The convoluted emergence of the federal center of American democracy and how it reflects the colonial roots of a nation The location and architecture for the U.S federal government did not always exist as it does today. The immediate image that is conjured up of the white, neoclassical portico and columns in front of a […]
An investigation into the Flatiron Building as an Icon of capitalism. As America grew in the late 1800s a new form of empire was emerging. The United States had vast amounts of resources, people and products. New York city was the capital of an economic empire. As capital accumulated in New York city it manifested […]
A Conflict of Dominion at the Slave Quarters Tuckahoe slave labour camp is located ten miles west of Richmond, Virginia and was first settled by the Randolph family in 1714 and was at one point the childhood home of Thomas Jefferson.1 Construction of the main house began soon after and ultimately underwent the addition of […]
Introduction The Caribbean is a region historically notable for its legacy of colonization and slave labour. As early as the 16th century enslaved Africans were shipped to islands in the West Indies to work on plantations owned and operated by Europeans. In particular, France claimed a substantial amount of territory for its monarchy, and took […]
Forming a portion of the St. Lawrence Market façade in Toronto, its first official city hall is part of a legacy of facadism in Toronto architecture, where buildings are preserved to meet the goal of heritage conservation of facades. As we seek a decolonized society, it is important to question the role our preserved architecture […]
The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and products of Soil and Mine – referred to as the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 – proudly highlighted the United States’ advancements and achievements, featuring its ability to reunite and resurrect after the American Civil War, but also acted as an “effort to lift the country out of a […]
The Shakers were a religious utopian group that moved from Britain to America in the late 18th century. The Shakers originated in Manchester under the leadership of Ann Lee, who proclaimed herself the female incarnation of Christ.1 Delores Hayden describes in her book Seven American Utopias, that Ann Lee came to the religion after experiencing […]
Fort York was built in 1793 along the shore of Lake Ontario and exemplifies British military architecture.[1] The strategic location of the fort protected settler colonialism within the nearby Town of York, now known as Toronto. The architecture and history of Fort York reinforced British colonialism and empire in the early 1800s by providing military defence. While the military […]
Introduction Perched on the North peninsula of Halifax, Nova Scotia is a replica of a vintage church, sitting in solitude, overlooking the bay. The park is deceptively serene, and betrays the violent reality of the landscape’s history. A century before, the site was not a park, but a thriving black community named Africville. Africville, established […]
Displacements and Dispossessions resulting from The Public Lands Act of 1853 The road systems constructed in Ontario as a result of The Public Lands Act of 1853 have historically played a significant role in the processes of displacement and dispossession of indigenous communities from their traditional territories and homes, reinforcing the mechanisms of settler colonialism […]