The Don Valley Brick Works has inspired a century of city building in Toronto, employed hundreds of Torontonians and has provided the materials for thousands of buildings across Ontario, including Casa Loma, Massey Hall, Hart House and the UofT Convocation Hall. It has been a canvas for graffiti artists, an inspiration to photographers and has been, apparently, the location of several ‘legendary' warehouse parties. In its next incarnation, the Don Valley Brick Works will be known as the Evergreen Brick Works. Evergreen, a not-for-profit organization that aims to make cities more ...

Across Ontario many communities are struggling with the loss of their small schools. Heritage schools are especially in danger; they have been for a long time and for a multiplicity of reasons. These places are unique, not only have they have played a significant role in defining the identity of generations of students, but they also define the character and quality of community life. School enrollment has been rapidly decreasing for the last 25 years.In Toronto alone, elementary school enrollment decreased by over 35,000 students last year, a decline that is projected to continue. Peak baby boomer numbers, the reason so many schools were built in the fifties and sixties, will probably never be seen again. Even with one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in North America, small Toronto schools can't be filled fast enough, especially not in established residential areas where families tend to be older, exactly where heritage schools are likely to be found. Due to this declining enrollment school boards across Ontario have been forced to consolidate their small schools, and because heritage schools are more likely to need extensive maintenance they are most often chosen for closure. Despite the higher quality of craftsmanship of pre-WWII schools, these schools were built to meet different building and fire codes, and are often unfairly categorized as irredeemably unsafe.

Editor: Spacing is pleased to introduce our newest contributor, Lauren Archer, a budding heritage professional working in and around Southern Ontario. Her posts will explore heritage issues in the GTA, and are crossposted on her own Her*itage and His*tory blog.   For decades the provincial government has been encouraging smaller municipal governments to amalgamate. Counties have become cities, towns and villages have joined to form larger municipal governments and outlying suburbs have been merged into continuous centralized landscapes. These amalgamations, a response to rapidly increasing population sizes, happened two distinct waves in the GTA: the first occurred between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s as a response to the end of World War II. The second, marked by the incorporation of a singular City of Toronto in 1998, is still ongoing. It is generally accepted that these amalgamations allow municipalities to provide services in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. However, the full extent of the effects of amalgamation are still being explored today. One such area is Bronte, a small village nestled around the mouth of Twelve Mile Creek in the west end of the Town of Oakville. Bronte was amalgamated with the rest of the Township of Oakville in 1962. As is the case in many of the smaller, subsidiary communities that were amalgamated at this time, the delocalization of government has led to the loss of a significant amount of built heritage. Because of its proximity to central Oakville, development in Bronte boomed after amalgamation and because of this development the community is currently flourishing. Good development is a good thing, but the Village of Bronte is now just beginning to realize the cultural value that their heritage streetscapes could have had. Photo from Our Oakville This streetscape above, for example, was formally found at the corner of Lakeshore Rd. and Bronte Rd. In the background you can see a number of small businesses, such has Fredrick's Groceteria, Johnson's Furniture & Hardware, and a Jewellery Store.