Meet Jill Taylor, National Trust Donor and Member
Jill Taylor is an architect and restoration professional from Toronto, Ontario, and co-founder of Taylor Hazell Architechts Ltd., a firm founded to address architecture, conservation, and strategic planning for existing sites and structures. Taylor Hazell Architects is also a long-time National Trust member, Heritage Patrons Circle Donor, and conference sponsor.
I got involved with the National Trust because: I believe in advocacy and national outreach to all provinces and regions. The importance of cultural heritage to the identity and social well-being of our country is inestimable. Understanding each other, our traditions, and achievements throughout history. Including the legacy of our First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, can be a key to peace and good government, and to the respect and esteem of all people.
I care about historic places because: There has never been a time in my life that I have not been moved to reflect on the wonder of our accomplishments and the vision of our predecessors when looking at landscapes, at buildings or places, or experiencing works of art and culture. The reflection is an inspiration to me, and provides the link I need to understand the good work of others, their aspirations, courage, and accomplishment in thought and in anything made by mind and hand. Historic places across our country, large and small, bring relevance to my life on earth, and give me hope for the future.
A historic place that matters to me is: Osgoode Hall courthouse, in my home town of Toronto Ontario. Its architectural beauty is unsurpassed anywhere in Canada.
The place that every Canadian should see at least once in their life is:
The natural wonder of the Sleeping Giant in Thunder Bay, Ontario, on Lake Superior. To see it from the air, from the edge of the Lake, or to be on it, to understand its meaning for others, is awe-inspiring.
If I were a historic place, my architecture style would be:
Vernacular, set in a cultural historic landscape, with views and connections to its evolved community of buildings and places. There would be people from all corners of the world, and there would be animals living in peace.
My idea of “heritage” is: The unity of human made culture through time, including landscape buildings, structures, networks of travel between places, and all the things we have made or dreamed of that have made all people what we are.
“Historic places across our country, large and small, bring relevance to my life on earth, and give me hope for the future.”
This questionnaire is the National Trust’s take on the Proust Questionnaire, made famous by writer Marcel Proust.
