Heritage Vancouver's Top Ten

Heritage Vancouver has released its annual Top Ten Endangered list. 

At the top is Paul Merrick's wonderful Forest Education Centre (pictured above) at VanDusen Botanical Garden. Other endangered buildings include the Vancouver Post Office and the Waldorf Hotel.

If you feel strongly about the preservation of these sites, let the City of Vancouver know.

Image: Heritage Vancouver Society

Top Ten Endangered

Heritage Vancouver has published its annual list of endangered buildings, including Shannon Mews (Erickson-Massey) and the Collingwood Library (Semmens + Simpson).

Photo: Collingwood Library, c.1951. Credit: VPL #8856

Toronto Modern

Excellent blog on Modernist Toronto architecture by Robert Moffatt.

Prior to moving to Toronto in 2002, Moffatt lived in Vancouver and wrote the Vancouver Modern column for Heritage Vancouver's newsletter–worth searching out for its informed and comprehensive coverage of the city's Modernist heritage.

Toronto Modern is now on the blog roll at right.

Heritage Canada: Endangered Buildings

Heritage Canada has released its list of endangered buildings for 2010. At the top are Vancouver's schools, particularly Kitsilano Secondary.

The Vancouver School Board has provincial funding for seismic upgrading and seems to favour using it to build new schools while placing a low priority on upgrading existing heritage structures.

Facadism seems to be the order of the day in the case of Kitsilano Secondary: most of the building will likely be demolished, including the 1958 Modernist addition, with the exception of the historic facade and a few details.

Demolition was approved by the VSB in July but still has to be approved by the Provincial Government and the City of Vancouver.

Endangered Heritage

Heritage Vancouver has released its 2010 Top Ten Endangered Sites.

Included on the list are The Bloedel Conservatory, Kitsilano Senior Secondary and the Dal Grauer Substation. Also noted as endangered are Vintage Neon Signage and Historic Street Trees, both of which have been disappearing downtown, particularly on Granville Street.

John Mackie of the Vancouver Sun ran a feature on the list, which has stirred up a lively debate in the comments, though it's dismaying how easily our cultural heritage can be overlooked. We need to realize that these sites are an integral part of our history-particularly in a city as young as Vancouver-and that in tearing them down we risk losing a crucial part of our identity.