Brian Marshall, Author at Niagara Now

Arch-i-text: Not what it looked like

In the past few days, I had occasion to take a fairly long walk along the streets of Old Town. As is my wont, this stroll provided the opportunity to do some “house-watching” at

Arch-i-text: The restoration question

When it comes to our built heritage, I am first and foremost a preservationist. In cases where historic materials, elements or details still exist, it is always my preference to save and preserve the old

Arch-i-text: A treasure that needs saving

I was channel surfing recently and stumbled upon a program that caught my attention. It was an American story about an individual who has made a career of being a preservationist. In this

Arch-i-text: Niagaras Neo-Classical

During the rebuilding phase immediately after the War of 1812, a new architectural expression captured the attention of the monied folks here in Canada. This style was buoyed by the public fascination with

Arch-i-text: Signs of your future

Over the last 50 years Niagara-on-the-Lake has charted a path to make the health of our town’s economy dependent on tourism. This is not anything new as tourism has played a vital role in

Arch-i-text: Capturing a sense of place

For many reasons, I am a huge fan of adaptive reuse of our old buildings. Not only does this practice preserve the history and architecture of our shared built heritage, it makes sense

Arch-i-text: Blindsided again

While investigating the whereabouts of a client’s heritage grant I discovered that with no advanced warning or announcement the Region of Niagara had quietly eliminated its heritage grant program. Apparently not to be

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

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