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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-12-14, Page 26• 'PAGE LOA, GODERIPI SIGNAL.STAR‘ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14. 197g - • • Hands,toross:thoiva t Negotiations between the town of Goderich and the Huron County Property Com- mittee are in progress and at least One person is watching the proceedings from the other side of the AtIontic Ocean. British architect lan M. Leslie, who initiated a fund to preserve the 230 year old building, isn't exactly picking sides but he's rooting for any suggestion that would save the - old building -from the bull dozer and wrecking bar. Recently the Signal Star con- tacted Barb Ledbetter, a Goderich resident and free. lance. journalist -'-rraW, oir cis Working holiday in England. asking her to interview Mr. Leslie and explore what motivated him to do everything in his power toward saving the former Huron County jail, The following are Miss Ledbetter's findings. By Barbara Ledbetter Ian M. Leslie is an excep- tional man. I met with ,him initially for more than an hour and a half and then spoke to him several times on the telephone in the process of preparing this story. Each time I was more impressed by the man. Signal Stat 'readers will be familiar with the name of Ian M. Leslie C.B.E. F.R.I.B.A. (Hon.) through letters he has written to the editor of this newspaper, some of which have been published, concerning his interest in saving the former Huron County Jail. A cheque was enclosed in one such letter •for 20 pounds to start a "Preservation Fund," which Since that time the Signal Star has inaugurated. •es "While visiting Goderich 1968 I happened upon the for- rrler Huron County Jail, which was,still in ,use," Mr. Leslie ex- plains. "I considered it to be the town's finest building, designed about 1830 in the Georgian style. I admired it S'o much that I took photographs 'of the outside." "I thought no more of it until earlier this year I heard, from Miss Claire Reynolds that the Jail, which had been in danger, had been saved through the in- tervention of a group of young actors. I wrote a piece for "Building" 'congratulating Goderich on its foresight arid sent a copy to Miss Reynolds. She passed this on to the Editor of the Signal Star." ' "The Editor made kind allusion to it in the issue of Oc- 1 farmer H�ron Coupt tober 26 but made a point that the Jail had not been saved as the Reeves of Huron County. were unwilling to spend money on its restoration." "Hearing this", Mr. Leslie explains, "I wrote a letter»to the e`aitin, - supporting the Signal Star's campaign to save the building. It was by the pure chance of Miss,Reynold's letter saying that the Jail ,had been saved that my intervention happened." Ian Ls1ie was born in Lon- don England, a son of Scottish Parents; his father a Doctor of Medicine. He was educated at St: -Paul's SThoOl, 'where Lard Montgomery of Alamein ,was educated and in whose High Master's • Room, now demolished, the briefing of General Eisenhower, before the invasion of France was conduc- ted in 1945. In 1926 Ian M. Leslie joined the staff of "The Builder", as "Building" was then known. "Building" is the fourth oldest technical paper in the world, being founded in 1842 by Joseph Hansom, a distinguished Victorian ar- chitect who designed Bir- mingham Town Hall and in- vented the Hansom cab, known to both Victorian and Edwar- dians. Nineteen Forty Seven saw Ian Leslie become the Editor and in 1970 he retired. He is now the Chairman of "Building Publishers' Ltd." and founder and President of the Inter- national Association of "The, Building and Construction" • (U.K. section.) At ane time Ian Leslie •used to box and May cricket and is now a membet- of the Marylebone Cricket Club, the club which administers the game. He is also a member of the Medical School Council of St. Mary's Hospital and of the committee which is engaged iD .._ a 30,000,000 scheme to rebuild it. He is also current chairman of the Savage Club; ' a club founded in 1856 for London Bohemians which has close links with the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto. Between 1955 and 1961 Mr. Leslie was Justice of the Peace for the County of London and from 1955 to 1961 was the chairman of the Chelsea Juvenile Court. One of his proudest recollections is having sat as Magistrate in the dhildren's Court at Toronto in 1950. Ian Leslie has -visited Canada a total of five tithes; (photo by Ian M. Leslie Mark first in 1950 and last in 1968; on both occasions he was con- ducting."one-man" trade com- missions- acrogintGa-n-ada. Mr. Leslie's connection with Goderich is through Miss Claire Reynolds whom he terms "Goderich's most remarkable citizen and am- bassador," ,as well as Mrs. Harold Taylor. M. Taylor was godmother to Miss Patika Pote, whose mother, the late Mrs. Helen Pote, was born Helen Horton in Goderich. She married Major, Claude S. Pote M.C. Patika and her elder daughter married Ian Leslie's cousin. in 19:37, Capt. R.P.M. Tipping of the ,Madras Pioneers. Their elder daughter, now Mrs. Merrill Spencer, was christened in Goderich in 1938 and' with her husband Patrick, a leading London realtor, visited Mrs. Taytor. in Goderich ,in 1969. Their younger daughter, Anne Tipping, visited Goderich in 1968. Ian Leslie is interested in the world around. him even though it tray be thousands of miles away.- His love for Canada comes from his visits, Gerson, London, Eng:) (vire, Jail "After the war, on visiting Canada, I felt it was a new world, fresh and wide open. If 1 had, been younger rwould have stayed „and settled., I feel' Canada is for the young.- His son, Graham Leslie, is Director of Labor Relations in Van- couver. "As an architect, .1 think the town plan is exceptional. The town's people have something precious and don't seem to ap- preciate its history," he notes. "Goderich should sit back and look, at itself, because if they•are careless now it will be too late in the future. Once the town starts messing about xvotiamoogwootromoisowseisiowommowsposorospoowAt. V.F4f4_,),'401600100146 .1 • . .„ becauselsornething is too expen- sive to keep, they will end up wondering what the• object of it' g allwasi" ,,As , said before, I will dispute 4),, the bitter end any suggestion that the Jail should be sold for development or allowed to rot. I am all for an arts centre or even a penology yi museum if it will preserve the s structure."lan M. has written ar- ticles which were published, 0:4110 one in a leading London paper, "The Daily Telegraph" and the other in "Building," concerningM Goderich and the fornier.,Huyon ,CourtY;aiaeil pisthe Signal Star for 41. doing a great job by focusing on g this matter," he said. 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