Orgotten, Changed & Restored Spaces-the importance of historical sites

Please add in the information below and information from the attached presentation. Please go into detail, but do not be repetitive, about forgotten, changed and restored spaces and the importance of having historical sites.





Importance of having protected historical sites and their link as memory tools: Why do we fight to keep them?



Assailed on all sides by these threats to any peace of mindpeople cling more and more to the familiar and the loved. Better the old teddy bear with the missing ear than the spiky new model of the space-ship. Better the shabby old building which also part of the landscape than the brash modern construction which seems to shrieka?Notice me, I am new.a



Part of a buildingas living legacy is its contribution to social history and a communityas identity. Built for the principle reason of bringing people together within a space and to experience it, they can become containers from which memory remains long after they have gone. Theatres, such as the old Eglinton Theatre, turned Eglinton Grand, exemplifies this need, this desire to keep those experiences alive; to bring the past to the present tense.



We chose to hold onto to these physical spaces because the spirit of memory resides there. And for those whom do not share these memories, imagination becomes the link to what was and what that means now.



Edward S. Casey: a?What is remembered is well-grounded if it is remembered as being in a particular place a a place that may well take precedence over the time of its occurrencea?



Most memories, if not all, are fuelled by the recollection of place. This is why it is so important to preserve historical buildings. For, if we take away the building we take away its history; there no longer exist a place of memory. By maintaining or restoring the structure of a building, the stories of the people who gave it life still have concrete meaning. And most times, while people as ties to the past no longer are present, a? buildings as a tie to the past are more likely to remain.a?



What is worth saving? This is fundamental question, for anything and everything can disappear. Not all buildings can survive time or the

ignorance of human nature, always striving to move forward. However, the ones that do remain prove that the modern public experience isnat always a match for the anxious call for memory. A result of this anxiety is the need to preserve, maintain, restore and recycle remnants of historic buildings. Feeling obliged to hold on to whatever remains there are possible, saving buildings from destruction at times, makes up for what we take for granted. We hold onto them because we feel they contain history worth continuing to be remembered.



a?Despite efforts, many historic buildings disappear. And sometimes, all that remains are a few paper records.a?



By protecting whatever we can of these historic buildings, their social history does not end. They become the monuments of those long forgotten and abandoned. What we try to save, we canat always. But those that can be, are given a second chance. We save them, because we are not done experiencing them. Because people want the next generation to see it in its glory as it has always been; no matter the current state or function of the structure. Itas about carrying forth the essence of place and memory.



Finances and disinterest are often the reasons why many historic buildings do not win the battle against demolishing and neglect. They become new spaces with merely the physical structure as any associations to the past or they disappear without a trace; because we let them. By taking away something culturally preserved for so long, people lose a bit of history, without realizing it. By protecting and preserving historical buildings, we still have connection between the past and present.



The Eglinton Grand is no longer the theatre in used to be; it is now used for a different venue. However, because of its protection and restoration in fitting with the present, physically, it has not changed its character. By having been brought to the present it carries on an illusion of the past and a time of simplicity and elegance; when attention to detail was truly important in architecture.



Like the many other historical structures still standing, it contains more than history. These buildings were made to be strong and durable against the physical and sometimes social elements of time. Buildings now, it seems, are meant to morph with changing times; always recreated into something new to reflect a societys modernity. By preserving, at least, the outer physical framework of historical buildings, we can see and understand it as as a monument of the past standing in the space of the present. Because these buildings reflect another time we know there is history to them. And associated to that history, is memory. Having a historically building still present allows people to experience it using their imagination. Without a physical presence, nothing can be imagined or felt.



There is always going to be an association between historical site and memory. Our collective memory shapes our identity, which is shaped by our sense and perception of place. When that place is gone, all that can sustain it is memory. Noticeably, the less people remember it, the more it is forgotten; specifically when it is replaced by an entirely different physical structure, weakening any ties with the past. By protection it, there is always still something to be remembered.



a?To strive, to seek, to find and NOT to yield.a?

This is the essence of the historical building.