A Colborne Street panorama
As I mentioned in here I've been stitching together photos of every building facade on Brantford's downtown Colborne Street. Its south side, anyway. Instead of making a traditional panorama, though, I cut and pasted each facade and then "distorted" them to make the perspective lines parallel (read more).
I haven't finished the east side of the street yet, but I've used Photoshop's handy "Export as Zoomify" feature to make an easily navigable user interface. Give it a shot:
http://nickwarzin.com/blog/custom/colborne.html
I already want to print this BIG... 10" high, by 130" long? Yes. I'm a little crazy.
From the Archives
Here is where I spend too much of my time: City of Toronto: Search the Archives. You should spend too much of your time there, too.
Here's a depressing before-and-after to top off your Monday evening:
The Gooderham/Flatiron Building in its proper context, with a dense wedge of city behind it and an array of Confederation-era buildings on both sides of Front/Wellington. See under the cut for some "after" shots from the 1960s.
Colborne Street, and the future of Brantford
March 1, 2010
Sent to Brantford's Mayor and Councillors: 'dmccreary@brantford.ca'; 'MCeschi-Smith@brantford.ca'; 'jcalnan@brantford.ca'; 'jkinneman@brantford.ca'; 'jsless@brantford.ca'; 'vbucci@brantford.ca'; 'MLittell@brantford.ca'; 'jbradford@brantford.ca'; 'gmartin@brantford.ca'; 'rcarpenter@brantford.ca'; 'mhancock@brantford.ca'
Sent to various GTA newspapers and local Brantford community groups: 'dlevac.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org'; 'McColeman.P@parl.gc.ca'; 'goodyg@parl.gc.ca'; 'jzronik@brantnews.com'; 'torsun.citydesk@sunmedia.ca'; 'city@thestar.ca'; 'Newsroom@globeandmail.com'; 'webmaster@brantford.ca'; 'info@brantford.library.on.ca'; 'information@brantmuseums.ca'; 'brantford_kinsmen@canada.com'; 'normanphilpott1@on.aibn.com'
Dear Brantford City Council, et al,
My name is Nick, and I love Brantford, Ontario. I visit it, and many cities in Southern Ontario, as often as I can. I appreciate its unique character, its deep history, its rich architecture. I visit its cafes and its restaurants, and I walk its streets. I am also, like many, saddened when I pass through its once glorious downtown. An area that contained busy shops, bustling streets and its own streetcar network has been reduced by 20th century economic trends to a shadow of what it once was. Here’s a photo of a very different time:
It has recently come to my attention that the Corporation of the City of Brantford plans on demolishing a large chunk of this history. I’m not sure when this is planned to happen, but I know that it’s soon, and I know that there are many within Brantford and without who would consider this a grave mistake. The hard lessons taught to us by other similarly afflicted municipalities seem to bear this out.
All of us in Ontario have seen Brantford’s struggles over the past few decades, and we’ve all seen the impact these struggles have had on your downtown. Underestimating how much of your history and how much of your character is trapped in those downtown structures is a common mistake among post-industrial municipalities, but I urge you not to make that same mistake with Brantford. Our understanding of how cities work is growing deeper by the day in the 21st century. To resort to brutish 1960’s ideas when we know there are better solutions available would be a travesty, and you would be doing the people of Brantford and of Ontario, present and future, a great disservice.
Please re-think this course of action. With some thought and care, your downtown could be one of the most varied and colourful in southern Ontario. This is a promise.
Engage your populace. Engage your local businesses. Engage brilliant minds across the province. Make finding a solution to Brantford’s downtown a contest – Brantford could be at the forefront of a new way of municipal thinking. Do what it takes to make this happen, but do not, do not, follow this knee-jerk course of action. You are shooting your beautiful city in the foot, and Brantford will never recover. You are making the entire province and its history poorer with your actions.
Here are some helpful resources and recent press coverage:
A definition of adaptive reuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_reuse
Memo to Brantford: Hamilton Heritage Demolition 101
http://www.raisethehammer.org/article/1025/memo_to_brantford:_hamilton_heritage_demolition_101
Urban Destruction in the Heart of Brantford, Ontario
http://www.raisethehammer.org/article/1019/urban_destruction_in_the_heart_of_brantford_ontario
Hume: Brantford will live to regret the tragedy of edifice wrecks
Thank you very much for listening. I hope there is still time to reconsider these decisions. Please engage your populace. Please engage local businesses. Please ask the advice of those around you: planners in Hamilton, Waterloo, Kitchener and Toronto have been through this already and would be more than happy to work together with you towards a solution. Also, please click on the “adaptive reuse” link I provided, and research the concept further. There are ways of building community centres in downtowns while maintaining current structures these days. We know how to do this now. We’ve learned from our 20th century mistakes. Please let smart people have a peek at this problem and figure it out.
With all respect,
Nick Warzin.
Hamilton’s Lyric Theatre demolished
Roof brought the curtain down - Hamilton Spectator
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Lyric Theatre - Raise the Hammer
The Lyric/Century Theatre, before:
The Lyric/Century Theatre, after:
On the future of the structures at Toronto/Downsview Airport (response)
Dear Mr. Warzin,
On behalf of the Hon. Ken Dryden, Member of Parliament for York Centre, thank you for your letter regarding the demolition of Buildings 55 and 58.
For your records, please find enclosed a copy of Mr. Dryden’s letter (which I've pasted below -NW) to Minister MacKay urging the minister to reconsider the proposed demolition.
Sincerely,
Carlene Variyan
Special Assistant
Office of the Hon. Ken Dryden, P.C., M.P.
Member of Parliament for York Centre
National Outreach Advisor, Poverty & Working Families
On the future of the structures at Toronto/Downsview Airport
November 9, 2009
Sent to dnd_mdn@forces.gc.ca, Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca
Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca's responsed on November 16, 2009
Dear Office of the Minister of National Defence:
It has come to my attention, and to the attention of many concerned individuals in the Toronto area, that Downsview Airport’s WWII-vintage hangars are currently slated for demolition. These are structures that are admired not only for their raw, utilitarian architecture, but also for their important role in Canadian history. As Parc Downsview Park continues to develop the area and draw civilian interests to the area, I see demolishing these structures not as a step forward towards a modern, living Downsview Park, but more as a missed opportunity. I notice that others, such as Lloyd Alter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, see the situation similarly.
I realize that during times of economic hardship finding room on budgets for such creative projects can be difficult, but it seems to me that a Toronto (and an Ontario, and a Canada) of the 21st century is one that always explores the green adaptive reuse of old structures first, even in situations where it might be politically uncomplicated to demolish before looking into such recommendations. The hangars may be on DND land, but since Downsview Park is increasingly used for local community needs (school programs, camps, parklands) it’s vital to involve the community in any discussion regarding the future of its land and its buildings.
What I ask is this: that the Federally-recognized Heritage hangars at Toronto/Downsview Airport be studied for a possible civilian adaptive reuse, and that this process be constrained to a path that similarly-recognized structures on Provincial and Municipal land would have to take, involving draft proposals and public consultation.
As a Canadian who is endlessly proud of his country’s heritage, and as a descendant of Canadian Forces servicemen who lived and served for years at CFB Downsview, I feel taking another look at this is very important.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Nick Warzin