The Globe and Mail

For the past couple of decades, governments, real estate developers and heritage groups have been busily giving new life to Canada's oldest buildings as tourist attractions, shopping areas, apartments, lofts and centres for culture and the arts. It is a reaction, in part, to the 1960s and 1970s, when many were lost to the wrecker's ball. Now colleges and universities -- often with financing from outside public and private sources -- have started converting old buildings into one-of-a-kind spaces for students and faculty, while at the same time preserving Canada's past.