Modest Hopes
By Don Loucks and Leslie Valpy (Dundurn Press, 2021)
Modest Hopes is a deep dive into the experiences of Toronto’s immigrants during the 1820s to 1920s, as told through the homes they once lived in. Don Loucks and Leslie Valpy invite readers to acknowledge the historic significance of these workers’ cottages, whose presence is becoming increasingly rare amidst a rapidly densifying cityscape.
The first chapters of the book highlight the historical arrival of British, Irish, Eastern European, Chinese, and African American immigrants—groups that shared the common goal of breaking loose from declining prospects in their home countries to seek a better life in Toronto. Among the city’s numerous tenements and shacktowns, five worker cottage typologies emerged to serve such immigrants: all small, but efficiently planned. Through hope and hard work, immigrants strived to live in—or even own—such a cottage, which was considered a coveted luxury. The five typologies would eventually become commonplace across the city’s industrial landscape. The residents and their homes ultimately contributed to the multiculturalism and mix of distinct neighbourhoods that remains a hallmark of Toronto’s urban identity to this day.
The latter half of the book documents the life stories of eight residents who lived in workers’ cottages during the nineteenth century. Many of the hundred-year-old buildings they lived in still stand today. Using detailed sketches, historic maps and both current and archival photographs, the authors examine the homes’ significant role in shaping the joys and the challenges faced by the immigrants who resided in them.
The book comes at a time when housing and heritage preservation are topical—and often competing—issues facing Toronto’s designers, politicians, and residents, many of whom come from an immigrant background. Modest Hopes inspires readers to celebrate these overlooked buildings, their past residents, and their roles in shaping the foundations of the city around them, while encouraging us to question to what extent these modest buildings should be a part of the city’s future.
-Review by Jason Brijraj
The Rise of Awards in Architecture
Edited by Jean-Pierre Chupin, Carmela Cuccuzzella, and George Adamczyk (Vernon Press, 2022)
Historically, architectural awards were a rarity. But now, they have become part of the currency of contemporary practice in Canada. The Rise of Awards in Architecture documents and interrogates the exponential rise in the number of awards given to architectural projects, and in the number of organizations involved in the giving of awards. “We have gone from fewer than 20 organizations in the early 1980s to more than 100 large organizations celebrating architecture annually,” write the book’s editors. In Canada alone, they document 78 organizations delivering awards in all fields of the built environment in 2020—and between them recognizing some 1,664 projects.
The book’s 10 essays tackle various questions associated with the rise of awards, from Dana Butrock’s appraisal of the Pritzker Prize and Marco Polo’s documentation of the changing formats of the Prix de Rome, to essays by Carmela Cuccuzzella and Sherif Goubran on the emergence of awards focused on the environmental performance of buildings. Jean-Pierre Chupin examines how awards define architectural quality in different ways: some taking a synthetic view that relies on architectural judgement, others relying on quantification through metrics, and still others looking at the social and ethical dimensions of projects.
Drilling down into other subcategories of awards, Aurélien Catros and Adélie De Marre look at the way heritage awards confer a new type of conservation status, Alexandra Paré asks how school architecture should be recognized in awards, and Lucie Palombi examines the literary ambitions of the winners of architecture book awards. Rounding out the volume, Typhaine Moogan takes a long view of architectural awards through a sociological lens, while Georges Adamczyk considers the pedagogical status acquired by award-winning buildings.
As any book of academic essays, the volume is shaped by the research of individual authors, rather than by a single comprehensive viewpoint. Nonetheless, it has much to offer in bringing a critical set of lenses to the phenomenon of architectural awards in Canada.
-Review by Elsa Lam
An Architect’s Address Book
By Robert Lemon (ORO Editions, 2022)
Robert Lemon’s An Architects Address Book is a good insight into the making of an architect. Subtitled “the places that shaped a career,” the book provides, in memoir format, careful descriptions of the places and the people Lemon has met who have had a lasting impact on his life and career. From childhood memories of St. Thomas, to his extensive visits to England and continental Europe, as well as more exotic places like Xi’an or Dealy Island in the Canadian Arctic, each illustrates how experiences are formative for an architect. While Robert has retired to Stratford, Ontario, the strongest parts of this memoir are his stories about Vancouver, where he lived for many years, and worked both in private and public practice, conserving the heritage of the city.
-Review by Michael McClelland