Motion calls for heritage protection of London's city hall building
CBC
As London city staff and council look at different options to build a new city hall, a local heritage advocate wants to make sure the existing municipal building isn't reduced to rubble in the process.
At its Sept. 11 meeting, the city's Community Advisory Committee on Planning (CAPS) passed a motion written by architecture aficionado Sandra Miller. Her motion seeks council support for heritage protection of 300 Dufferin Ave., an address better known to Londoners as City Hall.
The 12-storey building at the corner of Dufferin and Wellington Streets has some protection because it's located in the West Woodfield Heritage Conservation District. However, Miller would like the building further protected with an individual designation.
"I'm a longtime fan of the building," she said.
Her interest in the building began when she was a university student new to London. She took a downtown walking tour and city hall was the first stop.
"I was just kind of captured by this building," she said. "I thought it was very unusual and interesting. It's always been my touchstone for modern architecture interest in London. It's a landmark building and we don't pay a lot of attention to it."
Miller believes the building has a clear case for designation and meets the criteria under the province's heritage rules.
Built in 1971, it is one of the few examples of Expressionist architecture, a movement that tried to challenge existing forms and express broader themes in building designs. London city hall's design has two interconnecting parts, an oval base clad in dark granite from Quebec which represents the people. The tower clad in white marble from the Ottawa area represents the city staff who serve them.
The building was designed by Philip Carter Johnson, a London architect who won the Massey Medal in architecture. The award is now known as the Governor General's Medal in Architecture, the country's highest honour for the trade. He also designed a number of prominent places of worship in London including what is now Or Shalom Synagogue on Huron Street and London Gospel Temple on Grand Avenue (since demolished).
This YouTube video was produced by city staff during the building's 50th anniversary in 2021, a celebration that had to be scaled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The celebration was anything but subdued when London's city hall opened in 1971. Dufferin Avenue was blocked off to traffic for a four-day party that included a dance floor and beer garden. Then Premier John Robarts showed up to help lay the cornerstone.
Interior shots of city hall from that era emit a vibe similar to the show Mad Men: modernist furniture, wall-to-wall carpet and ashtrays placed where anyone might sit down, including the bathroom stalls.
And while Miller and others may admire the building and want it protected, its future is far from certain.
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