David Dunlap Observatory & Park
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Dated May 19, 2009; released June 4^th, 2009

A tribunal of the Ontario government, the Conservation Review Board (CRB), has delivered its final decision regarding the cultural heritage value of the David Dunlap Observatory & Park in Richmond Hill.   The document, consisting of 61 pages and dated May 19^th, 2009, is signed by the Chair of the CRB who presided at the Dunlap hearing, Mr. Peter Zakarow, and its co-Chair, Ms. Karen Haslam.

The Conservation Review Board decides issues of heritage value for the people of Ontario, it then advises local governments how buildings and the cultural heritage landscapes (CHLs) surrounding them should best be preserved for future generations.

The work of the CRB is not legally binding upon the Town of Richmond Hill or any municipality – it serves as nothing more than a recommendation.

Amongst the CRB hearing’s four participant parties, there was little disagreement regarding the merits of the Observatory’s three main buildings. Expert witnesses testified the Great Telescope Dome, the Administration Building and the Director’s residence known as Elms Lea is of local, provincial, national and international heritage significance.

Questions before the heritage tribunal largely involved considerations of the site’s five additional buildings; the relationship held by a “complimentary” 12.1-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Observatory; recognition of views to and from its main buildings (viewscapes); the extent of the cultural heritage landscapes surrounding these buildings; the intent and values of its tree arboretums; the removal of its contents and fixtures; and the boundaries of the site, which should be conserved as an integral whole.

This is a summary of the 61-page CRB Final Report, outlining the tribunal’s final Recommendations and Findings of Fact made to the Town of Richmond Hill.

Recommendations of the CRB:

Based on the evidence heard, the CRB recommended the Town of Richmond Hill

expand its position of approximately 52% coverage on the Observatory’s cultural heritage landscape and add to it a minimum buffer of 150 metres (492 feet), which would provide protection to a minimum of approximately three-quarters of the site. There is no regulation or law stopping the Town extending this boundary to encompass 100% of the property.

The Board also recommended the Town re-examine the evident heritage value of the 12.1-acre ‘panhandle’ found to be associated with astronomer Dr. Clarence Augustus Chant, the prominent scientific and historic figure directly related to the Observatory site.

Further, the Board recommended the Town should also protect and conserve the driveway leading into the Astronomy Campus, known as “Donalda Drive”, and the trees on either side; both the interiors and exteriors of five of the eight structures on the site – the Great Telescope Dome; the Administration Building; the Radio Astronomy Equipment ‘Shack’; the 19^th century farmhouse and garage known both as ‘Elms Lea’ and ‘Observatory House’, and the viewscapes from the south and west to the knoll on which the main astronomy campus sits.

The Board also recommended the Town use great specificity in language to craft its by-law protecting the Observatory’s landscapes, its viewscapes, interior roads, the exterior and interiors of its buildings, and its arboretums planted in service of the Observatory’s scientific operation. And, in the production of this by-law, that it relies upon the greater of resources provided by the research records and photographic exhibits of the Richmond Hill Naturalists.

Hearing Backdrop:

Dedicated in 1935, the Dunlap Observatory became Canada’s greatest scientific astronomical research facility for the better part of 73 years.  The 74-inch telescope is the Dunlap site’s greatest heritage asset and is the only one of six such Empire class instruments, made in the 20^th century, which is still functioning as an astrophysical research tool.

CRB Findings of Fact:

Built-Heritage Structures

• The Great Telescope Dome, its telescope, the Administration Building, the Director’s  Residence – ‘Elms Lea’, its garage and the Radio Astronomy Equipment ‘Shack’, including their interiors and exteriors, were all found to have heritage value and should be protected and conserved.
• The CRB did not find sufficient heritage value in: the utilitarian Caretaker’s Residence and Carport, the Pump House and its water line.

Viewscapes

• The Board found heritage value in the physical topography of the site, the selection of the knoll for the construction of the Great Telescope Dome and the Administration Building and that this setting should not be altered.
• Viewscapes to, from and between the three main buildings were of heritage value, and those from the south and southwest of the property (near the CN rail tracks) up towards the residence Elms Lea, were of particular value and should be conserved.
• Viewscapes to and from the knoll on which the Great Dome and Administration Building sit need to be protected from any development and encroachment.

Cultural Heritage Landscapes (CHL)

• The 10-acre cultural heritage landscape (6%) promoted for conservation by the developer was considered insufficient as it did not encompass the majority of the sites heritage elements or attributes, and was rejected by the Board.
• Community groups, the Richmond Hill Naturalists and Observatory Hill Homeowners Association’s request that 100% of the site be conserved, was rejected by the CRB as being too simplistic, despite it also being the testified position of the Ontario Heritage Trust, an agency of the Ministry of Culture.
• The upgrading of the total cultural heritage landscape from 48% to 52% by the Town, was not seen as sufficient by the Board.
• The Board found the heritage Marsh woodlot (sugarbush), the nursery arboretum of 1939 and open space heritage field farmed since the early 1800s, lying along and to the west of Bayview Avenue, to not have merit in the recommended cultural heritage landscape.

Boundary for the Cultural Heritage Landscape

• The Board found the current legal lot lines of the property (north and south) and its west (CNR tracks) boundary, were sufficient to encompass the heritage attributes contained therein.
• The Board found the eastern boundary promoted by the Town insufficient and its movement further east towards Bayview Avenue better encompasses recognized heritage elements.

In addition, to protect these elements, particularly the arboretum deliberately planted on the same axial line as that of the buildings, a minimum buffer zone of 150 meters (492 feet) is also needed to be instituted to protect the trees and landscape.

Interior Roads

• The Observatory’s entrance road, called Donalda Drive after its donor Jessie Donalda Dunlap, is recognized as being of heritage value, and its curved passage through the arboretum, subsequent route thorough the site and the heritage trees lining its path, have heritage value.

The axial design element

• The Board recognizes the north-south axial line of the north star Polaris on which the telescope and its buildings, the Great Telescope Dome and the Administration Building lie, to be planned by design and intrinsic to the astronomical site.

Heritage Tree Plantings & Arboretums

• The Board finds the site’s north-south axial line is of intrinsic value.  It also applies to the planting of the Observatory’s northern and southern arboretums and, because of this associative cultural aspect, these trees are of value and should be protected.

The Adjacent ‘Panhandle’ of Land

• The CRB also recognizes the importance of the 12.1-acre panhandle of land adjacent to the main trapezoidal parcel on which the Observatory sits, and requests the Town re-visit the history of its purchase, its form and evolution, to ensure protection when possible requests for development are made.
• The Board also finds the history of this ‘panhandle of lands’ association with the main Observatory parcel to be of such substantive cultural value that it needs to be included in the Town’s by-law deliberations.

Chattels & Moveable Property

• Although local community groups asked for the CRB’s consideration of the Observatory’s removed contents, the Board stated it was beyond the scope of its mandate.
• Despite this, the Board did recommend that specific chattels associated with the Observatory should be considered “real property,” and therefore included in the Town’s protective by-law.

Role of the Provincial Minister of Culture

• As a matter of public interest, the CRB commented on the role of Ontario’s Minister of Culture (page 44-5) in this case. It found while the Minister does have the power to act, this is only used in unorganized territories where there is no municipal authority, or where a municipality fails to act.
• To emphasize its overall findings, the Board reminded the Town the David Dunlap Observatory site is of such heritage merit it is eligible for “double designation,” (page 57) under Ontario Regulation 10/06 of the Ontario Heritage Act. It further implies this option could be exercised by the right of Crown, on the same areas and attributes recognized by the Town, or on more extensive ones.

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See the full CRB Report on the David Dunlap Observatory for more details.

June 12, 2009, Richmond Hill, Ontario — Just days after receiving a decision of the Conservation Review Board of Ontario, which called upon the Town of Richmond Hill to consider preserving the majority of the 189-acre David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) & Park, a local member of parliament is commending the local community’s vision to protect and preserve the entire site.

Peter Kent, MP for Thornhill, and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), said “The Dunlap Observatory and surrounding lands are priceless elements of Canadian history.  I’m working with a number of cabinet colleagues on ways we might support the efforts of a passionate group of York Region citizens to protect and preserve the Dunlap Observatory site.”

Minister Kent’s statement is the result of top-level meetings held in Ottawa in early May between concerned York Region residents and government officials. The group met to discuss the possible future of the David Dunlap Observatory and Park, including use of its substantive cultural heritage resources as an economic engine for York Region.

York Region residents knew delivery of the Conservation Review Board report – June 4, 2009 – would create an opportunity for additional provincial and new federal protections to be exercised on the site, alongside those of the Town of Richmond Hill.

“The CRB did just that,” said Marianne Yake, President of the Richmond Hill Naturalists and Ottawa meeting attendee. “It recommended “double-designation” by the Town and Province to protect the Dunlap’s built-heritage, cultural associations, its viewscapes, landscapes, and its natural environment resources. This report opened the door to federal considerations and makes possible a ‘hat-trick’ of heritage protections – local, provincial and federal.”

“As well as the several powerful heritage and environmental arguments for preservation of the Dunlap Observatory park lands, we have to recognize the significant potential groundwater damage to Richmond Hill, and for that matter, Thornhill, if development disrupts the already precarious balance of nature,” said Minister Kent.

Believing passionately the Dunlap site was of national significance, and with little local government response to their concerns, community members contacted the Federal government.   On May 7^th, 2009, the members of this York Region Delegation, drawn from a cross-section of the community, traveled to Ottawa.

Members of this delegation included:

• Ms. Karen Cilevitz – Chair, The David Dunlap Observatory Defenders,
• Ms. Marianne Yake – President, The Richmond Hill Naturalists,
• Ms. Valerie Burke – Markham Town Councillor,
• Dr. Ian K. Shelton – Astronomer, former Dunlap outreach specialist,
• Dr. C. Thomas Bolton – Professor Emeritus, former Dunlap Astronomer,
• Mr. Chungsen Leung – York Region business entrepreneur, and
• Mr. Joseph Shaykewich – Retired Environment Canada meteorologist.

Ms. Carolyn Quinn, of the Ottawa-based Heritage Canada Foundation, also attended the meeting, in support of the York Region residents plan to revitalize the Dunlap site.

The last remaining open green space in south Richmond Hill, the Dunlap site sits at the headwaters of the Don River, and is part of the Oak Ridges Moraine Aquifer Complex.  Evidence of pivotal historic events in Ontario are a part of the Dunlap lands – the 1795-6 blazing of Yonge Street from the forest, settlement by United Empire Loyalists, preparations for the War of 1812, the Rebellion of 1837, the establishment of the Presbyterian Church (1817), the country’s first astronomy campus and it’s largest telescope (1935) and the discovery and confirmation of black holes (1972).

An archaeological survey of the property also raises strong potential for aboriginal impact upon the Dunlap site, prior to its use by European settlers.

“It was an extraordinary meeting. Our presentation was very well received and we’re pleased with the immediate interest shown by our Federal representatives and officials. For the first time in over 19 months, we really feel the Dunlap site could be returned to public hands where it has always belonged,” said Karen Cilevitz, Chair of the DDO Defenders.

“The realization the Observatory site was an economic engine for York Region and Ontario was immediately apparent by all in attendance,” she said.

Astronomer Dr. Ian Shelton said, “This is where the first Canadian astronomers were trained, and many DDO staff members have played important roles in the history of modern astronomy. The discovery and confirmation of the first stellar mass black hole by Professor Tom Bolton is just one example. I had a real sense from our Ottawa meeting that the substantial list of Dunlap accomplishments won’t be just footnotes in an astronomy textbook.”

He continued, “I very much hope all of the heritage contents removed from the Observatory site are returned where they belong, and we can permanently establish the legacy of donor Jessie Donalda Dunlap and astronomer Dr. Clarence Chant. The interiors of these buildings were like walking back in time, filled with 70 years of instruments and literature that were used to keep pace with our rapidly evolving understanding about the true scale and complexity of the universe.  This was, and is, a very special place.”

Minister Kent agreed, and called for all scientific and historic artifacts to be restored to the Dunlap site. “The heritage value of the contents are significantly lessened by these removals, context is everything,” he said.

The Great Telescope, Observatory buildings and its site was donated in trust to the University of Toronto in 1935 by Jessie Donalda Dunlap, in memory of her husband David. Last July, the University sold the property to Corsica Development Inc., a corporation owned in part by Metrus Development Inc.

The University of Toronto continues to have a relationship with its former astronomical campus, as it holds a $35 million dollar mortgage on the property, which it gave interest free to Corsica, for two years. The University subsequently removed the Observatory’s contents, some of them given to a museum in Ottawa.

Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the Dunlap Observatory site was an asset to a community of 900 farmers, which catapulted the little village of Richmond Hill to the absolute centre of the British Empire. Having one of the world’s largest telescope’s has brought millions of visitors into Richmond Hill and Markham Township, and this injection of economic stability was a financial engine in the local economy during the Depression of the 1930s.

Said Ms. Cilevitz: “The local communities have always known and appreciated the cultural heritage worth of the Dunlap Observatory and Park.  We now feel more confident it will indeed receive the protection and recognition it so richly deserves – that of a National site of great scientific, ecological, and economic significance.”

For further information, contact:

Karen Cilevitz

DDO Defenders
(416) 990-6694
[email protected]

Marianne Yake
RHNaturalists
(905) 883-3047
[email protected]

Dr. Ian Shelton
Astronomer
(905) 762-0072
[email protected] (905) 886-9911

David Belous
Special Assistant (Community Affairs)
Hon. Peter Kent, MP Thornhill
[email protected]

Join the RHN and Andy McKinnon at the Rouge Valley on Saturday 13 June at 8am, to explore the evolving wetlands — birds, frogs, and all. Andy is a well-known naturalist and conservationist who has explored all the nooks and crannies of the Rouge. We’ll meet at the Pearse house across from the Toronto Zoo (directions below) at 8 to hike down into the valley. Participants should wear good footwear and long pants.

The Rouge Valley Conservation Centre (Pearse House) is at 1749 Meadowvale Road in Scarborough. Drive north on Meadowvale from Sheppard, stay in the right-most lane, follow the blue RVCC signs, drive up the ramp and turn right at the top.
( The following TTC bus routes serve the RVCC: 85B from Don Mills subways station, 86A from Kennedy subway station, and 85A from Rouge Hill GO station.)