JACQUES DALIBARD

Epilogue

At the end of the children's classic The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy andher friends learn that their problems cannot be resolved by far-offmagical powers. The answers to their problems, they discover, residewithin. That conclusion, of course, is a cliche. But it also happens,very often, to be true. It is certainly a truth, as merchants on Main Streetare beginning to realize, that applies to themselves.

When the traditional business heart of our communities was beset byproblems, there was a tendency, at first, to go in search of magicalsolutions. A great deal of money was consequently spent imposing ideasfrom without. The result was everything from tacked-on theme villagesto unnecessary street furniture to self-defeating downtown malls. Mostof these solutions turned out to be quick fixes: they were arbitrary;they were gratuitous; they were expensive. They did not work.

What has been shown to work is the kind of Main Street approachdescribed in this book. This approach is really quite modest. All it asks isthat we look at Main Street's problems with common sense. It sug-gests that, before expensive plans are imposed from without, a few basicquestions be asked: What exactly is a Main Street? What does it do?What does it offer? Why was it successful for so long? What is there onMain Street that, tapped, could bring new life to downtown Canada?

The answers to those questions are now largely known. And knowingthem has led to a number of Main Street self-help programs that areboth inexpensive and workable. The trick is to realize, as Dorothy did,that there is no place like home: all of the resources Main Street needsare already there, waiting to be used. The answers to Main Street'sproblems are on the doorstep.

References

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Alexander, L. A., ed Downtown Mall Annual and Urban Design Report. Vol 4. NewYork: Downtown Research and Development Center 1978

Almeras, ]., et al Laforet urbaine: cahier i Ville de Quebec 1981Anderson, L.O. Wood Frame House Construction Department of Agriculture

handbook no 73. Washington, DC: u.s. Government Printing Office 1970Anderson, Stanford, ed On Streets Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press 1978Appleyard, D. Livable Streets Berkeley: University of California Press 1981Artibise, A., and G. Stelter Canada's Urban Past: A Bibliography to 1980 and

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Contributors

Pierre Berton, author and journalist, is a leading advocate of preservation. Hewas a member of the board of governors of the Heritage Canada Founda-tion from 1973 to 1983 and served as chairman of the board during the last fiveyears of this term.

Jacques Dalibard, a recognized leader in restoration architecture, has been theexecutive director of the Heritage Canada Foundation since 1978. He is respon-sible for implementing the mandate of the foundation and for its overall opera-tion, and has been the prime generating force behind Main Street Canada.

John Edwards was a research architect with the Heritage Canada Foundationand is now in private practice in Perth, Ontario.

Gordon Fulton is assistant director for Operations and Management of HeritageCanada's Main Street program. He was previously Main Street co-ordinatorin Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Deryck Holdsworth is assistant editor of volume 3 of the Historical Atlas of Canadaand has written articles on Canadian regional architecture and historicpreservation.

Hans Honegger is assistant director for Design of Heritage Canada's Main Streetprogram. He was previously Main Street co-ordinator in Nelson, BritishColumbia.

Peter Hyndman is the Atlantic regional co-ordinator for Heritage Canada's MainStreet program. He was previously the architect for both the Windsor andBridgetown, Nova Scotia, Main Street projects and co-ordinator inBridgetown.

Robert Inwood is Downtown Development officer for the City of Nelson,British Columbia.

Harold Kalman is a consultant in the history and conservation of architecture,with a national practice based in Ottawa. He is the author of numerous books,

244 Contributors

including The Railway Hotels (1968), Exploring Vancouver (1974), The SensibleRehabilitation of Older Houses (1979), Encore: Recycling Public Buildings for the Arts(1980), and Exploring Ottawa (1983).

Don Macintosh, Main Street co-ordinator for Cambridge, Ontario, has pre-viously worked as a landscape architect.

Jim Mountain is Western regional co-ordinator for Heritage Canada's MainStreet program. He was previously Main Street co-ordinator in Fort Macleod,Alberta.

Chris Pelham, Main Street co-ordinator for Windsor, Nova Scotia, has worked asa property manager for Heritage Canada and the City of Halifax.

John Stewart, director of the Heritage Canada Foundation's Main Street programfrom 1980 to 1984, is now an architect in private practice in Perth, Ontario.

Picture Credits

References are to the pages on which illustrations from each credited sourceappear.

Architectural Record 160David Thompson University Archives 16 (bottom), 34, 35 (top)Glenbow-Alberta Archives 152, 222, 226 (top)Hants Journal 157 (top)Master's Studio, Leamington, Ontario 155 (bottom)Moose Jaw Public Library Archives 62Nelson Daily News 6Norwich Revitalization Plan Manual 67City of St John's 155 (top)Saskatchewan Archives Board 158 (top) RA-888(4); 166 Alan Vanstone Collec-

tion R-P1 587, printed with permission of the donor, Mrs G. Helen VanstoneVancouver Public Library 158 (bottom) Timms Collection photo 5222F.W. Woolworth Co 26

Jan Douglas 220John Edwards 74, 78Art Ferrari 192Gordon Fulton 79, 88, 122, 161, 162, 163, 168, 170, 171, 175, 178, 202, 215, 231Deryck Holdsworth 39, 70Hans Honegger 10 (top), 35 (bottom), 56, 84, 86, 87, 98, 102 (top right and left),

103 (top), 104, 105, 107, 116, 119, 120, 121 (bottom), 124, 126, 127, 132, 133(bottom), 134, 135, 136, 137, 138 (top), 138 (drawing by Hans Honegger), 139(top right), 150, 176, 177, 195, 206

246 Picture Credits

Peter Hyndman 82, 89, 108, 130, 188, 189, 225 (top)Robert Inwood 103 (bottom), 133 (top), 147, 148, 149, 169Harold Kalman 9, 10 (bottom), 11, 12, 16 (top), 20, 21, 22 (bottom), 33, 47, 51,

53, ?o, 73 (top), 81 (top), 187, 196, 197Stuart Lazear 92, 121 (top)Don Macintosh 30, 90 (top), 128, 181, 199, 209, 234Shawn MacKenzie 113, 140, 141, 212, 232 (top)Cheryl Moss 201, 214Jim Mountain 27, 68, 111, 223, 225 (bottom), 226 (bottom), 228, 232 (bottom)Scott Smith 191, 194Art Stevens 102 (bottom), 146John Stewart 81 (bottom), 112, 165Herb Stovel 90 (bottom), 139 (top left, bottom)Francois Varin 2Martin Weaver 41 (bottom)

Reviving MAIN STREET

Edited by Deryck Holdsworthfor the Heritage Canada Foundation

Urban decay is not confined to big cities. Small towns across Canada havealso been suffering as shopping malls spring up on the outskirts anddraw business - and life - from Main Streets.

That trend of deterioration is now being reversed. The Heritage CanadaFoundation has embarked on a series of projects to revitalize Main Streetsin communities across the country. Participants in the projects sharetheir experience in the essays that make up this book. They offer practicaladvice on a variety of concerns: organizing merchants, improving build-ing facades, erecting appropriate signs, encouraging compatible newbuildings, and promoting downtown business.

Harold Kalman, one of Canada's leading architectural historians, setsthe context for these practical initiatives by reviewing the social, economic,and architectural elements of Canada's Main Streets. Other essays dis-cuss the various government and private programs available to localproperty owners, and outline the relations of these Canadian experimentsto the broader preservation movement, particularly in the United Statesand Britain.

Together these essays present a guide to revitalization that can beadapted for towns anywhere. An organized and integrated program canrestore any Main Street to its traditional place at the proud heart of itscommunity.

DERYCK HOLDSWORTH is Assistant Editor, Volume in, Historical Atlas ofCanada. He has previously taught geography at the University of Torontoand Mount Allison University.

If a community has no heart, it has no soul; and its heart should beatfaster at the core. For here is the glory of the past, the symbol ofstability, the structures that our fathers and their fathers erected, thevisual reminder of another time that gives every small town asense of continuity.

Pierre Berton, from the Foreword

University of Toronto Press ISBN Q-flQ2Q-t.55ti-B