WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9,1987, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN PRESERVATION PAYS This issue of the Whitby Free Press.contains a major supplement on heritage. It was a relatively easy one to do because there is so much of it around us. New homes are built in traditional styles; the most popular furniture styles are throwbacks to various historic periods; we indulge in crafts from knitting and quilting to bird car- ving, all with strong traditional roots; virtually everything we collect, even recently produced plates and coins, has a heritage theme of some sort; the list goes on. Yet in spite of this, the heritage movement of which I am unrepentently a part has a generally negative image. We are viewed as people who are blind to the economic realities of the world, as people who want to save everything that is old simply for its own sake. The negative image of us preservationists is such that when Heritage Canada developed its Main Street program it down- played heritage to the point of excluding it in order to make the program palatable to communities across the nation. The strategy has paid off and these communities are discovering on their own that business and heritage can be a powerful economie mix. Like any "movement", the heritage movement has its starry- eyed radicals who tilt at windmills and refuse to deal with the real issues. On the other side, there are the "reactionaries" who wouldn't know a gable from a window sash. They probably ooh and ahh at a well restored house as much as anybody else but old buildings "in the rough", are "decrepit, rundown eyesores". In between the "radical preservationists" and the "reactionaries" there are well informed people on both sides that are reaching towards the common ground in the middle. These are the people who have already realized that heritage pays. I grew up in Toronto and in the mid sixties I had a lot of friends and contacts in the Cabbagetown area. Cabbagetown had been built in the late 1800's as a fashionable residential district but by the fif- ties had deteriorated into the worst of Toronto's slums. The homes were far more dirty and "decrepit" than anything Whitby has ever seen,'yet even at that time a very few broad-minded professionals, mostly artists, had bought properties at ridiculous prices and fixed and repainted them into beautiful comfortable homes. Gradually others realized the advantages of living downtown and now Cab- bagetown is once again one of the fashionable areas of Toronto. The point is that if Toronto's worst slum houses can be restored as high class homes, then the worst that Whitby can offer can also be profitably restored. And Whitby has many examples to inspire the preservationists. The former County House of Refuge (poorhouse) on High Street is now the High Street Manor, a unique high class apartment building. The Terrace on Byron Street was low class slummy apar- tments until a few years ago. Bill Little's Pearson Lanes is superb example of what a little imagination can do with a couple of unwan- ted buildings. But these are exceptions. Our council's attitude is that if Bill Little wants to restore old buildings, that's his business and if CMD Developments wants to tear down thePerry house, well that's their business too - and no one else's, not the neighbours, not even LACAC whose function it is to advise on matters of architectural conservation. But the issue is not private property rights - it's planning. Plan- ning is supposed to provide protection to private property by en- suring that all the property uses in an area are compatible and that any changes are gradual and controlled. Planning provides a balance between you and your neighbors' rights as owners to do what you like with your properties while restricting your rights to do anything which would adversely affect the value of your neigh- bors' properties. When the zoning and planning by-laws do not protect you from the actions of your neighbours, then they aren't working. Planning in any area with a high concentration of heritage buildings like central Whitby is particularly sensitive since the removal or incompatible alteration to any building can have a profound effect on the whole area. To hide behind the argument if private property rights ignores the rights of everybody else. Our local government's attitude toward heritage buildings lags about 15 years behind most of our neighbors. Our council and their staff have passed through the ignorance phase and are now in the reactionary phase. Hopefully enlightenment is not far off. To many, the demolition of the Perry house may seem in- significant. But the development that will eventually be built on the corner of Byron and Dundas will have a profound effect on the future of the downtown. If another box is built there, it will further erode the historic atmosphere. A development such as is illustrated in the centrefold of our Heritage Edition would have a very positive effect on the downtown. As long as the Perry house was there, there was a better chance that the property in front would be developed in a manner which would enhance its presence. Now that it has been removed for a parking.lot, the Dundas St. fron- tage could go either way. Where the heritage movement is now (if anybody cares to listen to us) is in carefully examining endangered buildings and proposing sound economic ways of preservinlg them - such as the proposal at the centre of this edition. Some heritage organizations, in the face of officiai and corporate ambivalence, have established revolving funds where buildings are bought, restored and resold on the market at a profit. The heritage movement is well aware that confrontation rarely saves buildings. If developers and owners and municipal politicians will stop and consult and listen to what the preser- vationists can offer, Whitby will be a better place for ail of us. ia , 1te j" A CONTEST FOR SUMMER STROLLERS AND SUNDAY DRIVERS Sponsoredt by Whitby's LACAC* io encourage an awareness of our local architectural heritage Each week though the summer, the Whitby Free Press will publish a picture of an architectural detail of a building somewhere in Whitby. A draw will be made from all the correct entries received by next Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. for a copy of an interesting heritage book The correct answer along with a picture and description of the building in question will be published in the next issue along with a new mystery detail. All entries will be entered into a grand prize draw on Sept. 26, 1987 -n t If you can identify this picture, submit entry below to the Whitby Free Press, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, LIN 551. Winner will be selected next Tuesday at 10 a.m. THIS WEEK'S WINNER THE ASHBURN HOTEL (rear view) ROB FLEMING, 715 Myrtle Rd., Ashburn For weary farmers on there way to Port Whitby with a wagon full of harvest grain, this was a welcome sight, 100 years ago. For regular travellers in the northern half of Whitby Township today, the Ashburn Hotel is a familiar sight. This impressive village inn was built about 1869 in a style reminiscent of a generation earlier. It was originally known as "Wilson House" and remains in nearly intact condition. As one of Ontario's finest brick country inns, the former hotel is one of our township's most important architectural assets. LOCATION Name Address *Phne No.TONC *MOÂ3AI ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE --- -------- -------- ---- i