Looking After Our Heritage One Building At A Time

FORGIVE ME FOR WANTING TO LOOK AFTER OUR STUFF - IT HAS BEEN A LIFETIME OF CONSERVATION BASED ON TIGHT ECONOMY

OPERA HOUSE DOES DESERVE BETTER CARE

     I DON'T GO TO BED AT NIGHT FRUSTRATED. I DON'T WAKE UP THAT WAY EITHER. I DON'T GO TO WORK EACH DAY FRUSTRATED, OR EXPECT TO BE FRUSTRATED BY THE DAY'S CHORES. I GET FRUSTRATED AT TIMES, WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE WAY WE LOOK AT MONEY AND INVESTMENT TODAY. THE WAY WE SPEND MUCH MORE MONEY THAN WE MAKE, AND FAIL TO PROTECT WHAT HAS COST US A LOT OF CASH TO PURCHASE AND MAINTAIN. EVERYTHING SEEMS EXPENDABLE TODAY, EVEN THE EXPENSIVE STUFF THAT IS SUPPOSED TO LAST A LONG, LONG TIME. I CAN REMEMBER A LANDLADY I HAD IN TORONTO, WHEN I WAS GOING TO UNIVERSITY, BEING FURIOUS WITH ME BECAUSE I TOSSED OUT THE PLASTIC MILK BAGS. RITA USED THEM AS FREEZER BAGS. SHE HAD LIVED THROUGH THE DEPRESSION, AND SURVIVED ON A MODEST INCOME, BY BEING RESOURCEFUL. I LEARNED FROM HER, AND MY OWN LIFE EXPERIENCES, AND IT SAVED US AT TIMES WHEN THE CHIPS WERE DOWN…..AND CASH IN SHORT SUPPLY. BUT IT DRIVES ME NUTS TO SEE HOW MUCH MONEY WE WASTE THESE DAYS, AND IN SOME CASES, HOW ARE ASSETS ARE VIEWED BY THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR STEWARDSHIP. HEY, IF THIS ONE BREAKS, WE'LL BUY ANOTHER.

     FOLLOWING THANKSGIVING 1989, I RESIGNED FROM MANAGER OF WOODCHESTER VILLA AND MUSUEUM IN BRACEBRIDGE. I WAS RELUCTANT TO LEAVE, AND THE CURRIES HAD SPENT A LOT OF TIME UP ON THAT HILL, OVERLOOKING THE MUSKOKA RIVER, AT THE SOUTH END OF MANITOBA STREET.

     TWO YEARS BEFORE I LEFT, WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO CLOSE OFF THE SECOND STORY VERANDAH, BECAUSE IT WAS DEEMED UNSAFE. TO THAT POINT, WE USED TO ALLOW OUR VISITORS TO PASS AROUND THE ENTIRE OCTAGONAL BUILDING, WHICH AFFORDED A NICE VIEW OVER THE RIVER AND SOUTH END OF DOWNTOWN. WE WERE ALLOWED TO LET PEOPLE ON THE VIEWING AREA, OVER TOP OF THE FRONT PORCH; BUT AFTER AWHILE, EVEN THAT WAS CONSIDERED DANGEROUS. SO WE COULD ONLY OPEN THE DOOR, AND PUT A ROPE ACROSS THE OPENING, TO KEEP EVERYONE INSIDE THE BUILDING.

     AS IT WAS CONSIDERED A PROBLEM FOR BRACEBRIDGE COUNCIL IN 1989, IT BECAME A PROBLEM WELL INTO THE NEW CENTURY, WHEN A MASSIVE SNOWFALL IN THE EARLY WINTER, CAUSED THE VERANDAH TO COLLAPSE. NOW I CAN'T SAY FOR SURE THAT THE TOWN DIDN'T MAKE NECESSARY REPAIRS, BUT I'M GOING TO GAMBLE AN OPINION HERE, AND SUGGEST THE SHORTFALLS IN THE SUPPORT STRUCTURE WERE NEVER FULLY ADDRESSED, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF BEING PAINTED. PAINT DOESN'T HELP WITH SNOW LOAD. AS A RESULT OF THIS SHORTFALL OF MAINTENANCE, A WONDERFUL OLD HOUSE, ONE OF VERY FEW OF THIS STYLE IN NORTH AMERICA, HAS CLOSED AND THE INITIAL ESTIMATES ON REPAIRS TO THE WHOLE HOUSE, MAKE IT A VERY DAUNTING RESTORATION. IT IS BY ALL MEANS CHEAPER TO CLOSE THAN TO UPGRADE. WITH A HERITAGE EASEMENT ON THE PROPERTY, WELL SIR, THIS IS A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR. WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO?

     IF THE HOUSE HAD BEEN PROPERLY MAINTAINED AND INVESTED IN, EACH YEAR, BY THE TOWN, THE FORCED CLOSURE MIGHT NOT HAVE HAPPENED. IT'S EMBARRASSING FOR THE TOWN, I'M SURE, AND NO ONE THAT I KNOW FROM THE ORIGINAL MUSEUM FOUNDING, BACK IN THE EARLY 1980'S, HAS SIGNED TO RESURRECT THE OLDTIMER BACK TO ITS FORMER GLORY. WELL, EXCEPT ONE. THAT'S RIGHT. THIS MOUTHPIECE. AS I WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE BRACEBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN 1978, ON THE ORIGINAL BOARD, WITH THE MISSION TO SAVE THE FORMER HOME OF HENRY BIRD, OF BIRDS WOOLLEN MILL, I VOLUNTEERED TO ASSIST THE TOWN IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE AFTER THE COLLAPSE. AS A FORMER MANAGER OF THE SITE, AND CO-AUTHOR OF ITS HERITAGE BOOK, I THOUGHT IT WAS THE LEAST I COULD DO, TO PUT-UP OR SHUT-UP. AND WITH ME WOULD HAVE COME MY TWO LADS, WHO SPENT MANY HOURS ON SITE, AND SUZANNE, WHO CONDUCTED HUNDREDS OF TOURS, PLANNED SPECIAL EVENTS, AND RAN A CHILDRENS' PROGRAM ALMOST SINGLE HANDED. BUT NO, THEY DIDN'T NEED OUR HELP. I LOVED WOODCHESTER AS IF IT HAD BEEN MY OWN HOME. BUT NO MATTER HOW MANY DISCUSSIONS WE HAD ABOUT UPGRADES, THE GRANTS WERE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN, AND AS THEY TOLD ME FREQUENTLY, THERE WERE MANY OTHER DEMANDS ON TOWN COFFERS. I UNDERSTOOD THIS. WE HAD AN HISTORIC BUILDING WITH ONGOING REQUIREMENTS FOR ITS UPKEEP. WE HADN'T PLANNED CORRECTLY FOR THE FUTURE, WHEN WE SWUNG OPEN THOSE DOORS ON THAT FIRST DAY AS A MUSEUM, ESTIMATING JUST HOW MUCH MAINTENANCE WOULD COST. AND THE KIND OF RESTORATION WE NEEDED, EVERY FEW YEARS, COULDN'T BE COMPLETED BY JUST ANY CONTRACTOR. THERE WERE CONTRACTORS WHO SPECIALIZED IN RESTORATIONS TO HERITAGE BUILDINGS.

OPERA HOUSE OPINION MEANS I'M A TROUBLE MAKER

     When I was a kid, it was well established in our household, that we lived pay cheque to pay cheque. We made rent, had food on the table each morning and night. I didn't go to school hungry, and we always had presents under the Christmas tree. I always flattered myself that we were semi-poor, a degree above really poor. As I had never been rich, it just seemed like my lot in life. We always had food essentials, and I had clothes and shoes, so it wasn't as bad as what some kids have to contend. I only ever knew I was from a poor family, when I got to the school yard, and the kids from better off families let me know just how poor we were…..and how poor people were supposed to act. They made fun of my shoes, my shirts, pants, and coats, which they liked to rip off my back, because I was allegedly, and in their express opinion, a deserving target of scorn and prejudice. They thought I should feel ashamed to even show up to school. I was more depressed about being bullied, than not having better clothes. My family did what they could, and purchased what they could afford. I didn't have a problem with that, but my classmates certainly did.

     And I was an apartment dweller, in fact. As we didn't own property, we were definitely of lesser consideration. "That kid over there is a renter." Funny thing. My parents certainly must have known we were of meagre income, without savings and material possessions, but we seemed to be chipper to the contrary. I certainly didn't feel we were poor, at least amongst my few close friends, despite the purposely loud chortling of the school yard upper echelon, when I showed up wearing my new "cheap" shoes. I just tried my best and didn't worry too much about their opinion of my family's economy.

     As far as being of modest economic, what I did know, was that I had two pair of everything, but only one coat, one pair of mitts, one pair of shoes, and a pencil case with one of everything I needed. When I went out in the morning, my mother yelled at me, "Don't you dare rip those new pants." Now new to Merle meant, that they had been purchased within the previous twelve months. Some days she would remind me not to come home with "a rip in your nice jacket," or that I shouldn't come home at all, if I got a soaker with my similarly new (year old shoes). Truth was, we didn't have money to replace what I destroyed at play. Merle would meet me at the door, after school, (if she happened to be home, because she worked also), and if, God forbid, I had a knee torn out of my pants, or a rip in my coat, geez, she'd yell at me in front of my friends, for not looking after my stuff. It was as if she assumed, I went out specifically in the morning, to ruin my clothes, so she'd have to make patches. I only had one a-hole call me "patches," and he only did it once. I learned how to box, as it became a necessity in the schoolyard. It goes with being considered poor. Like I say, I didn't feel disadvantaged but I knew these overseers were probably right with their assessment, which undoubtedly came from their parents…..reviewing mine over cocktails. To this day, the only real impact of those days, was my intense, stalwart guardianship of material resources. If I lost a mitt, I went without. If I ruined my boots, playing road hockey, I made it through the rest of the winter with wet feet, every day. If I had to have twenty patches on a coat, well by golly, I wore it proudly. Our family was, if nothing else, resourceful, and careful with whatever we had, right down to what made it to the dinner table each night. It's how I was brought up, and we all survived some very lean years, to eventually prosper. But I have no regrets about learning to live with less.

     What does this have to do with the Gravenhurst Opera House? Well, you see, I can't change who I am. I'm a conservator. I have managed a museum and sports hall of fame, on a shoestring budget, ninety percent of the time as a volunteer, and I knew then how to keep everything in working order, and conserved under my watch. And it was a careful, painstaking watch. I was the steward of these historic resources, and there was no minimizing my responsibilities. I was persnickety with everything of historical significance, just as I am today as an antique collector / dealer. I know the necessity for careful handling of those items of age. Whether it is a building or an armchair, an old quilt, or a handmade church pew, I treat the materials with respect. I don't cut corners, and I have rescued many antique pieces that were about to be destroyed, by one circumstance or another, and felt wonderful to see them granted a reprieve into the future.

     It's just the way I am. The way I was brought up. When I suggest there has been far too little attention in terms of conservation, to the well being of the historic Opera House, here in Gravenhurst, since this most recent roof repair began, it comes from considerable experience…..not just from someone perpetually angry at the present town council. They don't like me because I'm critical. I couldn't care less, frankly. Whether they like me or not, doesn't negate the actuality, they are not showing good stewardship whatsoever, to one of our most important building assets. Exposing the building to interior damage, by having a porous roof, is beyond reckless for anyone who is employed as its protector. As for councillors, not knowing what's going on over there…..ask them yourselves, when they had their last visit to the Gravenhurst Opera House? In the midst of roof construction? That would be the appropriate time to visit, as someone interested in good stewardship and conservation of an historic structure. I'm pretty sure, if there was a councillor visitation, it wasn't after the building was closed to the public, well over a week ago. The town worries more about the precedents of the replacement balcony, on the Albion Hotel, than the collateral damage of roof repairs at the Opera House. Priorities?

     It just makes me mad, that's all. I blame my upbringing. We had got look after our possessions, because we couldn't afford to replace them. If I'm not mistaking, the towns of Bracebridge and Gravenhurst have something in common. I hope action is being taken to remedy the situation. Not because of pressure from bloggers like me…..but because it's common sense…..and it's what the constituents of this town want. Care to ask them? We don't want a "Woodchester Villa" scenario in Gravenhurst. But there's not doubt it's possible. We've got the potential for rain, on five of the next seven days. A tarp over the trouble spots isn't too much to ask. But who will make this demand?

     If you're concerned about the condition of the Opera House, contact your council representative, and ask them if they have been inside the building recently, and if they could please explain the reasons why it has been closed to the public for more than a week. Fair question, don't you think?

     Thank you for joining today's blog. I'm always glad you came for a visit. Lots more to come. The autumn is my favorite time to compose. So here I am getting all political. Ah well!