Saving History Costs Money

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Some interesting fodder for discussion indeed:

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http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/ ... 26-sun.php

Sun, October 19, 2008

UPDATED: 2008-10-19 02:02:58 MST

Synagogue restoration offers ray of hope for reality at Heritage Park

By MICHAEL PLATT


To all but the most discerning student of western prairie architectural history, it's impossible to tell.

Real or fake is a game you could play all day long at Calgary's Heritage Park, and unless your hobby is spotting genuine Victorian mansard roofing at 50 metres, you're going to end up losing.

The park's historic building replication is that good, be it an old hotel, town hall or Chinese cafe.

The buildings might be newer than the minivan you arrived in, but the details, from creaky floors to fading wallpaper and yellow varnish, help fool visitors into believing they're antiques.

Between century-old relics and two-year-old replicas, there's little to choose from.

And that's not a good thing if you love history.

This week, Heritage Park announced the procurement of its first, genuine historic building in 23 years.

The 1916 synagogue from Sibbald, 40 km west of Calgary, couldn't be more basic -- it looks like a little yellow house with extra windows -- but it's the first, real heritage to be added to Heritage Park in nearly a quarter century.

Of course, in the years since Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the U.S.S.R., Heritage Park has continued to grow, but the buildings since then have all been fakes, with no past or place in our history books.

The question of why, when so many of the genuine article have fallen to the wrecking ball outside the park gates, is easy to answer.

The synagogue, called the Montefiore Institute, will cost $1 million to be restored and relocated to the park, with modern heating and electricity hidden in its venerable walls.

Start from scratch, and you can build an identical structure with modern insulation and amenities, for a fraction of the cost.

Heritage Park is a non-profit, charitable organization run almost self-sufficiently, with the city contributing just 14% to its annual operating budget.

Saving history costs money -- Heritage Park, at last glance, was making a profit, but not a huge one.

It's one of the reasons the current $60-million expansion to the park, a 1940s streetscape due to open next year, is a replica down to the last brick.

It's not the first time Heritage Park has gone the recreation route for a major addition -- when the park opened in 1964, the Wainwright Hotel was a replica of a historic building that burned down.

But it was an exception, rather than the rule.

Like the Wainwright, the new streetscape will bring buildings back to life that have been lost, including a CPR station and Calgary Fire Hall #7.

All that's really missing is the history.

So does it matter?

If it was an amusement park, strictly built for entertainment, than no.

But as well as educating visitors in an entertaining manner, Heritage Park, when it opened, had a mandate to preserve history.

These were, for the most part, the buildings our forefathers lived in, toiled in, learned in, prayed in and more -- every yard in the village had an outhouse.

While it still educates and entertains, Heritage Park has slowly let its preservation mandate slip by the wayside.

Even its own buildings have fallen victim -- the trading post cabin, located just inside the gates since opening day, is gone for good.

It was removed after park officials deemed it surplus to expansion plans -- despite being 44 years old, the cabin apparently had "no historic value."

But really, what is historic value, except that which exists in the minds of people who treasure the past?

Why is a building that really did bear witness to history more valuable than a new one that looks the same?

They're both dead trees, nailed together, with a coat of paint.

The answer is intangible, but it has something to do with sharing a space and experience with those who lived in the past.

Knowing you are in the very home where someone raised a family 130 years ago, struggling to survive as a pioneer, is fodder for the modern soul.

No matter how authentic it looks, Heritage Park's new expansion will never stir imaginations in the same way.

For those who treasure Heritage Park for the heritage, a 92-year-old synagogue beats a modern $60-million streetscape, hands down.

Let's pray the yellow house of worship is a ray of hope for real history at Heritage Park, not replicas.

LINK: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/ ... 26-sun.php