In this lecture based on the book of the same title, Don Loucks will tell the stories of Toronto’s built heritage of row houses, semis, and cottages and the people who lived in them. Too often, workers’ cottages are characterized today as being small, poorly built, and disposable. But in the late 1800s, to have worked and saved enough money to move into one was an incredible achievement. Moving from the crowded conditions of boarding houses, or areas such as Toronto’s Ward, to a self-contained, six-hundred-square-foot cottage was the result of an unimaginably strong hope for the future and a commitment to what lay ahead. For the workers and their families, these houses were far from modest. The architectural details suggested status, value, and pride of place and reminded the workers of the homeland from which they had come. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Don Loucks is an architect, urban designer, and cultural heritage planner, with forty years of project experience. He is committed to environmental, economic, and cultural sustainability, and to preserving the variety of rich urban forms that contain the stories of our communities’ history. He lives in Toronto. 

This Lecture is co-sponsored by the Toronto Society of Architects.

Newfoundland was a country before it became a province of Canada in 1949. Why did it remain separate for so long and why did it change course in the 1940s? In this lecture, David MacKenzie will look at the impact of the Great Depression on Newfoundland and the emergence of the country after 1939 as the Gibraltar of the Atlantic. In 1934, pushed financially, Newfoundland lost self-government in favour of administration by a British appointed Commission, but during the Second World War the country prospered, and the British grip weakened. Both Canada and the United States built bases in Newfoundland and the country turned in a decidedly North American direction. The outcome was an intense postwar political round leading to union with Canada seventy-five years ago. 

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. David MacKenzie is a graduate of McGill University and the University of Toronto and a professor of history at Toronto Metropolitan University. His main areas of academic interest are in Canadian history and international relations and the study of international organizations. He is the author of several books, including Inside the Atlantic Triangle: Canada and the Entrance of Newfoundland into Confederation, 1939-1949 (1986) and ICAO: A History of the International Civil Aviation Organization (2010). His most recent book is King and Chaos: The 1935 Canadian General Election (2023).

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society.