Heritage churches on tour at Kingston conference

From May 31 to June 3, about 250 delegates will gather in Kingston, Ont., for a conference on ownership and restoration of heritage properties, including churches. “Beyond Borders, Heritage Best Practices,” will be held at Kingston City Hall, a national historic site.

The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, Community Heritage Ontario, the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, and the Organizing Committee of the Ontario Heritage Conference 2012 are hosting the conference.

“Heritage architecture, in a half-century, has gone from being a curiosity to being a highly valued asset of the community, with laws to protect it, specially trained heritage planners to guide its repair, and many professional associations to advance its cause,” said conference organizers in a press statement.

Heritage sites are also tourist attractions. “The pleasure is seeing our history, and our cultural change, reflected in our well preserved buildings and landscapes, and the economic payback of adapting historic properties to new uses while maintaining their original exteriors,” said the statement.

Some of the conference workshops will be held at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, designated an Ontario Heritage site with a congregation that dates back to 1783. Discussions will include easement trusts, archeology, heritage law, architectural history, planning and municipal legislation.

The conference will also include walking tours of heritage sites in and around Kingston, which has one of the oldest municipal heritage programs in Canada. One tour, “Spires, Towers and Domes,” will include a visit to five downtown churches, including St. Paul’s Anglican churchyard where Loyalists, First Nations people, combatants of the War of 1812, slaves and other settlers are buried.

For more information, click here http://heritage2012.com/