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spmarshall
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Probably Hamilton's most infamous abandoned building is set for a renewal - maybe.
From theGlobe and Mail:
Spare the hammer, save the building
Rather than tear down a derelict heritage site, Hamilton opts to fuse old elements with new design
KEVIN MARRON
Special to The Globe and Mail
HAMILTON -- When producers of the horror movie Silent Hill wanted to depict a ghost town, they found the perfect location in downtown Hamilton.
The 82-year-old Lister building, a once stately, now derelict, six-storey commercial structure, looms over the city's central shopping area, the fading beauty of its decorative terracotta façade contrasting sharply with its boarded up storefronts and broken windows. And behind this façade are the remains of a two-storey, L-shaped, art deco-style shopping arcade -- a historic precursor of the modern mall -- that is now so dilapidated and defaced by vandalism that it provided the movie makers with a setting for hell.
Mayor Larry Di Ianni describes the building as "a pivotal eyesore," while Kathy Drewitt, executive director of the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area, calls it "a poster child for what's wrong with downtown Hamilton."
But they and others engaged in the long-standing struggle to renew the city core are now optimistic that a solution is at hand -- a proposed redevelopment that could rehabilitate hell and dispel the ghosts of past failures in the fight against urban blight.
And it is a solution that may point the way forward for developers, property owners, city officials and concerned citizens in other communities that find themselves struggling with the intractable problem of what to do with historically or architecturally significant buildings that are rundown.
For years, the fate of the Lister building has been in limbo. It is currently listed by Heritage Canada as one of the 10 most endangered heritage properties in the country. Attempts to restore it have languished, while local heritage groups have fiercely resisted the notion that it is time to demolish it along with two older, even more decayed, adjacent properties.
The city designated the building as a heritage site in 1995, but it was already derelict when it was purchased in 1999 by the Hamilton local of the Labourers International Union of North America (LIUNA). After two subsequent redevelopment plans failed, LIUNA, in partnership with the Toronto-based developer Hi-Rise Group Inc., proposed to demolish the three buildings -- collectively known as the Lister Block -- and construct a new office block with a façade that would replicate as much as possible of the old Lister building.
City council approved the proposed demolition earlier this year after the developers reported that the original buildings could not be saved. But the demolition order was stayed to allow for a last-ditch attempt by an Ontario government facilitator to bring developers, heritage groups, city representatives and other interested parties together in a working group to hammer out an alternative proposal.
What has emerged from this process is a plan that satisfies two seemingly irreconcilable factions -- those who advocated demolishing the Lister building and those who wanted it preserved. It represents a new approach to dealing with heritage buildings by moving beyond these divisive debates over redevelopment schemes, according to Ottawa architect Julian Smith, a consultant for the provincial working group.
It is an approach that involves rehabilitating old buildings, rather than restoring or reconstructing them, Mr. Smith says. Instead of either knocking the Lister building down or embarking on an expensive attempt to restore it to its former glory, the new plan calls for a marrying of the old with the new --keeping what has survived of the old building, but incorporating it into a new, contemporary design.
As Hi-Rise president Warren Green explains it, the formula is: "What can be kept, you keep. You don't try and replicate. You show the new together with the old, even if the old has its bruises."
Ms. Drewitt says merchants and others would like the Lister Block and the downtown to become as vibrant as they were in their heyday. However, she adds: "We can never get back to those days, but we can piece together the elements of that to make it successful."
For the Lister Block, this means knocking down the two adjacent Victorian buildings that are beyond saving. The 1920s Lister building would be redeveloped with storefronts at street level and offices inside, keeping the terracotta facing where possible and preserving the interior arcade, but incorporating it into office space rather than trying to recreate the original mall.
This is a viable approach, according to Mr. Smith, because the 1920s building was very well constructed and is still structurally sound. It was designed as an everyday "working building," not a monument, and it therefore makes sense to adapt it for contemporary use, rather than restore or reconstruct it as if it were a museum piece, he says.
Combining new and old elements in this kind of redevelopment gives communities a way of connecting with their past while still moving forward, he says.
It is an approach that is becoming common in the United States, Europe and Australia, but is slow to catch on in Canada, Mr. Smith says. One reason for this, he says, is that there are plenty of architects and other professionals with the specific skills required to restore or reconstruct heritage buildings, but there is a lack of training in the techniques involved in merging the old with contemporary design.
Another important disincentive to the rehabilitation of heritage buildings, according to Mr. Smith, is that government departments and agencies are slow to set an example and help subsidize them by leasing office space or adapting them for assisted housing and other uses. With regard to the Lister building, he says, Hamilton and Ontario have been active by developing plans for the city health department to relocate there with the help of provincial subsidies.
While all parties have agreed that the proposal represents the best way forward for the Lister property, details are being negotiated and there is still a risk that they may lead everyone up yet another blind alley.
Mr. Green says he is looking for more investment from the province. Mayor Di Ianni says he believes Ontario should contribute more for the development's second phase -- new buildings to replace the two Victorian structures.
Brian McHattie, a Hamilton councillor who opposed the original demolition plan and instigated the provincial mediation process, warns that, if an impasse is reached, the province is ready to designate the building under the recently strengthened Ontario Heritage Act. Asked what will happen to the building in that case, he replies: "It just sits there."
And that is a prospect that strikes many people with horror in a community that has, as Mr. McHattie puts it, come to see the Lister Block as "an icon of downtown decay or downtown revival."
From theGlobe and Mail:
Spare the hammer, save the building
Rather than tear down a derelict heritage site, Hamilton opts to fuse old elements with new design
KEVIN MARRON
Special to The Globe and Mail
HAMILTON -- When producers of the horror movie Silent Hill wanted to depict a ghost town, they found the perfect location in downtown Hamilton.
The 82-year-old Lister building, a once stately, now derelict, six-storey commercial structure, looms over the city's central shopping area, the fading beauty of its decorative terracotta façade contrasting sharply with its boarded up storefronts and broken windows. And behind this façade are the remains of a two-storey, L-shaped, art deco-style shopping arcade -- a historic precursor of the modern mall -- that is now so dilapidated and defaced by vandalism that it provided the movie makers with a setting for hell.
Mayor Larry Di Ianni describes the building as "a pivotal eyesore," while Kathy Drewitt, executive director of the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area, calls it "a poster child for what's wrong with downtown Hamilton."
But they and others engaged in the long-standing struggle to renew the city core are now optimistic that a solution is at hand -- a proposed redevelopment that could rehabilitate hell and dispel the ghosts of past failures in the fight against urban blight.
And it is a solution that may point the way forward for developers, property owners, city officials and concerned citizens in other communities that find themselves struggling with the intractable problem of what to do with historically or architecturally significant buildings that are rundown.
For years, the fate of the Lister building has been in limbo. It is currently listed by Heritage Canada as one of the 10 most endangered heritage properties in the country. Attempts to restore it have languished, while local heritage groups have fiercely resisted the notion that it is time to demolish it along with two older, even more decayed, adjacent properties.
The city designated the building as a heritage site in 1995, but it was already derelict when it was purchased in 1999 by the Hamilton local of the Labourers International Union of North America (LIUNA). After two subsequent redevelopment plans failed, LIUNA, in partnership with the Toronto-based developer Hi-Rise Group Inc., proposed to demolish the three buildings -- collectively known as the Lister Block -- and construct a new office block with a façade that would replicate as much as possible of the old Lister building.
City council approved the proposed demolition earlier this year after the developers reported that the original buildings could not be saved. But the demolition order was stayed to allow for a last-ditch attempt by an Ontario government facilitator to bring developers, heritage groups, city representatives and other interested parties together in a working group to hammer out an alternative proposal.
What has emerged from this process is a plan that satisfies two seemingly irreconcilable factions -- those who advocated demolishing the Lister building and those who wanted it preserved. It represents a new approach to dealing with heritage buildings by moving beyond these divisive debates over redevelopment schemes, according to Ottawa architect Julian Smith, a consultant for the provincial working group.
It is an approach that involves rehabilitating old buildings, rather than restoring or reconstructing them, Mr. Smith says. Instead of either knocking the Lister building down or embarking on an expensive attempt to restore it to its former glory, the new plan calls for a marrying of the old with the new --keeping what has survived of the old building, but incorporating it into a new, contemporary design.
As Hi-Rise president Warren Green explains it, the formula is: "What can be kept, you keep. You don't try and replicate. You show the new together with the old, even if the old has its bruises."
Ms. Drewitt says merchants and others would like the Lister Block and the downtown to become as vibrant as they were in their heyday. However, she adds: "We can never get back to those days, but we can piece together the elements of that to make it successful."
For the Lister Block, this means knocking down the two adjacent Victorian buildings that are beyond saving. The 1920s Lister building would be redeveloped with storefronts at street level and offices inside, keeping the terracotta facing where possible and preserving the interior arcade, but incorporating it into office space rather than trying to recreate the original mall.
This is a viable approach, according to Mr. Smith, because the 1920s building was very well constructed and is still structurally sound. It was designed as an everyday "working building," not a monument, and it therefore makes sense to adapt it for contemporary use, rather than restore or reconstruct it as if it were a museum piece, he says.
Combining new and old elements in this kind of redevelopment gives communities a way of connecting with their past while still moving forward, he says.
It is an approach that is becoming common in the United States, Europe and Australia, but is slow to catch on in Canada, Mr. Smith says. One reason for this, he says, is that there are plenty of architects and other professionals with the specific skills required to restore or reconstruct heritage buildings, but there is a lack of training in the techniques involved in merging the old with contemporary design.
Another important disincentive to the rehabilitation of heritage buildings, according to Mr. Smith, is that government departments and agencies are slow to set an example and help subsidize them by leasing office space or adapting them for assisted housing and other uses. With regard to the Lister building, he says, Hamilton and Ontario have been active by developing plans for the city health department to relocate there with the help of provincial subsidies.
While all parties have agreed that the proposal represents the best way forward for the Lister property, details are being negotiated and there is still a risk that they may lead everyone up yet another blind alley.
Mr. Green says he is looking for more investment from the province. Mayor Di Ianni says he believes Ontario should contribute more for the development's second phase -- new buildings to replace the two Victorian structures.
Brian McHattie, a Hamilton councillor who opposed the original demolition plan and instigated the provincial mediation process, warns that, if an impasse is reached, the province is ready to designate the building under the recently strengthened Ontario Heritage Act. Asked what will happen to the building in that case, he replies: "It just sits there."
And that is a prospect that strikes many people with horror in a community that has, as Mr. McHattie puts it, come to see the Lister Block as "an icon of downtown decay or downtown revival."
