National Trust for Canada's Endangered Places, 2023

Opened in 1891, Avon Crest was constructed as part of a larger push across the country in the 19th century to build lay general hospitals in Canada's growing cities. It is currently at risk of being demolished.

December 2022: ACO PreservationWorks consultation begun by Ed van der Maarel. He visited Stratford and participated in a public meeting on December 13, co-sponsored by ACO Stratford-Perth County and the Stratford & District Historical Society. A change.org petition also garnered 800 signatures.

The Huron Perth Health Authority put out a tender for demolition with an end date of February 14th.

ACO Chair Diane Chin wrote to the mayor of Stratford and the chair of the hospital board in support of conserving Avon Crest, but only received an acknowledgement of her letter and a boilerplate letter from the hospital board.

January 2023: Save Avon Crest met with the mayor, supported by the executive summary of a report provided by PreservationWorks consultant Ed van der Maarel. The meeting was with Robert Lemon from ACO Stratford-Perth County and the past president of Heritage Stratford.

February 2023: Save Avon Crest submitted a position paper to the Stratford Mayor, Heritage Stratford, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and Huron Perth Hospital Authority. The principal authors were Robert Lemon and Howard Shubert of the Stratford & District Historical Society. Contributions were made by Ed van der Maarel and ACO Stratford-Perth County member Hayden Bulbrook.

In addition, members of the Save Avon Crest team have met with the Mayor, written newspaper articles, given interviews to the press, and visited a grade 9 class to explain the project to the students. Robert Lemon prepared a model to scale of the Avon Crest site and had the students redesign the site to accommodate other uses. Notably, in all of the designs, the students maintained the existing buildings and repurposed them. More on these initiatives is at https://saveavoncrest.ca/.

The deadline for the call for tenders for demolition extended to February 21st.

City Councillor Cody Sebben bought Avon Crest a further "stay of execution".  https://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/news/local-news/stratford-councillor-plans-to-revive-avon-crest-heritage-designation-debate. Councillor Sebben has proved to be a stalwart champion of heritage and of repurposing old buildings. Andrew Williams, President of the HPHA, is adamant that the building will come down.

Save Avon Crest has been refused a chance to make a presentation to Council or Heritage Stratford. It is unclear whether or not they have read the position paper submitted earlier in February.

March 2023: Save Avon Crest held its first two public meetings, sponsored by ACO Stratford-Perth County. A recording of the presentations at the second public meeting is AVAILABLE HERE.

On March 27, Stratford City Council held a meeting of Council. On the agenda was a motion by Councillor Sebben to have the question of designation of Avon Crest put to Council.  In support of that motion, 9 members of the public, among whom were representatives of the Save Avon Crest team and the ACO Stratford-Perth County executive, spoke articulately and logically about the reasons to save the buildings. They had been blindsided in the afternoon by the announcement that the hospital would be demolished to make way for a new long-term care facility.

In a letter to the Mayor, City Councillors and the Beacon Herald, ACO Policy Committee Chair Dan Schneider addressed the question of whether Bill 23 would prevent the designation of Avon Crest.