Building Storeys photo exhibit opens today!

Our friends at Heritage Toronto are staging a photo exhibition (Feb. 17-22) that opens today, and everyday, from 12-5pm at the Gladstone Hotel featuring some of Toronto’s known, and lesser known, heritage buildings. In anticipation of the show, Spacing has been posting articles on a number of the buildings included in the exhibit, written by Spacing contributor and Heritage Toronto historian Gary Miedema. Some, but not all, of the buildings will also be posted on the Heritage Toronto website if you want to get a sample of what you’ll discover at the Gladstone.

A collaborative effort by Heritage Toronto and members of Toronto’s Shadow Collective, Building Storeys is a visual documentation and anecdotal exhibit of our city’s cherished – and in some cases, largely unknown – heritage buildings and sites. The show highlights both past and present, and ponders their place in Toronto’s future. The free exhibit is hosted through Ontario Heritage Week on February 17-22 in the Gladstone Hotel’s 2nd Floor space.

Peggy Mooney, Executive Director of Heritage Toronto, hopes the exhibit will bring to light a new way of appreciating and viewing heritage structures, so that they will be conserved for the future. “The project was enticing as it brings together both the heritage and arts community in new collaboration, and will also create awareness of the depth of our city’s heritage.”

Late in 2008, The Shadow Collective approached Heritage Toronto with the concept of the exhibit. As a group of photographers devoted to the exploration and exhibition of forgotten spaces, they thought the partnership would be a perfect fit. “We’ve been photographing Toronto’s aging spaces for several years and have seen so many of them lost to new development,” says Olena Sullivan, a founding member. “We felt that putting together an exhibit featuring both images and storytelling would provide an insight into our city’s past, and shows with restoration these buildings can be revitalized in a way that enriches Toronto both culturally and socially.”