Doors Open Guelph 2009 Puts the Spotlight on Guelph’s Architecture

Guelph - On Saturday, April 25, Guelph residents and visitors will once again have the opportunity to participate in Doors Open Guelph, the annual celebration of the City’s history and architectural heritage. Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., several of Guelph’s most architecturally and historically significant buildings – most of which are not generally open to the public – will open their doors for free public tours.

The eighth annual offering of Doors Open Guelph, the 2009 event features several public, commercial/private and not-for-profit structures that are part and parcel of Guelph’s rich architectural heritage. Some of these sites are substantial and are well known such as Guelph’s New City Hall and the Guelph Correctional Centre, but there are many lesser-known sites that are gems just waiting to be discovered.

Downtown is the new Alma Gallery located in the historic Alma Block, where there will be an exhibition mounted especially for Doors Open, entitled STILL STANDING: Significant Architecture in Guelph and Region, featuring emerging and established artists from the area. Around the corner on Woolwich Street is Bikram’s Yoga Studio, another historic building which has just been superbly redeveloped.

Close to downtown is Hastings House at 120 Northumberland Street, a beautiful stone house that was once the home of a Guelph mayor and has been lovingly restored and refurbished by its present owners.

A little further afield is the 1930s Boathouse which has ties to the family of famed opera singer and Guelph native Edward Johnson. Across the nearby Covered Bridge on York Road to the east is St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church with its three prominent exterior domes and beautiful interior liturgical inconography.

Further along York Road, a short detour up Morris Street takes one to Guelph Little Theatre, a successful, mainly volunteer redevelopment of a former manufacturing business, where visitors will be able to enjoy backstage tours. Back again on York Road and another detour north on Victoria Road leads to Westminster-St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church whose distinctive concave and convex roof lines and other elements highlight the work of two prominent Guelph architects.

And, at Guelph Airpark is the Tiger Boys Museum, established by two Canadian aviation enthusiasts (the “Tiger Boys), and featuring several meticulously-restored De Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft.

Unfortunately, one site, the Armoury has had to be cancelled because of significant and unforecasted renovations to the oldest part of the building. Scheduled to to start in mid-April, this work will create safety and security issues that have made it impossible for tours of the building to take place this year.

Visits to all Doors Open Guelph 2009 sites will by guided tours led by dedicated and knowledgeable tour guides. Other volunteers will be on hand at each site to greet and otherwise assist. There are bound to be lineups at some locations, and these lineups may be outside, so Doors Open visitors are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather.

A joint undertaking of Guelph Arts Council, Heritage Guelph and the City of Guelph Tourism Services, Doors Open Guelph 2009 is also part of part of Doors Open Ontario, an Ontario Heritage Foundation province-wide initiative to celebrate community heritage. The Guelph event will kick off the Doors Open Ontario season, which this year will see some 50 communities participate across the province.