When I first heard that Heritage Toronto was looking for a blogger to cover natural heritage, I understood it right away. Of course, now that I'm sitting down to try to define it, it's not so simple. Natural Heritage is an idea more easily understood than described: natural or non-human features of the landscape or environment with special ecological or cultural significance, whether due to their history, their current ecological role, their rarity, their beauty, or some combination of the above or other factors.

It could be a species, a single plant, a plant or animal community, a landscape, an ecosystem, a geological formation, a type of landscape or ecosystem wherever found--but whatever it is, it's important enough to be protected for the use, study and enjoyment of future generations. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated 176 sites globally as natural World Heritage Sites, including nine in Canada, based on the following four criteria:

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by Eric Veillette

In the early days of the movie palace, it didn't take much to get people into the theatres. The seats were always filled with beaming eyes staring at the latest antics of Mary Pickford or Buster Keaton.

Despite jam-packed attendance, theatre managers liked to spruce things up a bit, and give patrons a little more than just a film and a newsreel. How about offering up a prize for grabs?

A colleague of mine, Stephen Cox Thomas, reminded me that there had been a very severe earthquake that occurred in February of 1663. So, if you are feeling at all nervous about the one we felt last week, take a look at this account, taken from the Jesuit Relations, and be grateful that this was not the earthquake that we encountered. There have been other historically recorded earthquakes in Eastern Canada, but this was one of the most severe.

The Jesuit Relations are the annual accounts of the Jesuit priests who lived among the Huron-Wendat and their Algonkian allies from 1634 until 1650 and among the Iroquois from 1654 to 1667. This account was by the famous Jesuit, Jerome Lalemant, who replaced Brebeuf in the summer of 1638 among the Huron. In 1644, he became the head of all Jesuits in New France and was stationed in Quebec for two periods including the one during which he wrote this account.

From the Historical Atlas of Canada: From the Beginning to 1800. Edited by R. Cole Harris

Imagine an 800-seat theatre in the Junction, with an elegant marbleized lobby and a state-of-the-art theatre organ that could simulate a full orchestra.

Consider, too, management's efforts to lure children to the cinema with the prize of a Shetland pony for best attendance.

The Beaver Theatre opened Nov. 24, 1913 on Dundas St. W., east of Pacific Ave. That was just four years after the community, a then prosperous manufacturing centre crossed by four rail lines, was annexed by the City of Toronto.

Theda Bara ads from the Toronto Daily Star, 1914-1921

With the inaugural Toronto Silent Film Festival currently underway, it’s safe to say that a healthy silent film renaissance is underway in Toronto the Good. The last year has been rife with various celebrations of silent celluloid: Nuit Blanche, Luminato, the Danforth Music Hall’s 90th anniversary, outdoor screenings during TIFF, the Cinematheque’s various offerings — not to mention the semi-monthly Silent Sundays retrospective I run at the Revue Cinema – have all contributed to an amazing revival of the genre.

Hard to believe, but there was a time when the only way to do any banking was to visit a bank and deal with a teller or other staff. It was critical for every bank to have numerous branches throughout the city. Some still exist, and others have been converted to non-bank uses. These often well-designed small buildings remain an important part of our streetscape.

Well-known architect John Lyle designed many banks across Canada. The former Dominion Bank at Bloor & Sherbourne (1911) is one of many still standing and is typical of designs for that bank: red brick with light-coloured limestone trim. An exception to that pattern was Lyle's 1929 branch at Yonge & Gerrard: it was designed in stone to complement Eaton's flagship store at College & Yonge. Here, Lyle indulged his penchant for Canadian iconography by using aboriginal patterns for the cornices, Canadian flora and fauna for decorative elements, and Queen Victoria and King Louis XIV representing our British and French heritage. The result is remarkable.

Former Dominion Bank, Yonge & Gerrard, capital

I was recently asked to participate in a conference in which I explored the concept of place as that might relate to the origin of the word Toronto and the carrying place trails. While acknowledging that there continues to be discussion about the origin and meaning of our city's name, it is essential to recognize that a sense of place is about "memory" and that memory tends to narrow through time, especially across centuries and cultures. If the original term used to describe a trail was actually exceedingly expansive in its original intent, what does that mean for how we think about and interpret the trail today?

The place near the foot of Bathurst Street that we call Fort York was known for most of its history simply as the Toronto garrison or the Old Fort (as distinct from the New Fort, which was built in 1841 -- the only structure of which survives being Stanley Barracks). The walled fort we see today within Fort York National Historic Site contains one of the largest collections of War of 1812 buildings in North America. It is this brief period of investment in military infrastructure that Fort York's seven original buildings, dating to 1813-16, recalls today (other buildings from this time of war and its aftermath, built to house hundreds of soldiers, are gone). Many other buildings, built inside and outside today's walls throughout the nineteenth century, also did not survive.

If you've ever admired a stone bank building with classical columns or a dignified University of Toronto building, then you may have been looking at the work of Scarborough-born architect Frank Darling (1850-1923).

Darling worked with several partners. After a brief association with Henry Macdougall, Darling formed a more lasting and productive partnership with Samuel Curry in 1880. Darling & Curry designed one of our city's best-known buildings: the Bank of Montreal - now the Hockey Hall of Fame - at the corner of Front and Yonge streets. When completed in 1886 its 16.8 metre (55 feet) square banking hall was the largest in Canada. Many of its features have been preserved, including the colourful stained glass dome. This ornate structure operated as a bank from 1886 until 1982.

Did you know that Toronto had the first children's hospital in North America? Darling & Curry designed the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children (1889) on College Street. The innovative E-shaped building maximized light and ventilation while looking solid and reassuring in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It's now the headquarters for Canadian Blood Services.