Ontario Cottage

Lynne D. DiStefano, PhD (UPenn), is a specialist in cultural heritage and urban conservation. Co-founder and past director of the University of Hong Kong’s Architectural Conservation Programmes, she is an adjunct professor at the university and a faculty associate at the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts. From 2006 to 2018, Lynne was an ICOMOS expert and technical evaluator for UNESCO World Heritage sites in Austria, China, Japan, Laos, the Philippines, and South Korea. Previously, Lynne was a chief curator at Museum London and an associate professor at Brescia University College, Western University. Lynne has served on the board of directors of the Ontario Heritage Foundation (now Trust) at two different times and on Heritage Toronto’s Programme Committee. She is the co-author (with Nancy Z. Tausky) of Victorian Architecture in London and Southwestern Ontario: Symbols of Aspiration and (with Ho Yin Lee) has written a number of books and articles about cultural heritage in Hong Kong. In 2024 (with Lavina Ahuja), she completed the editing of the second of two books on adaptive reuse in Asia. Lynne lives in Toronto’s Annex, where she sits on the Annex Residents’ Association’s Heritage Committee and Planning and Development Committee. From the 17th floor of her condo, she dreams of living in an Ontario Cottage.Dan Schneider is a heritage enthusiast, policy wonk, writer and professional heritage consultant. A lawyer by training, Dan has been active in the cultural heritage field for 45 years. Formerly a senior policy advisor with the provincial culture ministry, he was lead policy expert on many government heritage initiatives including comprehensive changes to the Ontario Heritage Act in 2005. Now based in St. Marys, Ontario, Dan is Principal of Dan Schneider Heritage Consulting. His heritage policy blog OHA+M was founded in 2015 and is housed on the website of the Heritage Resources Centre of the University of Waterloo. Boasting 125 (and counting) articles on a wide range of issues, the blog is widely consulted and has won two awards including a 2017 award from the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals. As a volunteer, Dan is active in Architectural Conservancy Ontario and chairs ACO’s policy committee. He is a founding member of the Stratford/Perth County ACO branch and currently serves as its president. Previously Dan has been appointed to the St. Marys municipal heritage committee and was a member of the town’s Doors Open committee. For decades Dan was proud custodian of a c. 1856 limestone Ontario Cottage near St. Marys.Steven Evans is a Toronto-based photographer with 45 years of experience developing his craft. His personal photography has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally and can be found in numerous public collections, including The Canadian Centre for Architecture, The Art Gallery of Ontario and the City of Toronto Archives, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. In his commercial architectural photography practice, he has worked with many of Canada’s top firms. His images have been published in national and international magazines and websites, and his work has been honoured with National Magazine Awards. Evans has also taught and lectured at the Toronto Metropolitan University. His most recent project was the documentation of Ontario Place in Toronto, which culminated in a book and exhibition in 2023 entitled As It Is: A precarious moment in the life of Ontario Place.Lee Ho Yin, PhD (HKU) is an architect, well-published academic, and an experienced practitioner in built-heritage conservation. He is the co-founder and past Director of the University of Hong Kong’s Architectural Conservation Programmes. Ho Yin has been appointed by government agencies in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and overseas as an expert advisor or a consultant for conservation projects. He has also been appointed to a number of heritage conservation statutory boards and committees in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Government’s Antiquities Advisory Board and Urban Renewal Authority Board of Directors (as Non-Executive Director).