Heritage Toronto Awards nominees out — you should buy a ticket to the party

Our friends at Heritage Toronto do lots of good work. They’re often the only institutional advocate standing between our built (and otherwise) heritage and the wrecking ball. If you are one of the legion of folks who regularly complain “Toronto always tears down its old buildings,” Heritage Toronto is for you. Show your support by attending this year’s Heritage Toronto Awards on October 4th. It’s always a fun evening: cocktails with other city-minded folk, you can romp around the Royal Conservatory of Music and Koerner Hall, and listen to one of the better public lectures in the city, this time by TIFF’s Cameron Bailey. Shawn Micallef’s Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto is also a finalist in the book category. Buy your tickets here, now. See the full list of nominee’s below.

Heritage Toronto announces 2011 Heritage Toronto Awards Nominees
Recipients in Architecture, Book, Media and Community Heritage to be lauded October 4th

Heritage Toronto is pleased to announce the nominees for the 37th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards. The Awards celebrate outstanding contributions by individuals and community organizations, as well as industry professionals and associations, in promoting and conserving Toronto’s history and heritage landmarks. Award recipients will be announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, October 4th at Koerner Hall, the Royal Conservatory of Music.

This year, nominations were solicited from the public in four categories: the William Greer Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship Award; Book; Media; and Community Heritage. Independent juries reviewed the nominations and recommended the award recipients.

Heritage Toronto will also be presenting its Special Achievement Award to the late heritage developer Paul Oberman.

The William Kilbourn Memorial Lecture is held in conjunction with the Awards presentation. The lecture was introduced in 1996 to honour William Kilbourn’s legacy and his commitment to Toronto as a viable, liveable city that honours its past and plans for its future. The speaker for this year’s Lecture is Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of the Toronto International Film Festival (©TIFF). The Lecture, which is held as part of the Heritage Toronto Awards, will discuss how the “Festival of Festivals” – the Toronto International Film Festival – has paved the way for a cultural boom of film and other festivals in this city over the past 30 years.

To purchase tickets ($30 Heritage Toronto members/$40 general admission) for the Awards and Lecture, or $110 for admittance to the exclusive pre-event Nominees’ Reception and the Awards and Lecture), please contact the Royal Conservatory of Music box office at www.rcmusic.ca, 416-408-0208, or visit the box office at 273 Bloor Street West.

Nominees for the 2011 Heritage Toronto Awards

WILLIAM GREER ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION AND CRAFTSMANSHIP CATEGORY

This category honours owners who have undertaken projects to restore or adapt buildings or structures that have been in existence for forty years or more. In addition to the quality of craftsmanship, appropriateness of materials, and the use of sound conservation principles, the jury considers how well the project meets current needs while maintaining the integrity of the original design vision.

461 King Street East
Commissioned by: Victor & Coralina Lemos
Architect: bbuzz Concepts & Canadian Engineer

Continental Can Building, 790 Bay St. – Lobby Restoration
Commissioned by: Women’s College Health Research
Architect: Sievenpiper Associates
Crafts Persons/Contractors: Pantar Developments

John Street Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Blvd.
Commissioned by: City of Toronto
Architect: IBI Group
Crafts Persons/Contractors: John Street Roundhouse Development Corp. and others

Seventh Post Office, No. 10 Toronto Street
Commissioned by: Karmic Holdings Inc.
Architects: Goldsmith, Borgal & Company; Roth Knibbs Architects Crafts Persons/Contractors: Carillion Canada; Clifford Restoration

Pease Foundry Building, 211 Laird Dr.
Commissioned by: Fieldgate Developments
Architects: PDA Architects; Goldsmith, Borgal & Company
Crafts Person/Contractor: Fieldgate Construction Management

16 Glen Edyth Place
Commissioned by: David Daniels
Architect: Scott Morris Architects Inc.
Crafts Persons/Contractors: Coheze Development Limited, Tollefson Studio and others

Robert Watson Lofts, 363/369 Sorauren Ave.
Commissioned by: Sorauren Lofts Corp.
Architect: Kohn Partnership Architects
Crafts Persons/Contractors: 59 Developments Inc.

Shops of Summerhill, 1095 – 1103 Yonge St.
Commissioned by: Woodcliffe Landmark Properties
Architects: AUDAXarchitecture; Goldsmith, Borgal & Company
Craft Person/Contractor: Den Bosch + Finchley

Whitney Block, 99 Wellesley St. W. – Accessibility Upgrade
Commissioned by: Province of Ontario/ CB Richard Ellis Global Corporate Services
Architect: L.E. Glazer Architect
Craft Person/Contractor: Ross Clair Contractors

BOOK CATEGORY

This category recognizes well-written non-fiction books published in 2010 that explore Toronto’s archaeological, built, cultural and/or natural heritage and history.

Breadwinning Daughters: Young Working Women in a Depression-Era City, 1929-1939
Author: Katrina Srigley
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Creating Memory: A Guide to Outdoor Public Sculpture in Toronto
Author: John Warkentin
Publisher: Becker and Associates and the City Institute at York University

Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven
Author: Ross King
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre Publishers Inc. and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg

A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto
Author: Margaret Goodfellow & Phil Goodfellow
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre Publishers

Imagining Toronto
Author: Amy Lavender Harris
Publisher: Mansfield Press

Rose Henderson: A Woman for the People
Author: Peter Campbell
Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press

Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto
Author: Shawn Micallef
Publisher: Coach House Books and Eye Weekly

Therafields: The Rise and Fall of Lea Hindley-Smith’s Psychoanalytic Commune
Author: Grant Goodbrand
Publisher: ECW Press

The Villages Within: An Irreverent History of Toronto and a Respectful Guide to the St. Andrew’s Market, the Kings West District, the Kensington Market and Queen Street West
Author: Doug Taylor
Publisher: iUniverse

The Well-Tempered Listener: Growing Up with Musical Parents
Author: Mary Willan Mason
Publisher: Words Indeed Publishing

Witness to a City: David Miller’s Toronto
Authors: David Miller and Douglas Arrowsmith
Publisher: Cormorant Books

MEDIA CATEGORY

This category salutes projects such as films, videos, websites, and newspaper and magazine articles that educate the public about aspects of Toronto’s archaeological, built, cultural and natural heritage and history.

The video – Architectural Dialogues…Moriyama & Teshima
Author/Director: Glenn McArthur
Producer: Gord Adams

The video – Brick by Brick: The Story of the Evergreen Brick Works
Author/Director: Catherine Annuau
Producer/Distributor: Jennifer Holness, Hungry Eyes Film & Television

The website  – Jane-Finch.com
Author/Director: Paul Nguyen
Producer: Sue Chun

The website – Torontohistory.org
Producer: Alan Brown

COMMUNITY HERITAGE AWARD

This award is open to one volunteer community-based organization in each of the four Community Council areas as defined by Toronto City Council. The organization must be currently active, and have either initiated or completed a significant activity that promotes, protects or preserves cultural or natural heritage in its specific Community Council area. This is a cash award and no organization is eligible to receive it more than once every five years.

From the Toronto and East York Community Council Area, our nominees are:
o Herstories Café
o The Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto
o The Toronto Railway Historical Association
o The Wellington Place Neighbourhood Association

From the North York Community Council Area, our nominees are:
o The Bedford Park Centennial Committee
o Jane-Finch.com
o The York Pioneer and Historical Society

There were no community groups nominated from the Etobicoke/York or the Scarborough Community Council Areas this year.

For a complete list of nominees, descriptions and photos, and how to order tickets, please visit www.heritagetoronto.org.