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#461 Rob Randall

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Posted 14 November 2018 - 09:57 AM

^You could plunk that building down at the corner of Government and Herald with a new paint job and call it authentic Chinatown aesthetic. The Hallmark Society would love it.



#462 Mike K.

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Posted 14 November 2018 - 10:43 AM

Speaking of the Hallmark Society, whatever happened to them? I haven't heard from Ken Johnson in about six or seven years.


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#463 Cassidy

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Posted 14 November 2018 - 11:15 AM

Ken was in the news in 2016 as President of the Hallmark Society and the Hallmark Societies usage agreement to take over the old Craigflower Schoolhouse:

https://www.timescol...chool-1.2327269

 

I think Ken keeps a low profile because he's still the #1 hands on heritage consultant in town, and as much as he wants to retire, there are line-ups of folks who desperately want him to go back to work, preferably on their own heritage home or heritage project!

 

Ken is the veritable walking-bible of heritage restoration.



#464 Bernard

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Posted 16 November 2018 - 12:52 PM

Ken was in the news in 2016 as President of the Hallmark Society and the Hallmark Societies usage agreement to take over the old Craigflower Schoolhouse:

https://www.timescol...chool-1.2327269

 

I think Ken keeps a low profile because he's still the #1 hands on heritage consultant in town, and as much as he wants to retire, there are line-ups of folks who desperately want him to go back to work, preferably on their own heritage home or heritage project!

 

Ken is the veritable walking-bible of heritage restoration.

I had the pleasure of getting to know him when I served on the board of the Saanich Heritage Foundation.    A walking wikipedia of YYJ heritage 



#465 amor de cosmos

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Posted 12 December 2018 - 09:12 AM

Victoria’s Old Town is finally getting some recognition.

Parks Canada plans to install a plaque at the intersection of Government, Wharf and Humboldt streets to commemorate Old Town’s designation as a National Historic Event.

The installation will form part of a reconfigured plaza at the intersection to accommodate the new All Ages and Abilities bike network.

*snip*

The bilingual bronze plaque text is to read:

“Old Town took shape during Victoria’s rise to prominence in the mid-19th century, when it was an important port and commercial gateway that linked the Pacific Rim to the interior of British Columbia.

“It was built within the Coast Salish territory of the Lekwungen and WSANEC nations, on the grounds of a former Hudson Bay Company trading post. Old Town encompasses the oldest surviving Chinatown in Canada, the waterfront warehouses and wharves that evoke the enterprise and rapid growth that followed the gold rush era, and the richly designed brick buildings that give the old commercial district an air of permanence.”

City councillors will be asked at a meeting on Thursday to approve the installation.

https://www.timescol...town-1.23530535

#466 G-Man

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Posted 12 December 2018 - 11:16 AM

A national historic "event" that took place over a one hundred year period...


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#467 Mike K.

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Posted 12 December 2018 - 05:32 PM

Why is the WSANEC nation's name written in all capital letters? I've always been curious about that.


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#468 amor de cosmos

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Posted 12 December 2018 - 06:36 PM

because their alphabet is caseless. & it's actually spelled WSANEĆ. W is regular W as in english, W is a stormy-night sort of sound. C is a K sound, Ć is like ch in english. so SANEĆ is pronounced just like saanich, but the locative prefix W indicates 'at Saanich' or 'in Saanich'.

 

edit: judging by the pronunciation on the city's website of the new library branch in james bay, I think 'james bay' would be spelled SWEN WUN TUNUW using the SENĆOTEN alphabet. (just my best guess)


Edited by amor de cosmos, 12 December 2018 - 06:43 PM.


#469 Mike K.

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Posted 12 December 2018 - 08:55 PM

Damn. That was awesome, amor. Thank you.
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#470 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 07:39 AM

Tuesday evening I popped in to the open house the City put on to show off the new draft Heritage Guidelines.

 

They claim the purpose is to add clarity and update the old 2006 guidelines. These is what is supposed to guide developers who intend to build new construction in Old Town (ie Pearl Residences) and those new builds beside or on top of existing structures (Janion, Ducks Building).

 

All the information can be found here:

 

https://www.victoria...guidelines.html

 

I found it ironic that the attractive photo they use to promote the guidelines shows Michael William's dazzlingly-painted Victorian-era buildings with their bright but decidedly non-heritage colours.

 

You may recall that City Hall was outraged when Williams went ahead with his vibrant paint scheme but he wouldn't back down. It remains a stick in the craw of many of Victoria's apparatchik including the City's current  senior heritage planner Steve Barber who to this day insists heritage buildings can indeed be vibrant but only if they use an approved authentic paint palette common to the era.

 

So that photo alerted me to the reality that this is yet another battle in the ongoing struggle between developers and City Hall, each claiming to be the one protecting Old Town.

 

Developers demand clarity. They are tired of resubmitting plans and having them supported by one group and knocked down by another. That's why even small infill projects like CityZen struggle along in various forms for a decade or more as they are passed from one frustrated developer and architect to another. 

 

But is the solution to impose more rules and restrictions on architects? The City demands that new infill be subservient to heritage. But do we not trust architects to be sensitive to such matters? They are trained professionals who are experienced in integrating old and new construction in a creative and thoughtful way. 

 

You might find Chard's Ducks Building addition to be an unacceptably imposing design that swallows up the old structure. But is that a design problem or a density and massing problem? Those are separate issues.



#471 Cassidy

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 07:56 AM

..... It remains a stick in the craw of many of Victoria's apparatchik including the City's current  senior heritage planner Steve Barber......

I thought Barber retired in 2014?

https://www.timescol...story-1.1004063

 

Did he come back to the City post-retirement?



#472 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 08:08 AM

I think Barber may be back as a consultant? He was at that open house as if he were acting in an official capacity. I saw Pam Madoff and Sharmarke Dubow there as well chatting with people.



#473 aastra

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 09:22 AM

 

...heritage buildings can indeed be vibrant but only if they use an approved authentic paint palette common to the era.

 

Victorians subscribe to many highly contestable notions re: the right way to preserve heritage and the right way to do restorations and new development in heritage districts. We've discussed to death the obsession with brick over all other cladding materials. Ditto for the premise that short buildings are sensitive to heritage by default, even if the historic buildings that you're supposedly so concerned about are not short. And the seemingly unquenchable fetish for clearing things away in order to introduce new open/green spaces, even though such spaces are glaring contradictions to the intimate built form of the old district... that one is bonkers, really. The size and shape of windows, the height of ground floors, setbacks...


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#474 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 11:52 AM

I was trying to think of ways the City got in the way of heritage development and the "arched windows are inappropriate for Old Town" diktat came to mind.



#475 Jackerbie

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 12:03 PM

I was trying to think of ways the City got in the way of heritage development and the "arched windows are inappropriate for Old Town" diktat came to mind.

 

Those darned arched windows and their disrespect for local architectural heritage...

 

1920px-British_Columbia_Parliament_Build


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#476 Nparker

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 12:09 PM

Heritage advocates would never allow something as tall (16 stories!) and overwhelming as the legislative buildings in Old Town.



#477 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 12:10 PM

This was the project in question. The first image is the initial sketch, along with the finished product the City demanded. Is it really more appropriate?

 

c7026e3d.jpg

 

Capture.JPG



#478 Mike K.

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 12:13 PM

The original was brilliant. The final product, although well executed and built to a high standard, is a symptom of this city’s design by committee that achieves mediocrity across all styles of architecture far too often.
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#479 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 12:16 PM

Initial design:

 

be448805.jpg

 

Final design:

 

Capture.JPG



#480 Nparker

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Posted 13 December 2018 - 12:21 PM

Clearly there are no actual heritage structures in Old Town that feature arches.

arch.JPG

arch2.JPG

arch3.JPG
 



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