Pa g e 18 · F ebruary 2 0 0 2 oakville rem em bered The beauty of l`VE READ AND NOW BELIEVE that cen turies, in terms of the Zeitgeist^are rarely bom as the calendar rolls the appropriate digit. The 20th century was bom sometime between 1914 -1918 with the advent of trench warfare, incredible industrially-assisted carnage, mus tard gas, and the Russian Revolution. Ostensibly it was a century of democratization and realistically it was a time of homogeniza tion. Despite efforts throughout the Western world and further to deny the existence of class and to create political and economic equality, the realities of hierarchy persist as they are innate to man and in fact to life at even Buried ravine tells a Oakville's architecture fascinating tale building is staggering. Its grace, subtlety and fine exterior detailing are superior to almost anything being built in town today. The use of the cut stone foundation and the integration of the stone in the battered east pier and at the west porch are two of my favourite aspects of the coach house. The north facing gable end still shows the extended ridge beam used for hoisting hay and equipment to the loft. The design of the openings in the loft alone makes it note worthy. (I may be mistaken, but my belief is that Dick, who was the designer died not long after this building was built. I men tion this because had he survived I suspect his place in Canadian Architecture would rival Burke & Horwood or Sproat & Rolph.) Another architectural fave of mine is the railroad bridge that runs east-west over the underpass at the Speers and Cornwall Road connection. The staggered or offset abutments are beautiful. They exude an air of grace, handiwork, and power at once - not an easy feat. The undecorated expression of structural and functional intent seen in the steelwork was one of the founding principles of the modem movement particularly favoured by Le Corbusier and noted in his earlier writings. Research has not yet yielded the date of con struction, nor the designer but I would guess Dominion Bridge was involved and that the bridge was built between 1890 and 1930. Any later and I suspect the piers would have been of reinforced concrete. In any event, it pro vides a very finely scaled and patinated frame for views of the creek and its valley. As a student at OTHS prior to its new incarnation, I fondly remember the panels list ing the names of deceased students from the two world wars. They stood at the far north (See 'The' page 22) (continued from page 17) water quality of Bronte Creek is relatively good as the small towns and industries in the watershed release few pollutants. Nevertheless, logging and agriculture have created a lasting impact. The water table has been sharply lowered by the clearing of forests. Tilled fields offer little shade to creeks and soil is easily washed into the streams during periods of spring run-off. The subsequent increases in water temperature A and silting have indeed been ' « harmful, especially to fish populations. Good land management throughout the Bronte Creek water shed has seen the water quality improve and fish ing continues to be a pop ular recreational activity. The step slopes and meandering nature of the valley have made distinct groupings and variations in the plant life. The environmen tal influences of sunlight, temperature and moisture have resulted in local variations in climate throughout the valley. These are called "micro-climates" The slope on one side of the creek faces northeast; thus it receives limited amounts of direct sunlight. In this area more coniferous species such as Eastern Hemloclc and Eastern White Pine. Such trees are adapted to living in a slightly cooler, moister environment The other slope faces the prevailing winds BY D AN CHALYKOFF the most fundamental physical level. Architecturally this gave us the unusual para dox of the highest ranks of our society embrac ing the most common of industrial products such as open structural steel, painted steel pipe railings, architectural concrete, the open plan (pretending to be non-hierarchical) and large clean sheets of glass. All in the laughable name of worker housing. A very little bit of this work made it to our fair shore. As I believe September 11th recently marked the real beginning of the 21st century, a look at a nonexhaustive list of Oakville's Modem architec tural artifacts of the last century seems an appropriate way of unofficially inducting modernism into our heritage thinking. Let us begin in chronological order at the coach house of the Chisholm estate, Erchless. Designed in 1896, this beautiful wood shin gled building by Dick & Wickson Architects is included as an example of the architecture that helped us turn the comer between the 19th and 20th centuries. To think that this was a utility and sun. Consequently the microclimate is warmer and dry. The forest community found here is deciduous dominated by Oak, Hickory and Maple trees. Unfortunately you can't see one of the most fascinating features found along the Half-Moon Valley trail, the buried ravine. It is approximately the same width but proba bly deeper than that of Bronte Creek. Geologists tell us that a river that flowed southward in the same general direction as Bronte Creek does today created this buried ravine. During glaciation, this ancient valley became filled with the gravel and debris pushed by advancing ice. Over time, these materials became cemented togeth er to form a crumbly, rock like material that filled in the old watercourse. Thousands of years later, when the ice melted, a new Bronte Creek was formed. As chance would have it, the water followed a new route and the creek cut through the former river valley, exposing the ancient gravel walls. The gravel is quite soft and water easily moves through it. Groundwater run-off moving through the old watercourse has hollowed out a cave. The cave is believed to be the only one of its kind in Ontario and was reportedly the hiding place of William Lyon McKenzie during his flight from Toronto in 1837. OAKVILLE CHAMBER o f COMMERCE Proud to be a part of Oakville's Heritage since 1953 Promoting the Growth and Prosperity of Business 170 Country Squire Lane 845-6613 www.oakvillechamber.com email: info@oakvillechamber.com It has been our pleasure serving you for the past 64 years, and we look forward to serving you in the future. 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