B.C. HERITAGE AWARD 2009

Don Luxton

Well-known heritage consultant, advocate and author Don Luxton has been named by the Honourable Bill Bennett, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, to receive the 2009 British Columbia Heritage Award.

Conferred annually by the provincial government, the British Columbia Heritage Award recognizes an individual whose long-term leadership and contributions to the conservation of British Columbia’s heritage have been exemplary.  The award includes a ministry gift of $10,000 to a non-profit heritage-related organization or project, designated by the award recipient.

Don Luxton was born and raised in Vancouver.  Demonstrating a passionate interest in local history and heritage for the last 25 years, he has been involved in the field of heritage resource management since 1983.  Don has worked on numerous projects throughout western Canada, including municipal planning projects, heritage inventories and evaluations, and the restoration of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings.  He is active in the field of public education through the teaching of heritage conservation courses for both general interest and university credit, and is currently a sessional lecturer in the BCIT Architectural Science degree program.

His interest in the preservation of architecture has led to his continuing involvement with a number of heritage societies, including his role as a founding Director and current President of Heritage Vancouver, Director of the Arthur Erickson Conservancy, founding Director of the Victoria Heritage Foundation and former Director of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation.  Don is also the founding President of the Canadian Art Deco Society. In 2006 he received an honourary membership in the B.C. Society of Landscape Architects, and in 2007 was elected to the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Don is also a published author in architectural history.  With Lilia D’Acres, he was the co-author of Lions Gate (Talonbooks, 1999).  A graphic recreation of the history and construction of Vancouver’s landmark Lions Gate Bridge, this publication won numerous literary and heritage awards, including the City of Vancouver Book Award, City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour, Heritage Society of British Columbia Outstanding Achievement Award, and the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing.  Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia (Talonbooks, 2003), a richly illustrated overview of the architects who practiced in the province between 1858 and 1938, was awarded a Heritage Canada Achievement Award, an Architectural institute of British Columbia Special Jury Prize, the Hallmark Society Mark Madoff Award, a City of Vancouver Heritage Award of Honour, and the BC Book Prize, Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize in 2004.  His most recent book, Vancouver General Hospital: 100 Years of Care and Service, was released in February 2006 and has received a Heritage Award of Merit from the City of Vancouver.

» www.donaldluxton.com

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