Ancestral Roofs

"In Praise of Older Buildings"

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The beat goes on...





I read something in Built Heritage News, an online journal I subscribe to (cnasmith@builtheritagenews.ca).
The item advertised a training course being put on by Parks Canada - National Historic Sites branch. The course is titled Conserving the Modern.
The point was made that more and more heritage buildings are "modern heritage" (1940-1980). As with our hundred-year and older heritage buildings, the issues will be awareness and preservation. Same old conundrum. If we do not know something, we cannot care for it. If we do not care, we will not work to preserve.
I love the buildings in these photos. The white house is found in a post-war subdivision in Belleville called the Golfdale area, built in the exuberant post-war era (you won't be surprised) on a golf club which was once on the edge of town. Most of the houses are the familiar Victory style, but the white house is designed in the Art Moderne or Machine Age or streamlined style. This style features flat roofs and banding to emphasize the horizontal lines. Buildings were streamlined and smooth, with elements reminiscent of the decks and smokestacks of ocean liners that were catching the popular imagination.
The yellow brick apartment building is not far from the subdivision. It has the same profile and several bands of brickwork.
There are a few more houses close by with some of the same stylistic features.
I want to "know" these buildings (I already love them), but cannot find any information about the architect or builder. Work continues...




2 comments:

  1. The white one almost feels like an alien dropped into an existing neighbourhood...

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  2. It's a lovely house nicely sited on a hill. I don't know how to go about finding the architect/builder, but I will.

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