Sunday, April 28, 2019
Thursday, April 25, 2019
The evolution of Kingston, Ontario's "Mile of History".
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| Prince Charles and Princess Diana are dressed in Klondike outfits during a visit to Fort Edmonton, Alberta in 1983. |
2.) Recognize the role of Kingston Pen inmates in the creation of the Village of Portsmouth.
3.) Snow globes.
4.) Create a buffer zone around the Pen, P4W, Rockwood Asylum, Church of the Good Thief, St. Helen's, and the Corrections Canada buildings on Union Street so that views will not be obstructed. Ban the construction of residential housing and commercial establishments on buffer zones., including the 100-acre Provincial Campus where Rockwood Asylum is located.
5.) Preserve all of the perimeter walls and guard towers at the "The Big House." According to the document "Kingston Visioning":
-at least one perimeter wall at the Pen will be demolished, to facilitate views of Lake Ontario; and the guard towers will be knocked down if they get in the way of residential construction.
According to the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office document pertaining to "The Big House":
THE WALLS AND TOWERS
The walls and towers at Kingston Penitentiary are essential and defining functional elements of the institution...The walls and towers constitute the aspects of the prison best known to the public, but they may not be buildings in the judgement of the FHBRO assessment committee...the walls averaged 25 feet in height and consisted of roughly dressed blocks of limestone from the yard quarries...The towers, all of similar design, were of the circular or bastion, type and were derived from 17th and 18th century military prototypes. They featured umbrella-shaped roofs (that of the west tower was crowned by a stone ball, smooth stone surfaces marked by decorative work at the openings, and narrow window slits which provided views (and a gun-sight)bof both the yard and the walls. (From: Page 52, Federal Heritage Building Review Office report on Kingston Penitentiary.)
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6.) Maps
7.) Save the Workshops Dome and connected buildings that are part of KP:
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| The Workshops Dome and connected buildings will be the focus of extensive redevelopment. |
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| Portsmouth Olympic Harbour and Penitentiary land---now. |
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
The City of Kingston Ontario's" Mile of History."
The streets---King Street West; Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard; Union Street.Landmarks---Kingston Penitentiary; Portsmouth Olympic Harbour; Prison for Women; Isabel MacNeill Halfway House; Correctional Services Museum; Penitentiary Water Tower; Rockwood Asylum; Rockwood Villa; St. Helen's; Stone Gables; the 100-acre Provincial Campus on Gable Lane; Church of the Good Thief.
Name of the Building Address Federal ID Provincial ID Local ID
Former Women's Prison 40 Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. 7584
Building A3 - P4W 40 Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. 10239
Church of the Good Thief 743 King Street West 10402
Kingston Pen/East Workshop 10242
Kingston Pen/National Historic Site of Canada 13265
Kingston Pen/ Main Cellblock 3309
Kingston Pen/North Lodge 3656
Kingston Pen/Penitentiary Towers 16724
Kingston Pen/ South Workshop 10243
Kingston Pen/West Workshop 10241
Elmhirst House 443 Union Street 19617
Former Warden's Residence 555 King Street West 10217
Stone Gables 462 King Street West 4710
Red Cross Lodge 440 King Street West 6220
St. Helen's Complex 440 King Street West 16462
St. Helen's 440 King Street West 4712
(All information is from "List of Historic Places in Kingston, Ontario" Wikipedia.)
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525 King Street West, the Isabel MacNeill Halfway House for Women, is a Federal Government of Canada heritage building.
752 King Street West, the former Rockwood Asylum, is designated under Part 1V of the Ontario Heritage Act. The 100-acre Provincial Campus, where the Rockwood Villa and Asylum are located, is a "Cultural Heritage Landscape" under Section 7.3.D.5 of the City of Kingston Official Plan (2010).
244 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard, the Penitentiary Water Tower, is protected by Part 1V of the Ontario Heritage Act.
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Ottawa Ontario's "Mile of History" is located on Sussex Drive. Landmarks located on Sussex Drive:
Earnscliffe - the Ottawa home of Canada's first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.
Chateau Laurier Hotel.
A building that resembles a castle, the Revenue Canada Building.
The Lester B. Pearson External Affairs Building.
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| I am on the steps of the National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece in 1979. |
| I am at the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, 69 km Southeast of Athens 1979. |
Why the Village of Portsmouth in Kingston, Ontario should be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Most of the Kingston Penitentiary may be flattened to facilitate the construction of condominiums, townhouses, a hotel, restaurants and tourist venues.
Residential construction will obstruct views of the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour and Lake Ontario.
A private developer plans to remove bars and locking mechanisms from the interior of the Prison for Women; remove walls because the cells are too small to be converted into condominiums; and build a residential tower on the 8-acre grounds of P4W.
The real estate arm of the Ontario Government, called Infrastructure Ontario, is currently selling the Rockwood Asylum and several hundred more "ghost buildings" including the Perth Jail and Guelph Reformatory.
The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes was sold by the Canadian government in January of 2016, see the Globe and Mail article by Canadian historian J.L. Granatstein "Why is Ottawa sinking Kingston's Marine Museum of the Great Lakes?" The irreplaceable property is located on 55 Ontario Street, only 2.7 km from the Penitentiary Museum of Canada, 555 King Street West.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau most likely derailed plans by the Canadian Pacific Railway to demolish Windsor Station in Montreal; Union Station in Toronto and Summerhill Station in North Toronto---the head of the CPR Ian David Sinclair was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Trudeau after Ian David Sinclair refused to demolish the landmarks. And J.L. Granatstein wrote the 1970 book "Marlborough Marathon---One Street Against a Developer" about the CPR's real estate arm Marathon Realty.
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Residential construction will obstruct views of the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour and Lake Ontario.
A private developer plans to remove bars and locking mechanisms from the interior of the Prison for Women; remove walls because the cells are too small to be converted into condominiums; and build a residential tower on the 8-acre grounds of P4W.
The real estate arm of the Ontario Government, called Infrastructure Ontario, is currently selling the Rockwood Asylum and several hundred more "ghost buildings" including the Perth Jail and Guelph Reformatory.
The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes was sold by the Canadian government in January of 2016, see the Globe and Mail article by Canadian historian J.L. Granatstein "Why is Ottawa sinking Kingston's Marine Museum of the Great Lakes?" The irreplaceable property is located on 55 Ontario Street, only 2.7 km from the Penitentiary Museum of Canada, 555 King Street West.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau most likely derailed plans by the Canadian Pacific Railway to demolish Windsor Station in Montreal; Union Station in Toronto and Summerhill Station in North Toronto---the head of the CPR Ian David Sinclair was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Trudeau after Ian David Sinclair refused to demolish the landmarks. And J.L. Granatstein wrote the 1970 book "Marlborough Marathon---One Street Against a Developer" about the CPR's real estate arm Marathon Realty.
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| A Prison for Women jail cell. |
Why the Historic District of Old Quebec is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Landmarks
Le Chateau Frontenac - was one of Canada's grand railway hotels, before the real estate arm of the Canadian Pacific Railway sold the CPR hotels to a multinational corporation Fairmont.
Site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
La Citadelle.
Le Chateau Frontenac - was one of Canada's grand railway hotels, before the real estate arm of the Canadian Pacific Railway sold the CPR hotels to a multinational corporation Fairmont.
Site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
La Citadelle.
Why the Old Town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Landmarks in Lunenburg
Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.
(work in progress)
A replica of the world-famous schooner Bluenose 11.
Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.
(work in progress)
A replica of the world-famous schooner Bluenose 11.
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| My family and I visited Lunenburg, Nova Scotia a few years ago. |
Monday, April 22, 2019
Montreal Expos baseball game, Jarry Park, Montreal - 1970.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
More documents and books that could save irreplaceable buildings in Kingston, Ontario.
The buildings that are endangered:
Kingston Penitentiary
Prison for Women
Church of the Good Thief
Rockwood Asylum
Isabel MacNeill Halfway House
Penitentiary Museum
St. Helen's Complex
Penitentiary Water Tower
Corrections Canada Complex on Union Street.
Collins Bay Institution - The interior of Cellblock Building B-1 at Collins Bay is being demolished. Cellblock B-1 is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building according to the Federal Heritage Building Review Office. (Information about the demolition of the former training centre is from "Volume 111, Section 4, Acquisition of land, buildings and works-March 26, 2019."
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Photographs and an audiovisual inventory are publicly available at Library and Archives Canada. Documentaries about the Pen, Prison for Women, Prison Farms during the 1960's, etc. were filmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Film Board, TV Ontario...the list goes on.
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A PhD dissertation and books written by Dr. Jennifer McKendry:
Kingston Penitentiary
Prison for Women
Church of the Good Thief
Rockwood Asylum
Isabel MacNeill Halfway House
Penitentiary Museum
St. Helen's Complex
Penitentiary Water Tower
Corrections Canada Complex on Union Street.
Collins Bay Institution - The interior of Cellblock Building B-1 at Collins Bay is being demolished. Cellblock B-1 is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building according to the Federal Heritage Building Review Office. (Information about the demolition of the former training centre is from "Volume 111, Section 4, Acquisition of land, buildings and works-March 26, 2019."
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Photographs and an audiovisual inventory are publicly available at Library and Archives Canada. Documentaries about the Pen, Prison for Women, Prison Farms during the 1960's, etc. were filmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Film Board, TV Ontario...the list goes on.
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| I received the above-mentioned documents on April 8, 2019. |
1991 - "William Coverdale and the Architecture of Kingston from 1835 to 1865." (PhD thesis , Department of the History of Art, University of Toronto, 1991. The document is stored at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa.)
Architect William Coverdale designed:
Kingston Penitentiary
Portsmouth Community Correctional Centre
St. Helen's Complex
the Rockwood Asylum
1993 - "An ideal Hospital for the Criminally Insane? Rockwood Lunatic Asylum, Kingston Ontario."
1995 - "With Our Past Before Us -Nineteenth Century Architecture of the Kingston Area."
1996 - "Historic Portsmouth Village, Kingston".
2005 - "Portsmouth Village, Kingston - an Illustrated History."
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Tourism Kingston and city partners have identified the Kingston Penitentiary as a key tourism asset in the city.
Statistics
2018 - 68,000 visitors.
2017 - 100,000 visitors.
2016 - 60,000 visitors.
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The United Nations Agency called UNESCO would have to know the present condition of the former prisons, the museum, halfway houses, church and asylum. Most of the KP buildings are in good condition because they were created with limestone, and the craftsmanship was superb.
Architect William Coverdale designed:
Kingston Penitentiary
Portsmouth Community Correctional Centre
St. Helen's Complex
the Rockwood Asylum
1993 - "An ideal Hospital for the Criminally Insane? Rockwood Lunatic Asylum, Kingston Ontario."
1995 - "With Our Past Before Us -Nineteenth Century Architecture of the Kingston Area."
1996 - "Historic Portsmouth Village, Kingston".
2005 - "Portsmouth Village, Kingston - an Illustrated History."
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Tourism Kingston and city partners have identified the Kingston Penitentiary as a key tourism asset in the city.
Statistics
2018 - 68,000 visitors.
2017 - 100,000 visitors.
2016 - 60,000 visitors.
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The United Nations Agency called UNESCO would have to know the present condition of the former prisons, the museum, halfway houses, church and asylum. Most of the KP buildings are in good condition because they were created with limestone, and the craftsmanship was superb.
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