“On every Nov. 11 since that day, I have shared the evening with a bottle of whisky, those memories and the words that were written down that evening,” writes Brian Marshall.

“Growth and change in any town may be inevitable. However, those forces must be thoughtfully and consistently managed in order to preserve its unique character and cultural landscapes while evolving into a greater version of itself,” writes Brian Marshall.

“It’s telling that MacKay-Lyons, whose main body of work is unabashedly contemporary, adheres strictly to this sense of place as derived from understanding its existing (or historic) vernacular materials, building culture and forms,” writes Brian Marshall.

“We are being asked to accept the partial destruction of the Queen-Picton heritage district’s place identity on the very questionable altar of a cultural institution’s ask,” writes Brian Marshall.

“Properly executed, the restoration of this vital and unique piece of heritage will stand as a lasting legacy bequeathed to all Canadians,” writes Brian Marshall of the restoration of the David Secord House.

“As citizens, we have only two formal venues through which we can express our opinion. The first is our vote, once every four years. The second is through our voice,” writes Brian Marshall.

“Bluntly, the solutions here are many and varied — all a matter of sympathetic architectural design with delicate treatment of form, massing, scale and materiality, focused on blending in versus standing out,” writes Brian Marshall.

“There is an extremely disturbing trend in this province directed at marginalizing, diminishing or outright destruction of our shared history, built heritage and cultural landscapes,” writes Brian Marshall.

“The more public input that is provided at this juncture, the more likely it is that staff — principally Fiona Main, senior policy planner — will be able to meet their published timeline,” writes Brian Marshall, in the first of a series of columns analyzing the town’s latest official plan draft.

in many jurisdictions, the sheer volume of important heritage assets which potentially stood to be lost was such that only a small fraction could be protected via Part IV designation.

The proponents of the Royal George Theatre redesign “are slavishly following the flawed protocols of the Venice Charter to produce a design which, in the view of several architects of my acquaintance, is utterly inappropriate within the context of the Queen–Picton historic district,” writes Brian Marshall.

“Building more of the same type of homes faster will do nothing but add to the current glut on the market of properties that a significant segment of our society simply cannot afford or, in other cases, do not want,” writes Brian Marshall.

“Good design costs no more than bad design, but bad design will scar a street, neighbourhood and community for decades,” writes Brian Marshall.

“The scale, massing and, as mentioned earlier, the height of the proposed design are acceptable, particularly given the break-up of the building’s faces into smaller staggered elements,” writes Brian Marshall.