Casa Loma Revitalization

[scarberiankhatru]

"The homes featured on the series represent a huge number of styles, and Newport's homes are impressive in their size and variety, but no other home in North America is so perfectly ersatz castle, as Casa Loma."

I used to love that show (and wasn't there one on A&E right after hosted by Bob Vila that toured houses and sites of architectural note? They both came on before Home Again - of which I've seen every episode). Most of America's 'castles' are resorts or estates...how many of them are right on a subway line? That alone sets Casa Loma apart.

 

[interchange42]

San Simeon is more giant-hacienda, but I should have thrown in neo-gothic-romantic-folly in regards to Casa Loma.

42

 

[adma]

Ottawa has a contemporary hi-tech version of something Casa Loma-like. And as far as "exhibits on medieval weaponry, warfare, and armour" go; well, you never know what might be in Marlen Cowpland's closet...

 

[wyliepoon]

What other city in North America has a huge castle?

Anaheim.

 

[esplanade guy]

I have never seen a picture of a Castle in America that looks anything like a real, European style castle, so I just did a search, using Google sites and images, to search Newport castles and American castles. It came up with a lot of sites and pics but almost all the places looked more like Rosedale, Bridal Path and Forest Hills homes, not European Castles. I did not see one pic of anything that looked like a full-scale, authentic, European castle. They just looked like upscale homes, designed with old-world elements. Casa Loma looks completly different then anything I've seen in North America.

Why don't you guys prove it by posting pics of real Castles, in America. If you know of anything in America that looks like Casa Loma, or better, post it and say which city it's in. I don't care if it is a bit kitch, I think Casa Loma is a beautifully designed, well proportioned and a unique building this city should promote. It's location is also wonderful, on that incline, overlooking downtown, and yes, just above the subway. I have seen nothing to compare, YET! (In N. A.)

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From the Star:

Who's the king of the Casa?
Debate over right to run Casa Loma
Kiwanis warns of `Coca-Cola castle'
Jun. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
ANNA PIEKARSKI
STAFF REPORTER

Casa Loma — or at least the name — could soon be up for grabs.

The Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma has run the Toronto landmark for 70 years, but a recent report from a City of Toronto advisory committee suggests the estate should be operated by a trust, with any organization or business able to bid for rights to run the tourist attraction.

"Are they going to re-brand the castle and call it Coca-Cola castle?" said Richard Wozenilek, chairman of the Kiwanis board of trustees. "They just want us out."

Finding private sponsors could be one way to raise funds said advisory committee chairman Ron Kanter, adding museums often name buildings after donors. Kanter said the present operation of the castle is inefficient because the city is responsible for the outside of the building and the Kiwanis club maintains the interior.

The Kiwanis Club operates Casa Loma under a licence agreement from the city. The agreement guarantees the city 32.5 per cent of the box office and 7 per cent of other revenues — about $1 million a year.

Currently a $20 million renovation to the exterior of the building is being funded by the city. Kanter said the new trust could raise funds through sponsorship or other revenues to cover these costs.

Wozenilek said the city long neglected the building and now it has to pay for massive renovations to the 92-year-old castle.

The advisory committee, made up of volunteers , was created in 2004 to find ways to fund the $20-million project and to examine the accountability and transparency of Casa Loma, said Rita Davies, executive director of culture for the city's economic development, culture and tourism division.

Wozenilek said the licence allows the city to create an advisory committee, but in 70 years it has only sporadically exercised this power and councillors rarely attend board meetings. He said the club's financial statements are audited annually.

Wozenilek said the Kiwanis Club maintains the interior of the building without any city funding and the club has about $200,000 a year remaining, which it uses to fund charitable organizations in Toronto, including the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and children's charities.

Kanter said an open tender process would mean any organization could bid, including profit-turning businesses, and charitable organizations such as Kiwanis.

The Kiwanis Club has done a good job running the castle, Kanter said, but more has to be done to attract Torontonians, including a restaurant on site.

The castle draws as many Toronto residents as the CN Tower, Wozenilek said, adding that the report's criticism of the club is "bewildering" and "blatantly distorts the facts." The Kiwanis licence is renewed every five years and Wozenilek said the short contract does not give the organization enough time to implement long-term plans, like building a restaurant.

The Economic Development and Parks Committee will vote to endorse the report June 12, with a vote at city council June 27.

AoD

 

[adma]

Anyone for Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And from the Post:

Kiwanis slams city for Casa Loma trust proposal

James Cowan, National Post
Published: Friday, June 02, 2006

The Kiwanis Club chapter that has managed Casa Loma for 70 years expressed outrage yesterday at a committee's proposal to wrest the castle from them.

The Casa Loma Advisory Committee (CLAC), a nine-member panel established by the city, has suggested establishing a public trust to manage the historic site. Richard Wozenilik, the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma's CEO, yesterday rejected the idea as "ill-defined" and "ill-conceived."

He added the committee has failed to recognize the Kiwanis Club's successful stewardship of the 92-year-old castle.

"We are probably the most successful heritage attraction site in Canada," Mr. Wozenilik said. "We may be one of the few that are profitable in this country."

Owned by the city, Casa Loma has been operated by Kiwanis since 1937. The community group pays close to $1-million each year in licensing fees while donating any remaining profits to charity.

Mr. Wozenilik said the city has failed to adequately reinvest its share of the revenue in the building's maintenance. "It's only because of their neglect over the years that the castle needs restoration," he said.

A $20-million city-funded restoration project is underway. Mr. Wozenilik said the proposal for a public trust is likely conceived as a way to spare the city further expense.

"They neglected and suddenly they realized -- holy mackerel --we have to restore this," he said. "They're going to establish a trust and get high-profile people on the board and the assumption is these people are going to go out into the marketplace and get donors to pony up money."

Rather than handing Casa Loma to a new trust, Mr. Wozenilik argues the city should extend his group's lease of the facility for 20 years.

The Kiwanis Club has proposed opening a restaurant in the castle's derelict hunting lodge, and creating a theatre in its stables. Mr. Wozenilik also said there is an opportunity to link Casa Loma to such nearby attractions as Spadina House and the Toronto Archives.

The CLAC report will be tabled at a meeting of the city's economic development and parks committee on Monday.

jcowan@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006

AoD

 

[samsonyuen]

I for one have never gone to Casa Loma. Strangely, we never went in elementary school!

 

[miketoronto]

Casa Loma could attract more Toronto people by holding more organ concerts.

Casa Loma has an amazing organ, lets use it more. When they hold concerts like the Christmas one, it is sold out.

Lets use these things more, then just letting them sit there.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

"Why don't you guys prove it by posting pics of real Castles, in America."

Start with this website
www.dupontcastle.com/cast...dex.htm#ny

Lyndhurst Castle, Tarrytown, NY.

Boldt Castle

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

John Barber's take in the Globe:

Our Casa or their Casa?

JOHN BARBER

Warning: Never come between a Kiwanian and his castle. Even if you tippy-toe, as the city is attempting to do with its "implementation of a new vision and governance structure for Casa Loma," you are going to get whacked.

The report from an advisory committee recommending a gentle end to the service club's 69 years of operating the great pile on the hill is "ludicrous," "ill-prepared" and "ill-conceived," according to lawyer Richard Wozenilek, head of the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma. The club "vehemently rejects" the report's "egregious distortions," a press release states. The only exceptions are the parts it obtained from the club's own report on its own vision for the city's No. 3 tourist trap, according to Mr. Wozenilek. "We really got upset with this," he added.

And now the club has gone to war -- arming itself with professional lobbyists and spin doctors in an all-out effort to hang on to the prize. "We've got a successful operation," Mr. Wozenilek says. "We're not costing the city a penny. . . . We have a very professional team. And we've developed this Casa Loma site. It's because of us it that it's known as this tourist attraction."

You'd think that the Kiwanis Club built the thing, brick by brick. But as it happens, city taxpayers are the ones currently doing that -- contributing $25-million for a multiyear restoration of the castle's crumbling exterior. That's seven times more than Casa Loma cost its first vainglorious owner to build just prior to the First World War, and it goes a long way to explaining the city's new interest in the old asset it seized in 1933 for $27,303 in back taxes.

In other words, the city wants to lever more money out of its castle, "making it less dependent on city funding over time," according to the advisory committee's report.

The other reasons are more difficult to express, considering the Kiwanis Club's long stewardship and sterling reputation for community service. If any of the committee members were willing to speak as pungently as Mr. Wozenilek, they might choose such words as "tired," "dowdy" or "lame" to describe the problem with Casa Loma. Instead, they are excruciatingly diplomatic.

"At the moment, the city owns Casa Loma and they have leased it to the Kiwanis Club," says Annex lawyer and former MPP Ronald Kanter, chairman of the advisory committee. "It has been a sole-source contract for understandable historical reasons. It certainly made sense back in 1937. The question is, is it the very best we can do in the future?"

The answer is no, according to the committee. It has recommended that the castle's management, currently divided between the city and the club, be put in the hands of a non-profit trust headed by deep-pocketed "stakeholders" who will raise funds from the public to maintain the castle while radically improving its programming.

Cutting out Kiwanis also means ending its current practice of directing a share of ticket revenues to charity. "We think that the bulk of the revenue raised by people visiting the castle should go to its maintenance and upkeep," Mr. Kanter says, adding that the trust could arrange special events to help the club raise even more money for charity than it does now.

But Mr. Wozenilek isn't impressed. "We give back to the community," he says. "Apparently that's not a good thing to do, according to Ron Kanter."

Mr. Kanter thinks that the facility will be better off "financially as well as culturally" under new management. "Maybe we could have more than just a Druxy's in the basement to provide additional revenue," he muses.

Saying that the "status quo is not sustainable" because Casa Loma "lacks a champion," the committee is convinced that "the appropriate governance model" will ensure its future as a flourishing cultural asset.

"The club doesn't have the heavy hitters who can make the right noise to attract the funding," one senior city hall source explained. The tipping point in the decision to ease out Kiwanis came when Casa Loma failed in its most recent bid to attract provincial funding. "The application was on the minister's desk and the government was ready to fund it," the source said. "But they didn't get one call."

Without an active lobby behind it, the funding application died.

The irony of the struggle is that both sides agree on the need for major improvements to Casa Loma and both make similar suggestions, including improved access and better facilities. Facing the end of its current lease, the club wants the city to give its lease a 20-year extension.

"We're already one of the top three attractions in this city, one of the top 10 in this country, and we're doing a very good job, plowing funds back into the community," Mr. Wozenilek says. "And they want to tinker with it. Why?"

The answer to that is actually clear: The city owns Casa Loma and is currently spending a fortune fixing it up. A better question is whether or not its "heavy hitters" will do a better job managing and funding the place -- or whether such people even exist.

AoD

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And an article from the Globe:

City wants Casa Loma to have a new ruler
Report criticizes Kiwanis Club for upkeep of Toronto's leading tourist attraction

ALEXANDRA SHIMO

At first glance, Betty Reynolds is not noticeably different from the other tourists visiting Casa Loma yesterday. With loose-fitting clothes, comfortable running shoes and white socks, she is the sartorial archetype of a tourist.

But in a report released to Toronto City Council this week, tourists like Ms. Reynolds -- from the Toronto area -- were considered more prized than the majority of visitors.

"Most of the visitors come from outside of the GTA," said Ron Kanter, chair of the city-appointed Casa Loma Advisory Committee, which wrote the report and submitted it to council. "There are times when these visitors are uncertain, either because of the exchange rate, SARS, or possible passport requirements. We don't want to lose tourists from outside the area, but for economic and cultural reasons, we want more Torontonians to visit."

The report criticizes the management of Casa Loma by the Kiwanis Club, saying it has not done enough to draw locals to the site. It recommends setting up an independent trust to run the attraction, which would invest the profits back into the castle, rather than donate a portion to charity, as Kiwanis has done.

In addition, it says the castle needs to improve the "lacklustre ancillary services" and introduce better signage to encourage Torontonians to visit. There should also be more walkways connecting to the castle, and more heritage tours.

Asked to give her impression of the castle, Ms. Reynolds had no criticisms. Like many from the Toronto area, she had not visited for years.

"I haven't been here since I was 10, and I'd forgotten how magnificent it was," said Ms. Reynolds, who drove from Markham with a friend who is visiting from England. "It's a very unique gift that Canada has because it's the only castle around. It's very opulent. I wouldn't change a thing."

The city hopes to attract the more discriminating tourists by renovating the castle and adding new exhibits. These could narrate the story of Sir Henry Pellatt, who spared no expense building the medieval-looking castle before his financial downfall, or they could explain more about the Edwardian furnishings inside, Mr. Kanter said.

"We think there should be a clearer vision for the castle," said Mr. Kanter, a lawyer and former MPP. "Many of the other cultural institutions have better restaurants and better gift shops. The museum has just a deli, and it's in the basement. And the exhibits have hardly changed at all in the last 20 years. They are a bit static and stale. We'd like to refresh the Casa Loma experience."

Richard Wozenilek, the CEO of the Kiwanis Club, rejects the criticisms. Regarding profitability, he cited a 2003 report by the Canadian Museums Association that ranked the profitability of all cultural sites in Canada. For historic museums, Casa Loma was first for operating profits, and second for retail sales.

"We vehemently reject this city staff report," Mr. Wozenilek said. "We think it is filled with distortions. We get 350,000 visitors, of which 150,000 are Torontonians. That number is comparable to the number of Torontonians who visit the CN Tower every year. Their criticisms are just balderdash."

Regardless of who manages the museum, some tourists say they want more historic bang, even if it means more buck.

"I think they should do more," said Lone Vandenbroek, who lives in Pickering. "It's a beautiful castle and I'm really impressed, but I think it should be renovated so it looks exactly the way it was when it was first built. They need to do more to make people aware of this place, so more Torontonians come to visit. It's an important part of our cultural heritage."

AoD

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From the Globe:

Casa Loma changes are put on hold
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Faced with an angry protest from the service club that operates city-owned Casa Loma, a committee of council yesterday put off a decision on a possible change in management of the major tourist attraction.

Even before hearing from a large contingent of representatives and supporters of the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma, the long-time manager of the former estate of Sir Henry Pellatt, the city's economic development committee decided to take more time for consultations.

The deferral, made despite recommendations from a city-appointed advisory panel for a new management structure, effectively puts a decision off until the next term of council in 2007.

"It is a first step," Richard Wozenilek, chairman of the Kiwanis board of trustees, told reporters. "Maybe now they will listen to us."

But Councillor Joe Mihevc (St. Paul's), who attended meetings of the city-named panel of outside advisers, praised their report that called for a new non-profit organization to oversee all aspects of the estate built between 1911 and 1914.

"There does need to be a change in the status," Mr. Mihevc said. "This is in the end a public asset."

The city owns Casa Loma and has been responsible for its external upkeep; the Kiwanis Club has operated the interior under a long-term licence since 1937.
_________________________________________________

Hmm, I sense entitlement...

AoD

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And from the Star:

Relative chimes in on Casa Loma
Sir Henry's great-grandniece wants new caretakers
Meeting packed with Kiwanians, committee delays decision
Jun. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM
JOHN SPEARS
CITY HALL BUREAU

The Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma has manned the battlements to defend its guardianship of the city landmark.

But it had to dodge some missiles launched by Trelawny Howell. She told a Toronto council committee meeting packed with Kiwanians yesterday that, as a great-grandniece of the castle's builder, she'd like to see others get the chance to care for Casa Loma.

The skirmish had councillors on the economic development committee ducking for cover: They put off a decision on who should run the castle and asked for further consultation — a decision that's likely to stall things until after November's municipal elections.

The battle was launched by a report from an advisory committee, headed by former MPP Ron Kanter, which recommended turning management of the castle over to a new "Casa Loma Trust."

The castle is owned by the city — which took it over from the builder, Sir Henry Pellatt, in 1924 for non-payment of taxes — but has been run since 1937 by the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma under a licence agreement.

While the Kiwanians run the castle and maintain the interior, the city maintains the exterior. The city is in the midst of a multi-year, $20 million project to repair the outside walls.

Kanter said a new management structure is needed for Casa Loma because competition for visitors is stiffer than ever, and under the current set-up the castle gets no funding from corporate sponsors or senior governments.

"We're trying to create a champion for the castle," he said.

But Richard Wozenilek, who chairs Casa Loma's board of trustees, bristled at the suggestion that after 70 years of Kiwanis management the castle should be put up for grabs.

"What we have in the city today is this icon we call Casa Loma that we built as our business,' he told reporters. "And now they're just going to hand it off to someone else? It's absurd."

Most people think they (the Kiwanis) own the castle ... It's Torontonians'.

Trelawny Howell

The advisory committee gave the Kiwanians a minimal role in their review process, he said: "We could have told them a lot of things they missed or distorted in their report."

The advisory committee wants Casa Loma to focus on "telling the story of Edwardian Toronto" and to link with the nearby City Archives and Spadina Museum to form a heritage district.

It also says Casa Loma could pull in much more revenue with a high-end restaurant and a swankier gift shop.

But Casa Loma chief executive Virginia Cooper said installing an expensive restaurant on the ground floor "for the Forest Hill and Annex crowd" would eat up valuable space that now helps to generate $2 million of the castle's $5.4 million in revenue each year. The city got $948,886 in licence and other fees, Kiwanis says.

Cooper said the gift shop is profitable and defended the restaurant: "Yes, we have a Druxy's in our basement. So does the Royal Ontario Museum."

The committee room was packed with supporters of the Kiwanis Club, which has hired former Toronto councillor Paul Sutherland of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to bolster their case.

But Trelawny Howell, who said her great-grandmother's sister was Sir Henry Pellatt's wife, turned up at City Hall to call for an end to the Kiwanis Club's "monopoly control" of the castle. She said it has become too identified as a Kiwanis facility: "This is a great way to brand their charity, their international charity, which is headquartered in Michigan, Detroit," said Howell.

"I say this is our Canadian castle. It's Torontonians'. It's Canada's castle. It's time that the City of Toronto as the owners take their rightful position to showcase it as our castle, and not to have it branded as the Kiwanis Club's."

"I'm hoping council will open up a request for proposal and have an open, public tender process."

AoD