Last Sunday we were involved in the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Annual House Tour. For the first time, they had what they called a Heritage Fair which happened to be at the rear of a tour house on Kitchener. This was our table.
… with Penny and Christine handling the duties. Several of us took shifts and through the day we saw several hundred people come through. It is always fun to talk about our neighbourhood and its heritage!
The Vancouver Heritage Foundation has published a very interesting piece of research that shows “the importance of heritage to both public and professionals. It gives an overview of past and present municipal heritage conservation programs and policies, and suggest[s a] strategy to ensure that heritage remains an integral part of the urban environment and landscape.”
The Introduction to rthe Report notes that
there is strong public support for the conservation of heritage buildings. Thepublic does believe heritage buildings are important to retaining the character of theircommunities and that 50% of Vancouverites would prefer to live in retrofitted olderbuildings rather than new buildings. They also want less demolition of heritagebuildings in their neighbourhoods.
These findings match very well with the ideas expressed by the Grandview Heritage Group in its submission to the Grandiew-Woodland Community Plan, and to comments made at the various Workshops that have accompanied the Community Plan.
This is very useful and timely research from the VHF and we would encourage everyone to download and read the entire Report.
Vancouver Heritage Foundation along with SFU has put out a survey request regarding heritage buildings in Vancouver. It is, they say, “a critical tool” in their “effort to explore whether heritage building conservation matters in the 21st century.”
https://websurvey.sfu.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WebSurvey.woa/wa/survey?117560497
The survey takes just a few minutes to complete and I would encourage those interested in our heritage to submit your responses as soon as possible.