Gaslight regret

Re: The Gaslight District

It’s amazing how notions of culture, architecture and planning have become so degraded, especially for the city planners in charge of the Southworks redevelopment, that respect for our built heritage no longer matters.

In June, Cambridge council and planners suffered collective amnesia, ignored the manufacturing legacy of Galt’s past, and voted for the “excitement in The Gaslight District.”

Mayor Doug Craig and his allies amended building height bylaws to allow HIP Developments to build two 20-storey residential towers. These are unsympathetic to the existing heritage attributes of the site and threaten the integrity and cultural value of Galt’s downtown core.

Council also approved the demolition, total or partial, of three of five of the original Southworks buildings, and the destruction of north wing — the complex’s front entrance.

The heart of preservation lies in the idea of respect for our built heritage. HIP Developments boasts that the Gaslight District is all about heritage preservation. That is sadly disingenuous as its bar for what constitutes “heritage preservation” is decidedly low.

On-site sales launch in mid-September coincides, ironically, with provincial Doors Open event that celebrates local architecture and built heritage.

Reversibility is a guiding principle of heritage conservation — that alterations to heritage buildings and sites must be reversible to original conditions. Regrettably, the demolition of Goldie & McCulloch Co. historic front entrance façade is not a reversible act. There is no coming back from this. Howard Lee Cambridge