jn_12
Senior Member
Ypres says hello.
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This Week in Heritage Preservation Crimes
- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
Ypres says hello.
adma
Superstar
Though regardless of the outcome, one thing I must say: the image in this article has surely enshrined itself as a paradigm of the "hysterical NIMBY" certain types love to hate...including, of course, your usual newspaper-blog-commenter suspects, never mind UT's Eug types.
I find this comment particularly interesting
Yeah, thanks for letting us know, Berny. It means you're taking personal responsibility by weeding yourself out of a picture that you'd likely be, practically by your own admission, incompetent at handling. Fine. After all, when a band places an ad for a new guitarist, they're not expecting someone who can't play guitar. So?
I find this comment particularly interesting
Yeah, thanks for letting us know, Berny. It means you're taking personal responsibility by weeding yourself out of a picture that you'd likely be, practically by your own admission, incompetent at handling. Fine. After all, when a band places an ad for a new guitarist, they're not expecting someone who can't play guitar. So?
Ervin
Active Member
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Please tell me you're aware that Ypres was not replaced by townhouses. AmJ is right.
k10ery
Senior Member
Downsview Going Down
Can anybody elaborate on what is happening right now to the Downsview hangars? Catherine Nasmith sent out the following the other day, but I can't find any coverage of it yet in other media. Anybody have pictures to share with us poor folks downtown?
Can anybody elaborate on what is happening right now to the Downsview hangars? Catherine Nasmith sent out the following the other day, but I can't find any coverage of it yet in other media. Anybody have pictures to share with us poor folks downtown?
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jn_12
Senior Member
Of course. I've been to Ypres. The point made was that once a building is gone it cannot be replaced, which simply isn't true and Ypres is an example of this (though on a grander scale). Obviously, I was only addressing the first part of AMJ's sentence.
And, as someone who is currently writing my thesis on heritage preservation, I agree entirely that heritage should come before profits.
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Once this or any building is gone and the site occupied by townhouses or anything else, it cannot be replaced. That's the issue here, which mean Ypres is a poor example. Ypres was not bought by a developer.
Since it was trashed, the house can't even be moved to something like Markham's Heritage Corners without being largely rebuilt.
jn_12
Senior Member
Did you miss the part where I said that I was only addressing the first part of her post?
Here is what she said:
Here is what she said:
now here is what I said:
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
You know that Ypres was destroyed in the war and rebuilt from the rubble up, right? Not bought by a developer and replaced with different buildings? Notice the thread this conversation is taking place in...
jn_12
Senior Member
Seriously? war? no way...
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Once this house is gone, it will be replaced by townhouses. That means it's not coming back and that what happened in Ypres is totally irrelevant.
What happened in Ypres is more apropos of the post-tornado situation that some of Vaughan's McMansions found themselves in...
adma
Superstar
matix
New Member
Hamilton's Century (Lyric) Theatre
It's a shame.. but this is a classic example. the market can't afford $$ to convert to condo. it's in private ownership. hmm what to do? Seriously?
From the spec
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/701118
Another downtown heritage building unsafe
January 08, 2010
Nicole O'Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 8, 2010)
The facade of the heritage- designated Century Theatre is in jeopardy after the city issued an order that it is unsafe and blocked access to the historic downtown building yesterday afternoon.
City of Hamilton public works staff began closing Mary Street and its sidewalks from King Street East to the northeast edge of the property around 4 p.m. as the building's owner, Zoran Cocov, of Lyric Century Apartments, looked on. The neighbouring parking lot will also be closed.
The order calls for immediate action because the building's inside on the upper floors are structurally unstable, said city spokesperson Debbie Spence.
Cars were towed off the street and neighbours were warned of the problem, though they were not told to evacuate. Police patrolled the area on foot to ward off any pedestrians.
Spence said the owner must have an engineer with heritage knowledge on site today to determine the immediate next steps. The area will remain closed until action is taken.
Lyric Century Apartments, which has owned the property for almost 10 years, obtained a heritage permit for the historic building's facade in 2007 and a demolition permit to tear down the rear of the building in March 2009, she said.
Plans were in the works to build a 59-unit condominium building, Cocov said.
The plan was to preserve the facade and first bay of side walls to stand as the condo entrance, he said. But the instability may mean the facade is too dangerous to save.
"Health and safety has to be the main concern right now," Cocov said.
In a Spectator article in September, Cocov said the preservation of the heritage feature was proving very expensive.
It is unclear when construction might have begun, as no site design had been submitted to the city, Spence said.
The city was alerted to the problem through an engineering company that had examined the site to provide the owners with a quote for its services, she said.
The state of the theatre, which is on the city's list of vacant buildings, caused many complaints from residents, Spence said. The last property standards complaint was on June 5, claiming the building was open to trespassers.
The historic building was the biggest of its kind in Hamilton when it opened 1913. With 2,000 seats it was a prime location on the vaudeville circuit and later showed movies.
It closed 20 years ago. Its last movie was Lethal Weapon 2.
Ward 2 Councillor Bob Bratina remembers seeing movies there. He said he is very sad to see how far a building with such value and presence has deteriorated.
"I had high hopes to reinstate it as a music theatre," he said.
Bratina said the city should have been able to preserve the building.
"It shows we still have a long way to go on our property standards," he said.
Bratina initiated the bylaw for proactive inspections. He said he plans to review it for holes, including what he called a lack of roof inspections.
"We continually have buildings falling down before our eyes."
from http://historicalhamilton.com/beasley/century-(lyric)-theatre/Date
Built: 1913
The 2300-seat Lyric Theatre opened in 1913 as a vaudeville and motion-picture house. The theatre was named as the result of a promotional contest where $200 in gold was the prize for the best name. Eighty Hamiltonians suggested the name, Lyric, and the prize was split among them, each receiving $2.50.
The Renaissance Revival style theatre was converted to Hamilton's first movie studio in 1920, and again renovated in 1922 as a vaudeville and movie house.
In 1940, the theatre was modernized and air-conditioned. Renamed the Century, the renovated interior of the new theatre still covers the original interior of the old Lyric. Another modernization in 1952 did little to save the Century from the same fate as all Hamilton's grand movie houses, and it closed in 1989.
Subsequently, the facade of the building with its semicircular Lyric logo was designated to be of heritage value by the City of Hamilton under the Ontario Heritage Act. Currently, the rest of the building is slated for demolition, to be rebuilt as condominiums.
Written by: Bill Manson
It's a shame.. but this is a classic example. the market can't afford $$ to convert to condo. it's in private ownership. hmm what to do? Seriously?
From the spec
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/701118
Another downtown heritage building unsafe
January 08, 2010
Nicole O'Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 8, 2010)
The facade of the heritage- designated Century Theatre is in jeopardy after the city issued an order that it is unsafe and blocked access to the historic downtown building yesterday afternoon.
City of Hamilton public works staff began closing Mary Street and its sidewalks from King Street East to the northeast edge of the property around 4 p.m. as the building's owner, Zoran Cocov, of Lyric Century Apartments, looked on. The neighbouring parking lot will also be closed.
The order calls for immediate action because the building's inside on the upper floors are structurally unstable, said city spokesperson Debbie Spence.
Cars were towed off the street and neighbours were warned of the problem, though they were not told to evacuate. Police patrolled the area on foot to ward off any pedestrians.
Spence said the owner must have an engineer with heritage knowledge on site today to determine the immediate next steps. The area will remain closed until action is taken.
Lyric Century Apartments, which has owned the property for almost 10 years, obtained a heritage permit for the historic building's facade in 2007 and a demolition permit to tear down the rear of the building in March 2009, she said.
Plans were in the works to build a 59-unit condominium building, Cocov said.
The plan was to preserve the facade and first bay of side walls to stand as the condo entrance, he said. But the instability may mean the facade is too dangerous to save.
"Health and safety has to be the main concern right now," Cocov said.
In a Spectator article in September, Cocov said the preservation of the heritage feature was proving very expensive.
It is unclear when construction might have begun, as no site design had been submitted to the city, Spence said.
The city was alerted to the problem through an engineering company that had examined the site to provide the owners with a quote for its services, she said.
The state of the theatre, which is on the city's list of vacant buildings, caused many complaints from residents, Spence said. The last property standards complaint was on June 5, claiming the building was open to trespassers.
The historic building was the biggest of its kind in Hamilton when it opened 1913. With 2,000 seats it was a prime location on the vaudeville circuit and later showed movies.
It closed 20 years ago. Its last movie was Lethal Weapon 2.
Ward 2 Councillor Bob Bratina remembers seeing movies there. He said he is very sad to see how far a building with such value and presence has deteriorated.
"I had high hopes to reinstate it as a music theatre," he said.
Bratina said the city should have been able to preserve the building.
"It shows we still have a long way to go on our property standards," he said.
Bratina initiated the bylaw for proactive inspections. He said he plans to review it for holes, including what he called a lack of roof inspections.
"We continually have buildings falling down before our eyes."
from http://historicalhamilton.com/beasley/century-(lyric)-theatre/Date
Built: 1913
The 2300-seat Lyric Theatre opened in 1913 as a vaudeville and motion-picture house. The theatre was named as the result of a promotional contest where $200 in gold was the prize for the best name. Eighty Hamiltonians suggested the name, Lyric, and the prize was split among them, each receiving $2.50.
The Renaissance Revival style theatre was converted to Hamilton's first movie studio in 1920, and again renovated in 1922 as a vaudeville and movie house.
In 1940, the theatre was modernized and air-conditioned. Renamed the Century, the renovated interior of the new theatre still covers the original interior of the old Lyric. Another modernization in 1952 did little to save the Century from the same fate as all Hamilton's grand movie houses, and it closed in 1989.
Subsequently, the facade of the building with its semicircular Lyric logo was designated to be of heritage value by the City of Hamilton under the Ontario Heritage Act. Currently, the rest of the building is slated for demolition, to be rebuilt as condominiums.
Written by: Bill Manson
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Preservation Board report on the intent to designate:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2010/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-26336.pdf
AoD
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2010/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-26336.pdf
AoD
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
The last I had heard on the Century 3 or 4 years ago was that the building was being converted into lofts. Being familiar with the building I couldn't imagine any way how that could have been achieved given the large size of the interior with so few opportunities for windows so the whole thing gave me a bad feeling.
Although the Century is another loss to Hamilton's heritage there really wasn't much left of the interior. The original cinema was remodeled in the late '20's, again in the late '30's and then in the 40's or '50's when the balcony was eliminated. Dozens of paint jobs later the remaining auditorium and lobby were pretty much stripped down to what one might find in a typical 1970's shopping mall multiplex. There was nothing I could see left of any significance in the balcony area although the upper lobby and staircase leading to it were still intact but in a dangerous condition by around 1988.
I read that the roof was failing many years ago but didn't know how bad it was. What you see in the third photo above is the Century auditorium facing the back where the lobby and projection suite were with the false ceiling above. That false ceiling was done during a major renovation in the '40's or early '50's when the balcony, upper lobby and stage areas were closed off making it a single level cinema. The real ceiling is about 60-80 feet above the false auditorium ceiling seen above. That's a very dramatic shot.
The Century and Tivoli Cinemas both closed on the same day in September of 1989 when neighbouring Jackson Square Cinemas expanded from two to six cinemas. The Tivoli cinema was demolished due to neglect about 4 years ago, that was a real shame as it was a beautiful, well maintained cinema.
So the owners win again by leaving a building to deteriorate due to neglect. It's sad but hopefully this high profile loss serves as a wake up call to the City to change how heritage buildings are inspected and maintained by the owners of such properties.
Opening in 1913
Order to Demolish
Shortly after closing in 1989, the last movie that played there was Lethal Weapon 2
Demolition began last week on the front of the building facing St. Mary Street, note the original rusted "Lyric" sign in the middle at the top. The building is set to come down this week.
Side and rear of the Century
