Ontario Place (Photo credit: World Monuments Fund)
On December 19, 2023, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) wrote a letter to the Government of Ontario expressing their dismay at the proposal to demolish the urban forest of Canada’s Ontario Place.
“In 2020, WMF named Canada?s Ontario Place to the World Monuments Watch, a biennial selection of 25 of the world?s most significant heritage sites in need of immediate attention. The Toronto  public waterfront site?s selection for this internationally recognized program placed it alongside such renowned places as Easter Island, Chile, and Notre-Dame of Paris, France. The choice affirmed that Ontario Place is a modernist icon worthy of protection,” reads the letter.
The letter noted that in collaboration with Architectural Conservancy Ontario (ACO), and the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, WMF assembled a digital public archive of Ontario Place?s history and recorded interviews with architects, urbanists, activists, and current users about the significance of Ontario Place. “Through our research, we uncovered a sketch by the site?s architect, Eberhard Zeidler, that describes his approach to ‘reclaim[ing] the shoreline for people; the meeting of water and land brought to a poetic awareness.’ Out of respect for Zeidler?s legacy, Ontario Place?s poetic and public value should receive the highest level of consideration,” reads the lette...