[flar]

I'm personally horrified that these buildings are considered not worth saving, but it's not really productive to just hate on Blanchard. I think argument that he has a record of perserving "heritage" buildings is interesting.

The buildings he has "saved" are all iconic buildings, I think these days unquestionably accepted as buildings worth saving. This is a significant change in public opinion, considering just a few decades ago lots of amazing buildings like these were town down.

The Gore Park buildings are different, they're just a row of old buildings to most people. They've never really looked at them because the fronts are all covered with cheap veneers and signage. Of course the charm of these buildings is as much the form the buildings make together than any of aspect of the buildings individually. This type of building is not the same kind of thing as the Landed Bank or Pigott building, which were made to be impressive and stand on their own.

Blanchard has a certain idea of what a "heritage" building is and his view is probably closer to the majority view. That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people that place a high value on buildings like in Gore Park. People witht he latter view are plentiful enough that something like this is now preserved in many--I would say nowadays most--cities. It's too bad Hamilton is behind the times again.