Doors Open Canada: Celebrating our Architectural Heritage

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A heightened historical sensitivity to the built environment must be part of any successful development plans for our cities. As the future role of Canadian cities in our national economy continues to be debated, the objectives behind such catch phrases as "smart growth," "sustainable development," and "liveable communities," must pay more than lip service to the recognition and preservation of heritage buildings and the commitment to inspiring architecture. Doors Open events give voice to these ideals.

Doors Open first arrived in Canada three years ago through the efforts of a dedicated group in Toronto who attended a presentation on the success of the event in Scotland. In 1999, a visit to that country's Doors Open Days soon followed, setting the stage for the launch of Toronto's event the next year. The program was co-ordinated by the City of Toronto's Culture Division with the support of a Steering Committee organized by Heritage Toronto (see C. Nasmith, "Doors Open Spreads from Europe to Toronto," Heritage, Winter 2002). By 2002, the event had exploded with over 100 buildings and 130, 000 visitors participating. Sites included such landmark buildings as the famous Victorian-era Don Jail, the 1892 Flatiron (Gooderham) Building, and that magnificent example of civil engineering, the R.C. Harris Filtration Plant National Historic Site. (For a detailed description of the Toronto event see John Sewell's Doors Open Toronto: Illuminating the City's Great Spaces, Knopf Canada, 2002.)

In 2001, other Ontario cities began organizing Doors Open programs—including Port Hope and Ottawa—and the Ontario Heritage Foundation soon followed with a Doors Open Ontario program aimed at widening the celebration of architecture and community throughout the province. From April to October, 2002, 17 cities and towns are organizing a Doors Open event, from the Coniagas Mine Shaft in Cobalt to the Hiram Walker Warehouse/Walkerville Brewing Company in Windsor.

The City of Ottawa's launch of its first Doors Open this past May saw 88 building owners and 60,000 visitors join in. The newly amalgamated city faced unique challenges as organizers worked to co-ordinate a selection of buildings balanced between the more urban/suburban parts of the city and the newer rural areas lying outside the greenbelt.

A group of volunteers got to work promoting the event in Ottawa, eventually meeting with Mayor Bob Chiarelli, who quickly saw the event's potential as a unifying force for the new city. It became a perfect vehicle for residents to discover and celebrate the divergent communities that Ottawa now comprises. "Doors Open connects our heritage and history to the people," stated Mayor Chiarelli. "A city with no heritage has no soul, and Doors Open allows us to connect with our heritage through the memories and stories of buildings that really belong to all of us."

As in Toronto and Kingston, the City of Ottawa committed staff and resources to the co-ordination of the event. Buildings ranged from outstanding examples of particular architectural styles, like the distinguished Art Deco Embassy of France or the unique early 20th-century modem design of St. Clare's Mission Church in the West Carleton area of the city. Others were selected for their unique functions, like the Fleet Street Water Pumping Station built in 1874, or the National Research Council Wind Tunnel. The Heritage Canada Foundation welcomed 1,200 visitors to its handsome new heritage home.

In the city of Guelph, Doors Open was a joint initiative between the Guelph Arts Council and the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC). As elsewhere, Doors Open proved a huge success. According to Arts Council executive director Sally Wismer, the prime motivation for the council's involvement was the opportunity to increase heritage awareness in the city as part of the celebration of Guelph's 175th Anniversary. Ms. Wismer noted that the success of the event exceeded their expectations and was a much easier sell than Discover Guelph: Be A Tourist In Your Town, a less than successful event, also undertaken with the support of Guelph's Visitor and Convention Services. Discover Guelph offered residents a chance to visit ten to twelve tourist attractions in the city for a small fee—the cost of a five-dollar passport. Ms. Wismer concluded that, although it was free of charge, Doors Open's success lay in its unique appeal. "It's hard to explain what it is about Doors Open. I think that on a subconscious level, we all want to get inside those places that are part of our everyday lives but we're only able to see from the outside. People are still talking about their experience two months later."

Notwithstanding the success of Doors Open events across Ontario to date, several organizers identified the need for more private-sector sponsorship or more support from their municipalities. Despite the invaluable role of the Ottawa Citizen, CBC Radio One and CBC première chaîne in promoting the event in Ottawa as patron sponsors, private-sector dollars are still needed to defray the costs of producing, and especially marketing, the event. In Toronto, year two brought the Toronto Star on board as a lead sponsor, a position the newspaper has continued to maintain. Arguably, the success of the inaugural year makes that kind of support easier to secure.

Jan Grey, director of community, marketing and business development and head of Doors Open Ontario at the Ontario Heritage Foundation (OHF), expressed similar frustration with the lack of available funding. Ms. Grey explained that the foundation wanted to build on the success of Doors Open Toronto. "The key factors in the foundation's mandate where we saw Doors Open events fitting were the promotion of education and the objective of creating access and awareness around heritage in Ontario." The OHF saw the event as a new heritage tourism opportunity. The bulk of the funding came from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, which also helped find sponsors for the printing of the Doors Open Ontario event guide. The guide invites tourists to visit as many sites as possible: "Select the Doors Open Ontario events that pique your interest ... and discover community heritage." As well as the event guide (to which participating towns and cities paid $1,500 each for coverage), the OHF provided a comprehensive resource kit comprising valuable information pertaining to the development of project literature, advertising, volunteer tips, signage and other matters. Ms. Grey reports that 30 additional communities have already approached the foundation about participating next year.

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