Raise the Hammer
A demolition permit has been issued for the building, and McMaster has no plans to incorporate any part of this structure into their new development on the site.
By Matt Jelly
Published June 27, 2012
100 Main Street West, the soon-to-be-demolished Education Centre, has made Heritage Canada Foundation's annual top ten list of endangered places.
Dandelions adorn the doomed Board of Ed lawn (RTH file photo)
A demolition permit has been issued for the building as a condition of sale between the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board and McMaster University. McMaster has no plans to incorporate any part of this structure into their new development on this site.
The Heritage Canada Foundation explains why the building matters:
Thought to be Hamilton architect Joseph Singer's signature work, this elegant modernist 8-storey building partly clad in white marble with elongated arched windows and library in the round is considered by many as the city's best example of mid-century Modern architecture. Opened in 1967, the Education Centre was built as a monument to public education and is located opposite City Hall on prominent Civic Square land donated by the City as a way to convince the Board to remain downtown. Keeping the building from landfill preserves an important piece of Hamilton's history, respects the civic component of the site, and makes ecological and environmental sense.
You can read the Heritage Canada Foundation's listing for 100 Main, as part of the full list of endangered sites.
Here's a list of contacts with McMaster, The School Board, MPP's and the Minister of Culture. Please send them a note to tell them what you think of the plan to demolish this building:
First posted on Matt Jelly's website.
Work with it instead of destroying it.
demolition permit submission and approval as reported by Joey Coleman
Imagine the Board of Ed in all it's glory within the new glass structure
Education destroying education.
Comment edited by lawrence on 2012-06-27 14:39:06
By Fred Street (anonymous)
Posted June 27, 2012 at 14:59:38
A Top 10 is media-friendly but it does nothing to aid the preservation of #11 onward. Heritage Canada Foundation should consider doing a long list. If the Polaris Prize can garner attention with its driftnet of largely decaf alternative adult contemporary albums, surely some good would come of a similar roster of imperilled architectural lovelies.
Leave it to Architecture Hamilton and you'll be stuck in 2008, with its attendant cause du jour.
http://www.architecturehamilton.com/savethelister.html
BTW, are we in the clear on #10, or is the Beach Canal Lighthouse going the way of the incandescent light bulb?
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/641377--preservationists-hope-to-own-1858-lighthouse
http://www.thespec.com/news/canada/article/735579--lots-of-interest-in-protecting-surplus-lighthouses
By Fred Street (anonymous)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 14:00:12
in reply to Comment 78962
By rednic (registered)
Posted June 27, 2012 at 15:37:32
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted June 27, 2012 at 20:59:37
By jason (registered)
Posted June 27, 2012 at 22:15:54
By BB (anonymous)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 08:51:48
By BB (anonymous)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 08:52:42
in reply to Comment 78976
By Kiely (registered)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 09:41:27
My feelings on tearing this building down aside, (Not for it) I feel it is somewhat depressing when such an uninspiring piece of pastiche and quickly dated architecture built in 1967, as an oddball conglomerate of dropped ceilings, round walls and fluorescent lighting is considered an important part of our national heritage.
By highwater (registered)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 10:52:44
in reply to Comment 78979
Have you been inside it? Don't knock it 'til you have. It's a beauty. You can't fully appreciate it from the vantage point most people see it from - whipping past it on Main at 60k.
Have a look: http://mattjelly.wordpress.com/2012/02/0...
Comment edited by highwater on 2012-06-28 11:03:34
By Ryan (registered) - website
Posted June 28, 2012 at 09:49:16
in reply to Comment 78979
That's because we're in the trough of public appreciation for mid-century postmodern architecture.
Our kids will think we were crazy to stand by and let this stuff get demolished.
By Pxtl (registered) - website
Posted June 28, 2012 at 15:12:04
in reply to Comment 78980
By Kiely (registered)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 13:41:58
in reply to Comment 78980
By Tired (anonymous)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 13:07:17
By Conrad66 (registered)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 14:17:44
This HCF is somthing els .. why only when someone buys a place after spending Millions on and now they get this from HCF.. i say once bouth to bad so sad get over it ... the building thats going up its gonna be sweet .. unlick the one is there now .. hiden in the back ... jjuuste tell me once when you drive east on main street do you see that building NOTTTTTT .. if your seriousely teling you see it all the time you drive by that place your not looking were your driving
By Conrad66 (registered)
Posted June 28, 2012 at 14:27:28
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted July 03, 2012 at 20:17:22
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted July 04, 2012 at 07:15:10
in reply to Comment 79141
By Pxtl (registered) - website
Posted July 04, 2012 at 10:41:54
in reply to Comment 79146
By lawrence (registered) - website
Posted July 04, 2012 at 10:18:07
in reply to Comment 79146
By DIY (anonymous)
Posted July 04, 2012 at 10:25:22
in reply to Comment 79156
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted July 04, 2012 at 20:08:20
in reply to Comment 79158
By Conrad66 (registered)
Posted August 05, 2012 at 21:50:44