Let’s get one thing clear — I am a big supporter of local history.
Which is why I think the local branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario should have it’s say on why the Globe Hotel — aka, the Mountainview — should be preserved.
It doesn’t, however, mean I agree with them.
There have been several photos flying around lately, showing what the Globe looked like at one time, and what it could potentially look like. The basis of these photos is a ‘bird’s eye view’ of Collingwood, circa 1875, though there’s no indication the map — similar to John Haines’ maps of the region — was published in 1875, or was perhaps produced later.
The ‘map’ shows the Globe hotel as two sections, one section fronting Hurontario, the other fronting Huron. The section fronting Hurontario, says the ACO, is the section built in 1865, while the second section may have been built in the early 1870s. One of the photos sent around by the ACO is a postcard, likely taken near the turn of the last century, that shows the building as it stands today. A second photo, which I hope is for illustrative purposes, and not intended as an original representation of the original building as it’s clear some Photoshopping has taken place (involving the first photo), shows what the hotel could have looked like in its original footprint.
There’s also a third photo sent out by the ACO that shows the hotel from a position slightly southwest of the building, with the section the ACO believes as the original structure marked with a red outline. That photo was taken prior to the section built to the east, where the verandahs currently are (which would put it pre-1895).
There’s something that’s been niggling at me the last week, and it could be key to the whole thing.
It’s the trees.
In the postcard images (both the original, and the altered) as well as the pre-1895 photos shows a line of trees along the Hurontario side.
There’s another photo, not sent out by the ACO, but one that the staff at the Collingwood museum showed me, that’s in the military history of Collingwood compiled by the late Chic Simonato, from 1866. It’s of the local battalion created to fend off the Fenians — should they have ever happened into town.
And it shows the trees, as young saplings. In exactly the same spot in relation to the building as the trees (obviously, at this point, mature) in the photos from 30 years later.
Which tells me the original building, built in 1865, is the section of building at the corner of Huron and Hurontario.
It would be great if the building could be saved. When one looks at what others have done to preserve heritage architecture in the downtown — notably Rick and Anke Lex — it’s clearly possible to bring a building back from the brink; I look out my office window at one in particular, the Tremont.
And, as Steve Redman of the ACO told me, we also don’t want to see more faux heritage at that intersection. There’s nothing I can think of that’s been built in the downtown in the last dozen years that truly complements neighbouring heritage architecture; the three buildings in particular — Loblaws, the Temple building and the municipal building with the library — are soulless red brick boxes, completely without character and charm.
But in this case, it can’t be done. The road needs to be widened, and sadly, the Globe is right in the way. It will be knocked down, likely sooner than later.
