Toronto Architectural Conservancy

The past Our present Your future

The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) Toronto Branch’s roots go back to ACO’s founding 1933. Started by University of Toronto Professor Eric Arthur, and based in Toronto while working across Ontario, ACO was incorporated to help communities preserve buildings and structures of architectural merit, as well as places of natural beauty and interest. Eric Arthur wrote the seminal book on Toronto architecture, Toronto No Mean City.

When ACO began to form branches throughout Ontario, Toronto was established as a separate branch—first known as the Toronto Region Architectural Conservancy (TRAC), and later as Toronto Architectural Conservancy (TAC). Toronto remains one of the largest ACO branches.

Our role has been to set the stage for conservation advocacy through public education.

Our public information efforts have evolved from public events and publishing books and magazines, to development of our most significant research project to date: TO Built, a publicly accessible online database. TO Built offers a means of recording all property in Toronto, including photographs, research, drawings, and links to other, external sources of information. The database is open source and provides an opportunity for anyone with information to share it with others. We hope that consolidating community research will facilitate protection for future generations!
In addition to undertaking research and preparing publications, ACO Toronto regularly hosts public events showcasing and celebrating diverse aspects of the city’s heritage.

ACO members receive both the “Acorn” magazine and web-based “Acorn in a Nutshell”, as well as Toronto’s own e-newsletter.

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architectural heritage of toronto

Executive

President: Catherine Nasmith (416) 598-4144

Vice President: Penina Coopersmith

Secretary: Adam Sobolak

Treasurer: Gee Chung

Member at Large: Peter Razgaitis

Member at Large: John Wilcox

Member at Large: Leslie Fritz

Member at Large: Janet Walters (416) 865-1833

Member at Large: Mathew Zambri

Member at Large: Shahrooz Zayandehroodi