The 2022 recipients of the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards have been announced. The awards are presented to those who made exceptional contributions to cultural and natural heritage conservation, environmental sustainability and biodiversity in 2022.
Five projects received Excellence in Conservation Awards, representing the diversity of approaches to heritage conservation in Ontario. The awarded projects include:
The Tower Renewal Partnership
The Tower Renewal Partnership (TRP) is a non-profit initiative that works through research, advocacy and demonstration to activate community capacity and generate reinvestment to transform mid-century modern residential towers and surrounding neighbourhoods into sustainable, resilient and healthy places.
As this housing provides critical homes for those of modest incomes, the partnership seeks to ensure that it is not only preserved but also made resilient into the future. Doing so took over a decade of investigations, partnerships, advocacy and coalition building. Since 2007, ERA Architects has pursued the public policy objective of residential tower renewal through research, advocacy and action.
The Massey Hall Revitalization Project
Massey Hall opened its doors in 1894. It has become an iconic symbol of Toronto’s heritage of music, performance and entertainment. For this, it was recognized as a National Historic Site in 1981. By 2014, the building required functional updates to deliver an improved infrastructure that would enhance the functionality of the performance spaces and of the overall audience experience.
Project partners:
- GBCA (heritage consultants)
- KPMB (lead architect)
- Corporation of Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall (owner)
The Bombardier Centre for Aerospace and Aviation at Centennial College
The Bombardier Centre for Aerospace and Aviation at Centennial College preserves a remarkable site in Canadian aviation history. The building, once the centre of aviation manufacturing and design in Canada, was transformed into an innovative learning institution for the college’s Aviation and Engineering Technology and Applied Science programs. The campus contains five buildings built between 1929 and 1944, the first of which was designed by Toronto architects Mathers and Haldenby. Drawing on the site’s rich heritage, Centennial College’s new campus encourages a generation of students to pursue innovation in the aerospace sector.
Project partners:
- MJMA (design architects)
- ERA Architects (heritage architects)
- Stantec
- Centennial College (building owner)
The Block-by-Block Program
Block-by-Block, the Toronto Ward Museum’s flagship program, is a participatory, multimedia project that engages and empowers young people, newcomers and Indigenous community members in the collection and interpretation of oral histories in immigrant neighbourhoods. It first ran nationally in 2017 and resulted in a print and online exhibition and three public events focused on the historical Ward (Toronto), Côte-des-Neiges (Montreal) and Strathcona (British Columbia).
The Points of Pride Exhibition
Realized as a passion project by a group of four friends who grew up and came out together in Hamilton, Points of Pride is an evolving place-based digital resource designed to reveal and celebrate sites of LGBTQ2S+ heritage in Hamilton. Since it was launched in November 2021 in partnership with Hamilton Civic Museums, it has identified and conducted ongoing documentation of 32 LGBTQ2S+ heritage sites in the Hamilton area – with more to come – and begun a growing archive of oral history interviews with LGBTQ2S+ community members. It is a response to a lack of visible and accessible LGBTQ2S+ heritage resources in Hamilton, requiring considerable time and effort dedicated to combing through a limited and delicate pool of sources to assemble its growing collection of heritage sites and oral histories.