Canadian Governor General Roland Michener and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada visit CFB Petawawa-1969.

                                                         

          

               

The Village of Portsmouth may be designated a Heritage Conservation District.

Several individuals are desperate to save the Kingston Penitentiary from demolition and redevelopment. I called the office of my Member of Provincial Parliament a few minutes ago, so that I can obtain and fill out HCD documents that may save many of the historic properties in the Village:
Kingston Pen
Prison for Women
Church of the Good Thief
Isabel MacNeill Halfway House
Corrections Canada Museum
Penitentiary Water Tower
Corrections Canada buildings on  Union Street, including Calderwood and Elmhirst.
Stone Gables
St. Helen's
Rockwood Asylum
The Provincial Campus where the Asylum, Rockwood Villa. etc. are located.

On November 19, 2017 the Portsmouth District Association agreed to the suggestion that the Village should be a Heritage Conservation District:

• Only background research has been completed.
• Next step would be to embark on an area study which would determine viability, boundaries and changes required to the OP  in consultation with Heritage Kingston and the public.
• HCD designation and plan would be approved through a by-law. This is appealable to the Ontario Municipal Board.
• Process would take at least two years.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heritage Properties Working Group-Corporation of the City of Kingston - October 10, 2017.

A discussion around the possible use of Part V (Heritage District) of the Ontario Heritage Act as a means of conserving the tangible and intangible heritage value of the property.

Sherman (Hill) asked if it made sense to protect this site under Part V of the Heritage Act, as a Heritage Conservation District. He noted that a district would better reflect the community feel/use of the site as well as the feeling of containment associated with the site.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Union Station Heritage Conservation District in Toronto. The buildings that are part of the Union Station HCD:
1.)  Union Station
2.)  Royal York Hotel
3.)  The John Street Roundhouse - a gift from the Canadian Pacific Railway to the City. The roundhouse is the orange, U-shaped property on the bottom left. The Canadian National Railway's Spadina Roundhouse was not preserved, it was demolished so that the SkyDome/Rogers Centre could be built.
4.)  The Dominion Public Building, next to Union Station. Sold by the Federal Government of Canada to Larco Investments of Vancouver in 2017.
5.)  CN Tower.

The Union Station Heritage Conservation District, protected by Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hopefully, politicians will designate Portsmouth Village a Heritage Conservation District.

Calderwood is now part of the Corrections Canada Staff College. (Photo from Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office.)

Left section, redrawn from National Archives of Canada National Map Collection. Document by Michel Benoit. The writing in blue ink is my own. Since 1895, the Kingston Penitentiary has lost property due to the 1976 Olympic Games at Portsmouth Harbour; residential development, and the transfer of limestone quarry land to Queen's University in 1969. In the 1989 map the following landmarks and landscapes are pointed out: Kingston Penitentiary; Prison for Women; Corrections Canada Staff College on Union Street; Penitentiary Museum and the Halfway House.

Books about the architecture of Kingston, Ontario:

A book by Dr. Jennifer McKendry.

By Dr. H.C. Burleigh

By Mika, Nick & Mika, Helma.

By Mika, Nick & Mika, Helma.

The Dominion Public Building in Toronto was sold.

Laws that should have prevented the sale of Dominion Public Building.
1.)   Designation as a Classified Federal Heritage Building - 1983.
2.)  The Dominion Public Building is protected by Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act as part of the Union Station Heritage Conservation District - 2006.
3.)  One Front Street West is protected by Part 1V, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act - May 10, 2017. The Prison Chapel at 20 Strachan Avenue in Toronto was saved by the City of Toronto Mayor and Councillors, because of Part 1V, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act; and the chapel is part of the Liberty Village Park.

 Reasons why the Union Station Heritage Conservation District was created:
"Union Station occupies a central position in Toronto's urban landscape. Located between the Financial District, Entertainment District, the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood and post-industrial waterfront, the Union Station District is a significant cultural landscape..." "Several other grand projects were planned in conjunction with Union Station...these included the Royal York Hotel (1929) and the Dominion Public Building (1935), both associated with rail activities; one was the flagship hotel of the Canadian Pacific Railway's hospitality developers, and the other was a federal customs house and administration building." (From: Union Station District Plan, May 2006).

St. Helen's, Ontario Regional Headquarters, 440 King Street W. Kingston. (Photo from flickr.com).

St. Helen's and Stone Gables were Corrections Canada properties, according to Page 208 of the document "A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety" by Rob Sampson.

The Ontario Heritage Act and institutions in the province.

Heritage designation:

• RECOGNIZES the importance of a property to the local community.
• PROTECTS the property's cultural heritage value;
• ENCOURAGES good stewardship and conservation;
• PROMOTES knowledge and understanding about the property.

Under section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, the  following steps have to be undertaken to designate a real property in Ontario that should be preserved:

1.)  Identifying the property as a candidate for designation;

2.)  Researching and evaluating the property;

3.)  Serving Notice of Intention to Designate, with an opportunity for objection;

4.)  Passing and registering the designation bylaw;

5.)  Listing the property on the municipal register; 

6.)  Listing the property on the provincial register.

Perth Jail

Ottawa Gaol on Nicholas Street

Don Jail on Gerrard Street, Toronto

Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women

Bowmanville Prisoner of War Camp or Camp 30; and Reformatory.

Guelph Reformatory
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Part 1V Designated properties listed on the City of Kingston, Ontario Heritage Properties Register - January 2018:

In my opinion, the Corrections Canada buildings, church, Rockwood and the water tower should be untouchable.

St. Helen's - 440 King Street West.
Stone Gables - 462 King Street West.
Church of the Good Thief - 735 King Street West.
Rockwood House and numerous listed buildings (Kingston Psychiatric Hospital Grounds). - 752 King Street West,
Prison for Women - 40 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard.
Queen's University West Campus - Penitentiary Water Tower - 244 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard. Also listed as 511/535 Union Street.
Gardener's Building and Coach House - Elmhirst House (fed) - 443 Union Street.

Calderwood was transferred from the Department of Public Works to Corrections Canada during the year 1951. The building on 443 Union Street was converted to a Penitentiary Staff College.

Elmhirst House, another Corrections Canada building on Union Street. The foundation of Elmhirst House is limestone.

The Government of Ontario saved a Toronto prison chapel.

I cannot understand why the Province of Ontario will not intervene and stop the redevelopment of the Prison for Women, 40 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard, Kingston.

Liberty Village Park in Toronto. The former Toronto Central Prison Chapel is the red building on the left.

IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT, R.S.O., 1990, CHAPTER 0.18 AND 20 STRACHAN AVENUE, CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

NOTICE OF PASSING OF BY-LAW
To: Canada Lands Company CLC Ltd.                                        Ontario Heritage Foundation
200 King Street West                                                                    10 Adelaide Street East
Suite 1509                                                                                     Toronto, Ontario
Toronto, Ontario                                                                           M5C 1J3
M5H 3T4

Inglis Limited
1901 Minnesota Court
Mississauga, Ontario
L5N 3A7

Take notice that the Council of the Corporation of the City of Toronto has passed By-law No. 1996-0378 to designate 20 Strachan (Central Prison Chapel) as being of architectural and historical value or interest.  Dated at Toronto this 27th day of August 1996.
(signed)
City Clerk

Barbara Hall, Mayor of Toronto
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Historical Name - Central Prison Chapel
Constructed - 1877
Architect - Kivas Tully
Original owner - Province of Ontario
Original use - Institutional (prison).
Current use - vacant
Heritage Category - Notable Heritage Property (Category B)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kivas Tully also designed the University of Toronto's Trinity College, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan; and he designed Cobourg, Ontario's Victoria Hall:

Victoria Hall, 55 King Street West, Cobourg, Ontario. (Photo from Wikipedia.)

Historic buildings in Kingston Ontario.

An Environmental Assessment of Corrections Canada land surrounding Kingston Penitentiary recommended that the land should remain public:

All of the land within the red lines was restored to green space for the public to enjoy, see the Internet article "Kingston Penitentiary Harbourfront Property-CSC-SCC" 2015.  "The remediated area will no longer be leased for boat slips or for long-term boat storage, so the refreshed space will be open for the public to enjoy!" The penitentiary is across the street from the Prison for Women; and the Pen will be one of the landmark buildings if the Village of Portsmouth becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Save the Pen, Prison for Women, St. Helen's and Stone Gables, Corrections Canada Buildings on Union Street, the Isabel MacNeill Halfway House, the Penitentiary Water Tower and the Penitentiary Museum for the following reasons:

1.)  The Kingston Penitentiary is a National Historic Site of Canada and a Classified Federal Heritage Building and the other buildings mentioned are either Classified or Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings and provincially recognized buildings.

2.)  A United Nations agency called UNESCO may designate the Village of Portsmouth a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site. A representative from Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government signed the 'UN Convention for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage" treaty in 1976.

Local politicians and architectural preservationist Dr. Jennifer McKendry are desperately trying to save historic limestone buildings in the Village of Portsmouth, Kingston.

The Kingston Pen, Prison for Women, Penitentiary Water Tower, Corrections Canada Museum, St. Helen's and Stone Gables, the Corrections Canada Training Centre on Union Street, Isabel MacNeill Halfway House for Women and the Church of the Good Thief are all clustered in one area. Which means that UNESCO may designate the Village of Portsmouth a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also, the buildings and tower were all made with local limestone; they were all built by Kingston Pen inmates, they have all been given federal, provincial or municipal heritage protection, and they can all last for thousands of years because of the construction material (limestone) and craftsmanship.

O Canada We Stand on Guard for Thee.

How to preserve Canada's history and culture:
Save all of the remaining one-room schoolhouses in Ontario. I attended a one-room schoolhouse in Easton's Corners, Ontario in 1956.

I am 5 years old in 1956.

The one-room schoolhouse in the  Ontario village where I lived. I took this photo during the early 1990's.

Do not permit the construction of condominiums behind to the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa; or the residential towers on the Dominion Public Building, 1 Front Street Toronto.

Recognize the historic value of more cities and towns in Ontario. Do not let Infrastructure Ontario sell the Perth Jail or Rockwood Asylum or the Guelph Reformatory. The Ontario government, and politicians including David Crombie and John Sewell saved the Don Jail in Toronto. The Don Jail is a filming location for the television program "Suits".

 I have relatives who worked for Canada Post (my Dad), Canada Customs (my sister-in-law), and Statistics Canada (my aunt)---working for Manpower or any other Federal Government Department was considered a sacred duty, an honour. You even had to swear an Oath of Allegiance with one hand placed on a Bible before you were hired. I was proud to be a federal government worker, a civil servant, a public servant. When government employees retire, they are given very appreciative, lovely letters from the Prime Minister of Canada; and from their superiors at the department where they employed. (Below, a letter that my husband received from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau):

     "On the occasion of your retirement from the Public Service, I wish to thank you on behalf of the Government and people of Canada for 28 years of loyal service and to extend to you our best wishes.

(signed)  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau." A replica of Canada's Coat of Arms is embossed in gold leaf ,and the Seal of the Prime Minister of Canada is also embossed in gold leaf. The letter is framed.

Have Fisheries and Oceans Canada reclaim the 1,000 lighthouses that were declared "surplus" by the DFO.

 Forget about building a new Civic Hospital on the grounds of the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. Seventeen Agriculture Canada Experimental farms have already been divested.

 ,