Background:
The third Monday of February is the Canadian Heritage Day, a day to recognize and pay tribute to our land and landmarks, our nation's history, our diverse cultures and our traditions. Heritage Day coincides with Ontario Heritage Week, which takes place annually during the third week of February (February 17 to 23, 2020).
In recognition of the heritage celebrations, proclamation of Heritage Week by City Council has been requested. Special events/activities hosted by heritage-related organizations and places of attractions will be updated on the City of Windsor webpage.
In conjunction with the heritage celebrations, for many years City Council has recognized individuals and organizations for long-time heritage stewardship and/or welldone rehabilitations, or for their contributions to successful heritage redevelopment projects through the Built Heritage Awards.
New this year, the City of Windsor held a campaign to invite public nominations of properties. Advertisement and marketing was made through a media release, to public libraries, community centers, City of Windsor facilities, and across City of Windsor channels. In concert with the public nomination, members of the Heritage Committee refined the criteria for the nominations to three categories of Awards, being Heritage Conservation (focused on preservation, rehabilitation or restoration efforts), Adaptive Re-use for properties that have been converted for new used in a heritage context, and the Honour Category for properties that are important contribution to community revitalization and or build awareness and education of heritage. All properties were to generally adhere to Standards & Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada.
Heritage Conservation:
Properties that demonstrate extraordinary or exemplary conservation (preservation, rehabilitation or restoration) of the existing built heritage resource, while protecting its heritage value.
- Preservation work that protects, maintains and stabilizes the original form, material and integrity of a historic place
- Rehabilitation work involving sensitive adaptation of an historic place or individual component for a continuing or compatible contemporary use.
- Restoration work that reveals, recovers or represents the state of an historic place or individual component as it appeared at a particular period in its history
- The property and buildings are well maintained
Adaptive Re-use:
Properties that maintain original features while introducing new features that support the re-use of the property.
- Repurposing a building while retaining its heritage character