Brian Marshall, Author at Niagara Now

Arch-i-text: A reflection of change

Renovations can change the face of a house. Sometimes for the better, too often for the worse and occasionally, as many decades pass, create a curiosity for those with modern eyes who ask

Arch-i-text: Things that make me wonder

From time to time I come across information about Niagara-on-the-Lake that makes me sit back, scratch my head and wonder. Take, for example, William Street. Other than the fact this street dead-ends at

Arch-i-text: A final argument for livability and affordability

For several weeks now we have been considering the issues facing our towns and cities to build affordable housing in a form that is human scaled and supports livability. Decades of car-centric development

Arch-i-text: One piece of the puzzle

My son is thrilled to pieces with his recently acquired property in an old turn-of-the 20th-century neighbourhood. This is not because it is all he ever wanted in a house. On the contrary,

Arch-i-text: ‘Cellular’ neighbourhoods

What can be done with cities that have grown based on automobile dependency? Sprawling across many square miles, we have created urban environments that have little (or nothing) to do with community. Your

Arch-i-text: 60 years of Modernism

Living in a community that is known for its relative concentration of surviving buildings from the 19th century, it is sometimes easy to neglect the fact that the majority of our dwellings actually

Op-ed: Where do we stand on questions of personal freedom?

There is something ugly rising within my country. Something that I never would have believed that a populace, which has traditionally been a model of inclusivity based upon a live-and-let-live ethos, might be subject

Arch-i-text: Let’s get creative

Spurred by the housing crisis that has fully blossomed over the past few years, during the last couple of weeks I have attempted to present an argument for a co-ordinated address based on

Arch-i-text: Rebuilding community with affordable homes

Far too often when the term “affordable housing” is used, our minds draw an equivalent to the subsidized housing projects that proliferated across this province during the third quarter of the 20th century.

Arch-i-text: An old solution to the housing quandary

Housing Quandary As I was listening to talk radio one day last week, I heard a caller state: “I’m 33 years old and make $130K per year. I have been looking to purchase

Arch-i-text: A new face for King Street?

The streetscapes of a town are the images one conjures from our memory. They evolve over time as new buildings are constructed beside older structures, each a reflection of societal change. The most

Arch-i-text: A living landscape

What makes a town like Niagara-on-the-Lake special for both those who live here and the visitors who flock here annually? Further, why has it been often described as the “prettiest town in Canada?”

Arch-i-text: Following a new vision

Good architecture is the expression of an artistic vision. And similar to art, from hyper-realism to expressional abstract, the field of creative expression in architecture is evolutionary and its success or failure devolves

Arch-i-text: The case for rehabilitation

In the built-heritage field the term “rehabilitation” is generally a reference to work performed on a historic house which returns the dwelling to a useful state by means of repair, modification or alteration.

Arch-i-text: On development, integration and saving trees

When speaking to designing and the landscape, the eminent Canadian architect Ron Thom said, “There are three choices: destroy, alter or integrate. The first option is the one invariably chosen by subdivision developers

Arch-i-text: The question of preservation

I freely admit to having a passion for collecting thoughts, ideas and concepts expressed in the written word. I delight in reading and periodically rereading particularly insightful books and articles contained within a

Arch-i-text: Demolition by neglect in NOTL

In last week’s column I wrote about the Secord-Paxton house in St. Davids. This historic house, now owned by a developer, is being allowed to slowly deteriorate to a point where it will be

Arch-i-text: Touring around St. Davids

It is a bit of a challenge for me to write about St. Davids in the context of this column since in recent years this village has come to typify what can happen

Arch-i-text: A stroll around Queenston

Having strolled the streets in the village last week, let’s take a look at some of the residences along the Niagara River Parkway and York Road in the vicinity of Queenston. We’ll begin with

Arch-i-text: Heritage treasures in Queenston

Queenston was not always the quiet little village we’re familiar with today. Settled principally by Loyalists in the last quarter of the 1700s, it served as the northern terminus for the overland transportation

Arch-i-text: Another casualty?

My original intent for this week’s column was to continue the “walk-around series” I had begun with Virgil, shifting it over to the village of Queenston. In fact, on the weekend, I drove

Arch-i-text: Out and about around Virgil

Last week’s column suggested that other survivors of Virgil’s built heritage could be found off Niagara Stone Road. Following up on this, let’s visit a few of these historic homes. We begin by

Arch-i-text: Take a little walk in Virgil

The subject of last week’s column centred around Virgil and highlighted a couple of houses lost from the heritage of that village. I went on to suggest there were historic “survivors” still standing. To

Arch-i-text: There’s a lesson here

When thinking of Niagara-on-the-Lake many people focus on historic Old Town as the “jewel in the crown” while consigning the majority of the jurisdiction to a distant also-ran status. This is nothing new. In

Arch-i-text: How we got here

Towns evolve over time and their architecture (both residential and commercial) tends to reflect, in part, the cycles of changing economic conditions. During boom periods, larger, more impressive buildings were constructed. But when the

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