Roaming Through Layers of Hamilton’s Past at Heritage Rising
Chloe Richer
While beginning my role as this year’s Cultural Landscape Fellow, I had the opportunity to explore a city which was new to me, one which I now call home: Hamilton, Ontario. By chance, the 2016 National Trust Conference, Heritage Rising, was held in Hamilton. I was able to attend the conference and reflect on my new city’s rich heritage legacy, including its Indigenous heritage, a declining industrial sector and a growing creative economy. As my introductory post, I would like to share my experiences at several walking tours I participated in as a way of examining the various layers of Hamilton.
My time at the conference began with a walking tour on urban renewal in Hamilton’s downtown core lead by local architectural journalist Thomas Allen. We learned about projects and decisions made starting in the 1950s that created huge changes to the fabric and urban realm of the core — Main Street becoming a five-lane “highway,” the lack of a human presence at the elevated Irving Zucker Sculpture Garden, millennial Instagram users rediscovering a certain allure of urban malls. We debated the beauty of brutalist architecture.
This discussion provided some context for the following morning’s tour on the restoration and adaptive re-use of James Street North, where a strong arts and cultural community is reviving the area. Ken Coit, Program Manager with the City of Hamilton’s Public Art and Projects division, lead us on an engaging walk from the Art Deco Piggott Building to LIUNA Station (where the conference’s opening reception took place), stopping at other landmark sites along the way. As a former resident of downtown Niagara Falls, Ontario, I couldn’t help but think of whether one day it would face a similar, yet smaller scaled, revival — and what that would mean for the residents currently living and working there.
The final tour that I attended was of Barton Street, lead by Walter Furlan of Furlan Conservation and a Willowbank instructor. I had been to Walter’s window conservation studio the previous academic year as part of my coursework but had not yet had the chance to fully explore the neighbourhood. Walter offered the most personal and community-based tour I had been on thus far, explaining the dynamics of interaction between stakeholders such as residents, business owners, large institutions, political representatives and local law enforcement. He lead us to heavy industrial sites that co-existed with the residential neighbourhoods as well as hidden gems such as a barn off of a short laneway. A highlight of this field session was visiting the studio and learning more about Walter’s role as a craft person.
In addition to the tours described above, I attended sat in on many insightful sessions and plenaries, including a very powerful and memorable keynote address by Ry Moran of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation on the deplorable residential school system. While tours show layers of human ideas and cultures in a very physical sense, my studies at Willowbank meant that I did not forget about intangible cultural heritage, such as the oral traditions of the First Nations originally on this land, which may not always be evident when walking down a street.
For a heritage conservation student, Heritage Rising provided an excellent opportunity to think about cultural landscape theory in the context of a conference for industry professionals and community members in attendance. I would like to thank the fantastic team at http://solventfreepaint.ca/ for sponsoring my attendance and for contributing to my experience with their insightful discussions during our time together.
This piece, and the corresponding photography, was produced by Chloe Richer, a Second-Year Willowbank student and the 2016–17 Cultural Landscape Fellow.
