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Jack Rozdilsky of York University, Canada, looks to lessons following the St. Anne’s Church fire in Toronto, from moving activities to a GoFundMe campaign to support rebuilding, reports the Canadian Architect.
Canadian Architect writes:
On June 9, St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood was substantially damaged by fire. The church was designated as a National Historic Site in 1997, in part due to its unique collection of murals that included rare examples of religious-themed Group of Seven artwork. A historian characterized the fire as a ‘catastrophe for Canadian architecture, Canadian art and Canadian heritage.’ … The study of protection of historic sites during disaster tells us that cultural heritage is a fixed and non renewable resource. In St. Anne’s Church, a collection of religious murals — including some by the Group of Seven — form part of Toronto’s cultural patrimony that has now been lost.
Preventive conservation…
Inspiration for recovery…
A cautionary tale
… The St. Anne’s fire is a cautionary tale about what happens when we know how to reduce risks to safeguard our cultural heritage, but then for a variety of reasons we do not.
