RECIPE FOR RESTORATION CHARLES OGILVY (THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2007)

(By Maria Cook) – Ottawa honours miracle of preserving the past by slipping new homes into an old neighbourhood.

Restoring a heritage building or making a new building fit into a historic area is like following a complex recipe, says Stuart Lazear, coordinator of Ottawa’s heritage planning department. “It’s like making a really good meal,” Lazear says. “You can have all the guidelines, public processes, review committees and all the standards in the world, but it does take a talented architect, a creative and inspired property owner and talented craftspeople to put it all together. “It is close to a miracle to get something that everyone is going to like.” On Monday, Heritage Day, the City of Ottawa will present the 26th annual Ottawa Architectural Conservation Awards. The ceremony takes place at 7 p.m. in Jean Pigott Place, City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. West. Heritage takes on special importance this year which marks Ottawa’s 150th anniversary. The awards will be presented in three categories:

■ Restoration (returning a heritage resource to its original form, material and integrity).

■ Adaptive use (modification of a heritage resource to contemporary functional standards while retaining its heritage character).

■ Infill (addition to a heritage building or all-new construction within a historic context). A subcommittee of the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee and the city’s heritage department staff judged the submissions, which were also reviewed by the city’s planning committee and city council. “It’s not only to recognize people who have done brilliant work but to show good examples to the rest of the design and development community and the community at large,” says Lazear. “It’s a very complicated recipe of ingredients and processes.” The following descriptions were provided by the city.

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