intangible heritage
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Taylor Gibson,

When you consider the connection between language and culture, you need to keep in mind that you can never really fully understand a book translated...

• 08 Sep 2017
• Intangible heritage
  Indigenous heritage
• Author: Dr. Brian Waabishki-makwa McInnes,

At its deepest level, culture frames how we see the world; the unique way that we think and act is intimately related to the perspectives...

• 08 Sep 2017
• Intangible heritage
  Indigenous heritage
  Arts and creativity
• Author: Rick Hill,

A couple of decades ago, I witnessed a friendly debate between a white historian and an Indigenous ethnologist. The well known historian, who just happened...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Buildings and architecture
  MyOntario
• Author: Kevin Mannara,

The term symbolkirchen can roughly be translated as a “symbol bearing church.” Such churches point to living realities beyond ourselves and hold the potential to...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Jim Szilva,

In 1963, a firefighter named Ted Szilva entered a contest organized by the Canadian Centennial Committee in Sudbury. The committee asked residents of the city...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: James Raffan,

Afloat at dawn and inhaling the misty rays of rising late-summer sun. Other days, it might be a sunset paddle with a Thermos of coffee...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: David Onley,

The photo became an heirloom in our family: a picture of Her Majesty the Queen at Kew Gardens in The Beach, escorted by Toronto Maple...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Melanie Pledger,

I’m proud to be a Canadian. I’m also proud to be an Ontarian. Going one step further, I’m proud to be a Falcon. In 2014...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Black heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Holly Martelle,

My life as an archaeologist often consists of hour upon hour of painstaking analysis of small bits and pieces of everyday life. But last year...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Indigenous heritage
  Archaeology
  MyOntario
• Author: Jean-Luc Pilon,

In the summer of 1982, I was carrying out archaeological research near the shores of Hudson Bay on the Severn River. One of the sites...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Buildings and architecture
  MyOntario
• Author: Georges Quirion,

Northern Ontario has unique structures, not familiar to many, spread out through small northern communities, reflecting its rich history and its vast wealth of precious...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Indigenous heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Konrad Sioui,

There are many stories that we can share. Well, first of all, the word “Ontario” itself. Many people don’t know what it means. People try...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Expanding the narrative
  MyOntario
• Author: David Rayside,

At 6 p.m. on December 2, 1986, Ontario’s legislative assembly was scheduled to vote on adding “sexual orientation” to the province’s Human Rights Code. Ten...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Archaeology
  MyOntario
• Author: William R. Fitzgerald,

Suspicion, fear, and intimidation met Jesuit priests Jean de Brébeuf and Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot during their Mission of the Angels to “la Nation Neutre” between November...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Eleanor McMahon,

As Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, I’ve had the privilege to meet many proud, talented and hardworking Ontarians through my participation in a number...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Natural heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Steve Paikin,

A month before Ontario turns 150 years old, I’ll celebrate my 57th birthday. I’ve lived all but one of those years in the province of...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Scarlett Janusas,

I’ve always had a passion about archaeology and also about water. I love being on the water and under it. So, what better way to...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Natural heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Yannick Bisson,

My first visit to Ontario, from Québec, was at about age 8. I have a distinct memory of arriving by car down the Don Valley...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Deepa Mehta,

When I think of Ontario, I think of inclusion, diversity and the resulting richness it brings to our province. In a world that is becoming...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Indigenous heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Josephine Mandamin,

When we walk with the water, we pray for the water. The water that we carry, we pray for it, and we pray to it...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Francophone heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Joëlle Roy,

Il est parti au chantierY avait à peine 15 ansY a moyen de s’en sortirPour ça, faut faire d’l’argentY en a en Ontario sous la...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Ellen Scheinberg,

Over the past decade, I have developed a passion for cemeteries. It started during my tenure as Director of the Ontario Jewish Archives, when I...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Archaeology
  MyOntario
• Author: Dr. Patrick Julig,

In the 1980s-90s, I excavated at Cummins and Sheguiandah National Historic Site quarry/ workshops in northern Ontario – in addition to many neat places elsewhere...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell,

Ontario’s Legislative Building, completed in 1893, is a magnificent structure filled with stories from the most significant moments in our province’s modern history. The place...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Larry Richards,

My first views of Ontario were from a passenger train 45 years ago. In 1972, I crossed the border at Detroit and took a train...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Natural heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Joseph Desloges,

The Chinguacousy (“land of the young pines”) Badlands have been visited by hundreds of thousands of Ontarians. This rapidly eroding clay-shale bedrock at the foot...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Charlie Fairbank,

Each morning, I open the door of our farmhouse and step into an enduring landscape of beauty, shaped by horse and man. Sheep dot the...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: David P. Silcox,

MY ONTARIO IS: RosalieAbella, RobertAitken, AndréAlexis, LouApplebaum, MargaretAtwood, IainBaxter&, StanBevington, BillBissett, JeanBoggs, DaveBroadfoot, EdBurtynsky, JackBush, JackCostello, DavidCrombie, KikiDelaney, LouiseDennys, MichaeldePencier, RamsayDerry, RupertDuchesne, BuddFeheley, MaureenForester, DavidFrench...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Black heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Adrienne Shadd,

In the year of the 150th birthday of Canada, I would like to pay tribute to my hometown. North Buxton started out in 1849 as...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Atom Egoyan,

Whenever I have visitors to Toronto, I take them to the Harris Filtration Plant. This beautiful complex is one of the few remaining examples of...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Indigenous heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: M. Margaret Froh,

Métis youth leader Katelyn LaCroix was recently asked what being Métis meant to her. She replied that “like the sash, we are two cultures coming...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Indigenous heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Mélanie-Rose Frappier,

Education is key. It will lead to healing as well as social awareness about the Indigenous culture. My ancestors spent hundreds of years fighting for...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Carl Benn,

I possess 16 photographs from c.1905 of my great-grandparents’ home in St. Catharines. At a personal level, I like these pictures because they record details...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Manuel Stevens,

My Ontario is the Rideau Canal region between Smiths Falls and Kingston. Having spent many years as the planner for the Rideau Canal – and...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Expanding the narrative
  MyOntario
• Author: Beth Hanna,

Stories are powerful. They reveal our values, pleasures and memories, the rituals and rhythms of our lives, our spiritual natures, our creative selves, our triumphs...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: D'Arcy Jenish,

Our voyage aboard the MV Algomarine began at the Port of Montreal late on a Saturday afternoon in July 2007 and ended early the following...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Indigenous heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Susan Bryan,

I’m standing on the deck of a small boat, riding the swells of the Nipigon River where it widens into Lake Superior. In front of...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Arts and creativity
  MyOntario
• Author: Thomas H.B. Symons,

Homer Watson’s paintings and drawings captured the spirit of pioneer Ontario much as, in a later generation, the work of the Group of Seven captured...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Arlene Chan,

Toronto’s Chinatown East has a beautiful gateway – a Chinese architectural tradition first introduced in British Columbia in the 1880s. As a writer and Chinatown...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Michael Bliss,

I first saw the Camp Ahmek waterfront on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in 1951. I saw it again last summer – 65 years later...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Arts and creativity
  MyOntario
• Author: Todd Stewart,

I feel the deepest connection with a place when I’m alone in it, surrounded by silence, the rest of the world far away. The stillness...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Kathleen Wynne,

Ontario is Canada’s largest and most diverse province – home to ingenuity, inclusiveness and optimism. Our province’s 150th birthday is a chance to reflect on...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Black heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Karolyn Smardz Frost,

In 1985, the Toronto school board and Ontario’s culture ministry created the Archaeological Resource Centre. There, schoolchildren and volunteers could dig into their own city’s...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: The Honourable James K. Bartleman,

Every evening when I was a kid in the 1940s, I’d manoeuvre rough logs up onto a sawhorse and use a small bucksaw to cut...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Sport heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Philip Pritchard,

Hockey is Canada’s national sport, and there is nothing more synonymous with hockey than the Stanley Cup. The tradition, the aura and the respect it...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Black heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Dr. Afua Cooper,

Peggy Pompadour haunts me. I walk through the streets of Ye Olde Towne Toronto and I feel her presence – this Black enslaved woman who...

• 17 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Paul Yee,

I am inspired by something intangible: the past, especially the history of Chinese Canadians. I grew up in Vancouver, knowing little about it. But once...

• 17 Feb 2017
• Natural heritage
  MyOntario
• Author: Michael Runtz,

Being a lifelong naturalist whose goal has been to explore Ontario’s natural history, I’ve come to appreciate just how rich this province’s biodiversity is. The...

• 01 Feb 2017
• MyOntario
• Author: Sam Steiner,

As a historian of Mennonites in Ontario, I have always enjoyed wandering through Mennonite and Amish cemeteries. Whether plain Old Order Amish or Old Order...

• 12 Feb 2016
• Indigenous heritage
  Medical heritage
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

“Traditional medicine” refers to knowledge and practices of Indigenous peoples that promote health and well-being, and that have been passed down from generation to generation...

• 05 Dec 2014
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Valerie Verity,

What a story the Macdonell-Williamson House and property can tell! Its location – with a commanding view overlooking the Ottawa River (where goods and people...

• 05 Dec 2014
• Archaeology
  Buildings and architecture
• Author: Dena Doroszenko and Romas Bubelis,

When the Trust conserves a property as complex as Macdonell-Williamson House, we consider a variety of perspectives related to the site as an artifact –...

• 05 Dec 2014
• Buildings and architecture
  Cultural objects
• Author: Sam Wesley,

It is tempting, while admiring Macdonell-Williamson House’s centuries-old stone walls, Palladian grandeur and picturesque setting, to conjure up an era defined by continuity – when...

• 05 Dec 2014
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Michael Csiki, Majula Koita and Chantel Godin,

The structural rehabilitation of Macdonell-Williamson House has provided a great opportunity for the engineers at Quinn Dressel Associates to contribute to the preservation of a...

• 05 Dec 2014
• Indigenous heritage
  Natural heritage
• Author: Erin Semande,

The original Trans-Canada Highway The Ottawa River is one of Canada’s most important transportation routes, playing an integral role in many of the key stories...

• 14 Feb 2014
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Janet Gates,

Birthdays are about celebration and, in the case of Toronto’s Elgin and Winter Garden theatres, a toast to 100 years of entertainment history. In 2013...

• 14 Feb 2014
• Indigenous heritage
• Author: Beth Hanna,

On a calm, clear Saturday in September 2013, 1,760 Huron-Wendat ancestors were reburied at a secluded and peaceful meadow. Prior to the 17th century, the...

• 06 Sep 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
• Author: Erin Semande,

The Ontario Heritage Trust has a number of conservation tools available to protect and preserve heritage throughout the province. Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements...

• 06 Sep 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Thomas Wicks,

Performance venues command an important presence in Ontario communities. They tell us about the aspirations of the people who built them, and they reflect the...

• 06 Sep 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Pamela Cain,

Since the early 1970s, Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay has made a commitment to urban renewal and the reuse and repurposing of community buildings. The...

• 06 Sep 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
• Author: Wayne Kelly, Romas Bubelis, Brett Randall and Beth Hanna,

Looking back by Wayne Kelly When theatre entrepreneur Marcus Loew brought Loew’s Theatrical Enterprises to Toronto in 1912, he envisioned an “intricate, moneymaking machine,” a...

• 10 May 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

What's on the shelf Full Frontal T.O. – Exploring Toronto’s Architectural Vernacular, by Shawn Micallef with photographs by Patrick Cummins. Coach House Books, 2012. For...

• 10 May 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Jim Leonard,

When the Ontario Heritage Act came into force in 1975, municipalities across the province suddenly had the authority to protect and enhance “groups of properties...

• 10 May 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Mark Warrack,

Meadowvale Village – a once-small, rural village – is located on the Credit River at the north end of the City of Mississauga. In the...

• 10 May 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Joan Mason,

Located in the City of Ottawa at the confluence of the Rideau and Ottawa rivers is the historical community of New Edinburgh. With its roots...

• 10 May 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Stephen Ashton,

Growing up in Port Hope fostered a belief that every community had an amazing main street. That ignorance was shaken when I returned from university...

• 10 May 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Denise Van Amersfoort,

For the past 18 months, West Street in Goderich has been as much a construction site as it has a place of service and retail...

• 15 Feb 2013
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
• Author: Bruce Beaton,

Storytelling takes inspiration from many sources. Traditionally, museums weave a narrative from real objects: a vase, a coat, a building or a historical site. At...

• 12 Oct 2012
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: David Nattress,

In our ever-expanding world, less arable land is available to grow the food we need to survive. As farms disappear across Ontario, buildings and implements...

• 12 Oct 2012
• Indigenous heritage
  Food
• Author: Ryan DeCaire,

Throughout a long history, indigenous peoples – with their rich cultural diversities and complexities – have continued to live in a way that works to...

• 31 May 2011
• Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Thomas Wicks,

Ontario is growing. As municipalities across the province expand, so too does the need to revitalize existing municipal facilities to house and adapt to new...

• 31 May 2011
• Buildings and architecture
  Natural heritage
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Sean Fraser, Erin Semande and Mike Sawchuck,

It is an unfortunate reality that the preservation of our heritage remains the exception rather than the norm. What is a common-sense approach to living...

• 31 May 2011
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Wayne Kelly,

As the bicentennial of the War of 1812 approaches, excitement is building at the site of Ontario’s first parliament buildings in Toronto. Responding to fears...

• 28 Jan 2011
• Women's heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Catrina Colme,

With the passing of Doris McCarthy on November 25, 2010, the country lost a revered and talented artist, best known for her landscape paintings. McCarthy’s...

• 28 Jan 2011
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Michael Eamon,

When visitors first enter Peterborough’s stately city hall, they should look down. Inspired by the City Beautiful Movement – active in Canada from 1893 to...

• 28 Jan 2011
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Barb McIntosh,

Hutchison House holds a special place in the social history of Peterborough. Local volunteers built the house in 1836 to persuade one of their first...

• 28 Jan 2011
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Jim Leonard,

On the afternoon of July 14, 2004, the skies opened up over the city of Peterborough. Throughout the day, evening and especially overnight, the city...

• 28 Jan 2011
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Dennis Carter-Edwards,

Built over a period of 87 years, the Trent-Severn Waterway stretches 386 kilometres across the heartland of the province, linking Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

On the shelf Creating Memory, by John Warkentin Becker Associates, 2010. Toronto has over 6,000 public outdoor sculptures, works of art that provide a sense...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Regan Hutcheson and Leah Wallace,

Understanding Unionville, by Regan Hutcheson A visit to Unionville is like a journey back in time. Located north of Toronto in the heart of Markham...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Sally Coutts,

Ontario towns and cities have been designating properties under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act since the passage of the act in the 1970s...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Dave Benson,

The amalgamated municipality of Chatham-Kent includes a number of early settlements that encompass thousands of heritage buildings. Recently, Heritage Chatham-Kent (HC-K), our municipal heritage committee...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Jim Leonard,

On March 11, 2009, Brampton City Council designated 17 individual properties under Part IV (Section 29) of the Ontario Heritage Act. The simultaneous passing of...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

An undiscovered legacy of work left by landscape architects Charles and Frederick Olmsted Jr. exists in fragments of landscape across Ontario. Their father, Fredrick Law...

• 06 May 2010
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

Toronto’s Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is an inward-looking building of interior architecture. The exterior, by contrast, appears massive but plain. The singular exception...

• 11 Feb 2010
• Indigenous heritage
  Archaeology
• Author: Robert Pearce,

Southwestern Ontario has an extremely rich and diverse cultural history dating back 11,000 years. We can follow human history and settlement through archaeology in this...

• 11 Feb 2010
• Indigenous heritage
  Natural heritage
• Author: Clint Jacobs,

Nestled at the mouth of the St. Clair River on Lake St. Clair in southwestern Ontario is the Walpole Island First Nation or “Bkejwanong,” meaning...

• 11 Feb 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Evelyn G. McLean,

Among the shrinking number of 19th-century company towns, Walkerville – part of the City of Windsor since 1935 – remains an outstanding example of what...

• 11 Feb 2010
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Kiki Aravopoulos,

The St. Thomas Canadian Southern Railway station (CASO) occupies a prominent position on the city’s main street. Perhaps it is the station’s sheer size –...

• 11 Feb 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Kathryn McLeod,

As you roam the highways and waterways of Ontario’s southern peninsula, a tapestry of stories unravels. These stories speak about settlement and growth, a testament...

• 11 Feb 2010
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Cultural landscapes
• Author: Dave Benson,

Chatham-Kent’s rich cultural heritage began long before European settlement when large stockaded villages and Neutral Indians dominated the Thames River and the Lake Erie-Lake St...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Alison Little,

Reaching out to those in need has long been a part of Ontario’s religious tradition. Faith-based groups offering medical and social assistance arrived with the...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Jennifer Drinkwater,

Collective memory is cultural memory – what is remembered about an event by a social or cultural group that experienced it and by those to...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

Publications Churches: Explore the symbols, learn the language and discover the history, by Timothy Brittain-Catlin Collins Press. Churches and cathedrals, intentionally imposing and dignified, contain...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Marybeth McTeague,

The years following the Second World War were characterized by a sense of renewal and optimism. Places of worship built in Ontario during this period...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Jennifer Laforest,

Adaptive reuse of religious buildings can simultaneously preserve significant heritage sites and benefit communities, but in Ontario those who want to make these conversions face...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Candace Iron and Malcolm Thurlby,

The importance of worship in 19th-century Ontario can be measured by the church buildings erected in the province during that time. Invariably, Ontario denominations turned...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: David Cuming,

Places of worship are often stunning buildings, constructed in forms and styles that have existed for thousands of years around the world, using specialized techniques...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
• Author: Nicholas Holman,

Goethe said that “architecture is frozen music,” but why did he say this? Was it because Christian church interiors, with their columns and arches, seem...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
• Author: Erin Semande,

Talented and renowned artists have long been commissioned to decorate the interiors of places of worship, where they often turn the walls and ceilings into...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Vicki Bennett,

During the 19th century, the location, physical condition and stylistic merit of churches were publicly discussed as reliable indicators of a community’s value, moral fabric...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Jane Burgess and Ann Link,

Located just east of Beaverton, the Old Stone Church, built in 1840 by a predominantly Scottish congregation, is a simple but handsomely proportioned small Georgian...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Laura Hatcher,

The architectural style, massing, materials and date stones of a place of worship offer clues about the congregation’s history and values. Likewise, the building’s size...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Black heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Steven Cook and Wilma Morrison,

Eli Johnson toiled on plantations in Virginia, Mississippi and Kentucky before making his bid for freedom in the “promised land” – the term used by...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Cultural landscapes
• Author: Wendy Shearer,

The cultural landscapes of rural southern Ontario contain a variety of heritage resources – land patterns and uses, built forms and natural features. Within these...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Indigenous heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Yves Frenette,

In the middle of the 19th century, northern Ontario remained much as it had been under the French regime – a region of Catholic missions...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Indigenous heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Francophone heritage
  Community
• Author: Wayne Kelly,

From the First People who for thousands of years conducted religious and cultural ceremonies at places they believed held spiritual significance, to subsequent arrivals who...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Indigenous heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Cultural objects
• Author: Kathryn McLeod,

Located in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory on the Bay of Quinte, Christ Church houses a silver communion service dating to 1712. This remarkable service represents an...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Cultural landscapes
• Author: Marcus R. Létourneau,

While places of worship are a visible aspect of Ontario’s heritage, they are part of wider cultural landscapes that can include supporting structures, burial places...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Richard Moorhouse,

Survey, documentation and research – these are the first steps in the conservation process. How can decisions be made about our heritage without first acquiring...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Cultural objects
• Author: John Wilcox,

Light is a fundamental aspect of all architecture, especially places of worship. Light has always been considered a manifestation of the spirit, providing guidance, comfort...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Bruce Pappin,

In May 2006, the Catholic parish of Ste Bernadette in the small northern Ontario community of Bonfield celebrated the 100th anniversary of its church. A...

• 10 Sep 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Sean Fraser,

Historic places of worship may possess cultural heritage values that engender public support for their preservation, but these values sometimes differ from the spiritual and...

• 28 May 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Sean Fraser,

In nature, there is no such thing as waste. Nature operates in an endless web of interconnected cycles of use, transformation and reuse. The concept...

• 28 May 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Natural heritage
  Community
• Author: Tamara Chipperfield and Kiki Aravopoulos,

Approximately 11,000 years of human culture are recorded in Ontario’s landscapes. Most existing natural landscapes in Ontario today have intrinsic cultural heritage meaning and significance...

• 28 May 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Erin Semande,

Located on the Lake Huron shore at the mouth of the Maitland River, Goderich is known as “Canada’s Prettiest Town.” It is situated in what...

• 28 May 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Joe Lobko and Megan Torza,

The Artscape Wychwood Barns – near St. Clair Avenue West and Bathurst Street in Toronto – were created when five historic streetcar maintenance barns were...

• 28 May 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
• Author: L.A. (Sandy) Smallwood,

When an old building is torn down, we lose more than just the structure. We lose a bit of our past. The foundation walls and...

• 28 May 2009
• Indigenous heritage
  Environment
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

What's on the shelf The Shield, part of the Ontario Visual Heritage Project. Over thousands of years, a select few have carved out lives for...

• 12 Feb 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Kathryn McLeod,

Highway 401, stretching from Windsor to the Quebec border, is one of the busiest highways in North America. Anyone who has journeyed east of Toronto...

• 12 Feb 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

Eastern Ontario offers an array of impressive historic houses. Some of these houses – owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust – are featured...

• 12 Feb 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Michael Vidoni,

L’église catholique St. Brigid d’Ottawa est entrée dans une nouvelle ère. Depuis presque 120 ans, elle se dresse au cœur d’un quartier divers et dynamique...

• 12 Feb 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Glenda Jones,

The big oak door of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte in eastern Ontario swings silently open as it has done for over 10...

• 12 Feb 2009
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Wayne Kelly and Kathryn McLeod,

Inhabited by Aboriginal Peoples for 7,000 years, present-day eastern Ontario is rich with heritage. The area gradually transformed as French and later United Empire Loyalists...

• 12 Feb 2009
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Ellen Kowalchuk,

Behind the stately façade of Kingston’s Rockwood Villa lies the history of mental health services in Ontario. Built in 1842 as a residence for local...

• 11 Sep 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

In his 1947 essay titled “The Past in the Future,” architectural historian John Summerson (1904-92) offered this description of an old building. He was speaking...

• 11 Sep 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Erik R. Hanson,

One of the greatest challenges to creating a healthy downtown is getting people to live there. While Peterborough’s historic centre is full of beautiful heritage...

• 11 Sep 2008
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Sean Fraser,

In 2006, the Ontario Heritage Trust began compiling an inventory of significant pre-1982 purpose-built places of worship located throughout the province. These remarkable cultural treasures...

• 11 Sep 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Marcus R. Létourneau,

The City of Kingston sits at a strategic location, halfway between Montreal and Toronto, where Lake Ontario meets the western end of the St. Lawrence...

• 11 Sep 2008
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Beth Anne Mendes and Erin Semande,

By mid-afternoon on Wednesday, May 28, 2008, Alma College in St. Thomas was reduced to a smouldering ruin. The loss of this significant site to...

• 11 Sep 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Sean Fraser,

In our efforts to conserve heritage properties, finding a use can be our greatest challenge and our greatest opportunity. An unused, vacant heritage building is...

• 12 Jun 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Thomas Wicks,

After railway development connected this once-isolated area to the rest of the province at the end of the 19th century, the abundant natural resources attracted...

• 12 Jun 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Denis Héroux,

The exploration, settlement and development of northern Ontario were motivated by the exploitation of the region’s natural resources – primarily fur, timber, gold and silver...

• 12 Jun 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

The towering McIntyre Mine Headframe in Timmins. The Clergue Block House and Powder Magazine in Sault Ste Marie. St. Francis of Assisi Anglican Church in...

• 12 Jun 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Cultural landscapes
• Author: Sean Fraser,

At the turn of the 20th century, Cobalt was a small and isolated lumber camp. In August 1903, two lumbermen – James McKinley and Ernest...

• 14 Feb 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Cultural objects
• Author: Kathryn Dixon,

Throughout its 40 years, the Ontario Heritage Trust has developed strong partnerships with local communities. Among these partnerships are those with the groups whose efforts...

• 14 Feb 2008
• Buildings and architecture
  Arts and creativity
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Gordon Pim,

In December 1913, Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre – the Canadian flagship of the mighty Loew’s empire – opened in Toronto. Two months later, the opulent...

• 14 Feb 2008
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Sean Fraser,

The buildings, structures and landscapes that comprise our cultural heritage are products of the intricate interplay between people and place over time. What is preserved...

• 14 Feb 2008
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Sean Fraser,

In November 2007, the Sir Aemilius Irving House in Hamilton was demolished by its owner to make way for a new building. Unfortunately, local heritage...

• 14 Feb 2008
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Beth Hanna,

When the province of Ontario introduced the 1847 Common Schools Act, municipalities were given the power to introduce taxes to fund public education. Toronto city...

• 14 Feb 2008
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Laura Hatcher,

Built in Glengarry in 1821, St. Raphael’s Church was one of Ontario’s earliest Roman Catholic churches. Constructed under the supervision of Alexander Macdonell – Upper...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

Which is more sustainable – an artificial or live Christmas tree? This is an environmentalist’s conundrum, and it illustrates the paradox of “sustainable” building materials...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Sean Fraser,

In the late 1990s, the Ontario Ministry of Culture introduced Eight Guiding Principles in the Conservation of Built Heritage Properties, which are in common use...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
• Author: Sean Fraser and Karen Abel,

Charles Sheppard (1876-1967) moved to the Town of Aurora in 1921, after making his fortune in the Simcoe County lumber industry. Brooklands, his modest estate...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Robert Plitt and Sean Fraser,

Evergreen – a national charity – builds the relationship between nature, culture and community in urban spaces. With its revitalization of Toronto’s Don Valley Brick...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Beth Anne Mendes,

On July 25, 2007, the Ontario Heritage Trust and the Town of Kapuskasing unveiled a provincial plaque to commemorate the town plan that helped shape...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
• Author: Sean Fraser,

Sustainable: able to be maintained at a certain rate or level . . . conserving an ecological balance by avoiding a depletion of natural resources...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Environment
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Alex Speigel,

Adaptive reuse provides a sound and sustainable approach to the renewal of our urban fabric, as illustrated by the conversion of three Toronto buildings to...

• 15 Nov 2007
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

Façade: a word of double-edged meaning. Architecturally, it refers to the face of a building. In literature, more often than not, it connotes a front...

• 10 May 2007
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Sean Fraser,

The Ontario Heritage Trust’s heritage conservation easements conserve some of Ontario’s most significant heritage sites. Good stewardship of easement properties includes regular maintenance and periodic...

• 10 May 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Kathryn Dixon,

Barnum House, on the north side of Highway 2 (Danforth Road), west of Grafton is historically significant for its association with the Barnum family. It...

• 10 May 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Beth Hanna,

An earlier generation spoke of the three R’s as “Reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.” They were the fundamentals of education in the 19th century and considered...

• 10 May 2007
• Military heritage
  Buildings and architecture
• Author: Susan Ramsay and Marnie Maslin,

Nestled under the Niagara Escarpment and situated in a park connected to the Bruce Trail, Battlefield House Museum National Historic Site in Stoney Creek is...

• 10 May 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Sean Fraser,

What’s happening in your community? With significant amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act in April 2005 and a strengthening of the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS)...

• 15 Feb 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Kiki Aravopoulos,

In March 2006, the Ontario Heritage Trust acquired a cultural conservation easement on Country Heritage Park. Located in Milton, this designed heritage attraction was created...

• 15 Feb 2007
• Buildings and architecture
  Cultural objects
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Romas Bubelis and Nick Holman,

The term “porte-cochère” has continental flair, though humble origins. In French, it means “carriage door” and originally referred to a covered entryway into a courtyard...

• 15 Feb 2007
• Black heritage
  Buildings and architecture
  Natural heritage
• Author: Gordon Pim,

Ontario’s heritage is an immense and complex jigsaw puzzle. Every individual element of heritage creates a whole . . . a sort of heritage by...

• 07 Sep 2006
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Louise Burchell,

The Spencerville Mill, a fine cut-stone flour and grist mill, is located on the bank of the South Nation River in the small rural village...

• 07 Sep 2006
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Cultural objects
• Author: Erin Semande,

Researching family history is a popular pastime for many who want to uncover their family’s unique past and discover how they contributed to Ontario’s growth...

• 16 Feb 2006
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Gordon Pim,

There are countless examples across the province of successful restorations of Ontario’s treasured heritage sites. Although the challenges are great – funding being the primary...

• 16 Feb 2006
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
  Adaptive reuse
• Author: Sean Fraser,

Although heritage remains a year-round activity for many of us, Heritage Day is celebrated annually on the third Monday in February. This year’s theme speaks...

• 16 Feb 2006
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Gordon Pim,

A flash of phosphorus. A whiff of smoke. And an image is captured. Photographs have chronicled our lives for over 150 years, remaining one of...

• 16 Feb 2006
• Archaeology
  Buildings and architecture
  Cultural objects
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Romas Bubelis,

Wallpapers first appeared in Canada as early as the mid-17th century. These oldest papers were block-printed, hand-painted or stenciled. Pattern and colour was applied to...

• 16 Feb 2006
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: Tim Mallon,

For 18 years, my wife and I raised our two sons in the Town of Richmond Hill just north of Toronto. When we moved to...

• 16 Feb 2006
• Archaeology
  Buildings and architecture
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

It was announced on December 21, 2005 that the site of Ontario’s first parliament buildings in Toronto has been saved. The Ontario Government, in partnership...

• 08 Sep 2005
• Archaeology
  Buildings and architecture
• Author: Dena Doroszenko,

Built in 1817, Macdonell-Williamson House in eastern Ontario reflects the ambitions and aspirations of retired fur trader, John Macdonell. His life was fraught with financial...

• 08 Sep 2005
• Buildings and architecture
  Community
• Author: David Cuming,

Thirty years ago, when the Ontario Heritage Act was new, I was a young planner with about a year’s experience working in London, England and...

• 08 Sep 2005
• Buildings and architecture
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

The following excerpt appears in Well-Preserved: The Ontario Heritage Foundationʼs Manual of Principles and Practice for Architectural Conservation (Third Revised Edition), by Mark Fram (Boston...

• 08 Sep 2005
• Buildings and architecture
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Barbara Heidenreich and Jeremy Collins,

John Edward (Ted) Greenwood Sanctuary On March 30, 2005, the Ontario Heritage Foundation received – from Mary Greenwood of Nakara, Australia – a 100-acre (40-...

• 08 Sep 2005
• Buildings and architecture
  Natural heritage
  Community
  Cultural landscapes
• Author: Richard Moorhouse and Beth Hanna,

An important shift has occurred in Ontario’s legislative framework for heritage conservation. On April 28, 2005, the Ontario Heritage Amendment Act (Bill 60) received royal...

• 19 May 2005
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Larry Wayne Richards,

Throughout the developed world, attention is being given to the built heritage of the modern era. Organizations such as UNESCO's World Heritage Center, the International...

• 19 May 2005
• Buildings and architecture
  Tools for conservation
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

Last issue, we discussed the importance of a solid foundation when preserving heritage structures. In this issue, we see how a buildingʼs skeleton holds everything...

• 19 May 2005
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

June Ardiel has been a patron and leader in Ontario's arts community all her life. She has authored a book on the public art of...

• 19 May 2005
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Moiz Behar,

In the second quarter of the 20th century following the First World War, Europe saw the emergence of a significant movement in architecture. This “modern”...

• 19 May 2005
• Buildings and architecture
  Cultural objects
• Author: Ontario Heritage Trust,

As you drive east along Highway 2 between Brockville and Prescott, you will find the robust Georgian Homewood Museum deeply set back from the road...

• 12 Feb 2005
• Black heritage
  Buildings and architecture
• Author: Wayne Kelly,

At a bend in the Sydenham River near the town of Dresden stands Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site. The museum – built on the site...

• 12 Feb 2005
• Buildings and architecture
• Author: Sean Fraser,

While most of Canada celebrates Heritage Day on the third Monday in February, Ontario celebrates Heritage Week. The theme developed for Ontario Heritage Week 200...