Ottawa Citizen

The man after whom Carleton University has named its architecture school is best known in Montreal for tearing down a historic building, a move that kickstarted the city's heritage preservation movement. University officials announced yesterday that the school would be renamed the Azrieli School of Architecture in recognition of a $5.5-million donation by Montreal developer David Azrieli. But, events in Mr. Azrieli's past have at least one person questioning Carleton's decision. "He's unworthy," says retired Ottawa architect Stuart Kinmond. "I'd be embarrassed to come from a school named after him. It must be a great dilemma ... to be offered so much money, but to name the school after him, it's very questionable." In 1974, Mr. Azrieli enraged Montrealers when he demolished the historic Van Horne mansion on Sherbrooke Street, replacing it with a 17-storey office tower. The 1868 house had been owned by Sir William Van Horne, who built the Canadian Pacific Railway. His heirs put the house up for sale in 1969.