- it is only a matter of time before there will be more (accidental) destruction .... Those cases are not within the last 'decade', they've all happened recently and within a few years of each other...
Tewder, though I suspect we agree more than disagree, I feel I do have to answer on these two quotes. Two buildings in this city on the inventory of heritage properties have collapsed in the last 10 years, one in 2007 and one in 2006. There are no other instances of this occuring in the last decade, which is precisely what I said, and I believe by any definition these
did occur within the last decade. And none others.
We want the same thing - for building owners to care for their buildings appropriately - but I think your statements are more alarmist than is called for. I could point to many, many other examples of buildings that are being cared for in appropriate ways.
As a little experiment, I did a search on Yonge Street for heritage buildings. Between the water and Bloor Street, here is what I find:
Total buildings on the inventory: 73
Buildings of recent origin on the inventory: 3
Facendectomied but in good shape: 6 (mostly BCE Place)
In great shape and/or recently renewed: 33
Acceptable (intact in almost all their details, but could use some TLC (things like air conditioners in upper windows): 17
Degraded (significant loss of details, painted ugly colours, bad windows): 10
Personally, given the caterwauling that goes on about strips like Yonge Street, I don't find this so bad. Looking at photos of buildings, it occurred to me that Urban Shocker is really dead on when he notes that it is frequently inappropriate signage that renders a building that is perfectly sound and in fairly good shape somewhat ugly.
If I were to rank the significance of the various buildings, it's clear that the ones in great shape are generally the most "important" (Bank of BNA, 49 Yonge, The Bay, John E. Thompson Block, Ryrie Building, Hard Rock, Foot Locker, Dominion Bank, Gerrard Building, Oddfellows Hall). The buildings that are a disgrace are frequently run of the mill and are on the north end of the stretch: 536 Yonge is probably one of the worst, but 546-550 is bad, 582-584 is ugly, etc. In my opinion, the Gould building was the worst along that stretch for being both a potentially attractive building and in the worst shape of almost all of them.
The point of all of this. It's important not to overreact, especially given the outcome of the Gould collapse.