Heritage Canada has released its annual Top 10 Endangered Places List, outlining sites at risk due to neglect, weak legislation or lack of funding. This year’s list features historic landmarks, a railway repair shop and an entire heritage district.

The organization uses three main criteria to determine the list: the site’s significance; community support for preservation; and the urgency of the threat.

Below is the complete list:

• Robertson Headframe (Yellowknife): a local landmark and the tallest freestanding structure in the Northwest Territories.
• Vancouver West Side character home and gardens: new houses are replacing original properties in Vancouver’s Shaughnessy, Point Grey and Kerrisdale neighbourhoods.
• Paramount Theatre (Edmonton): the theatre, which opened in 1952, is the last historic cinema in Edmonton. Current owner ProCura plans to transform the site into an apartment building.
• Petrie Building (Guelph, Ont.): a four-storey building that dates back to the late 1880s. A diner occupies the main floor, but the remainder of the property is unoccupied.
• Former Grand Trunk Railways locomotive repair shops (Stratford, Ont.): the repair shops building, which dates back to 1909, spans 182,000 square feet. Despite missing components such as window glass, the building is still structurally sound.
• Nor’Wester Mountain Range and Loch Lomond Watershed Reserve (Neebing, Ont.): Horizon Wind Inc. has proposed an industrial wind turbine installation spanning a portion of the Nor’Wester Mountain Range, which would alter the region’s landscape.
• Estate of the Pères de Sainte-Croix (Papineau, Que.): the Canadian Congregation of the Holy Cross developed the estate in the 1930s as a summer retreat and education centre. Highlights of the estate include; a rustic chapel; a gallery; and a private cemetery. A Quebec-based company purchased the 48-acre property earlier this year.
• St. Alphonsus Church (Victoria Mines, N.S.): the nearly 100-year-old property, also known as “the Stone Church,” overlooks the Sydney harbour. It closed in 2007 when the Diocese of Antigonish determined structural repairs were not financially feasible.
• Gander International Airport departures lounge (Gander, N.L.): the airport dates back to the early 1930s and features a 22-metre Kenneth Lochhead mural. In the spring, Gander International Airport Authority (GIAA) announced plans to demolish the lounge’s terminal.
• Federally-owned lighthouses: The Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act does not account for every Canadian lighthouse. As a result, many are deteriorating.

Photo credit: Donna Marie MacLean