Oakville's Council and heritage committee are up for Ontario's Carlos Ventin award for municipal heritage leadership
Architectural Conservancy Ontario lists 'Town of Oakville Council and Heritage Committee' among four nominees for its 2026 Carlos Ventin Award. Staff cite the Coach House, Gairloch Gardens and Erchless Estate. The winner is named October 29.
- The properties behind the nomination: Oakville's heritage register, property by property.
The details
What happened
Kirk Biggar, the Town's manager of policy planning and heritage, told Council and the Heritage Oakville Advisory Committee in a memo dated October 15 that the Town of Oakville has been nominated for the 2026 Carlos Ventin Award for Municipal Heritage Leadership. Architectural Conservancy Ontario's own list of 2026 nominees confirms it: 'Town of Oakville Council and Heritage Committee' appears in the category alongside Adam Coates and the Heritage Committee of the Town of Amherstburg, the City of Kingston Heritage Services Division, and the Town of Cobourg's heritage staff.
The award, sponsored by +VG Architects, recognizes elected municipal leaders, municipal staff and appointed representatives who have championed the rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of public heritage buildings — libraries, town halls, community centres, theatres, schools and other civic spaces. It honours Carlos Ventin, the architect ACO credits as a pioneer of saving Ontario's historic buildings for new uses. The 2025 recipient was Richmond Hill's council.
What the nomination rests on
- A carriage house of more than 120 years, remodelled and reopened in 2022 as a community gathering and event space in the Old Oakville Heritage Conservation District
- Stewarded as cultural and heritage destinations; the Gairloch Gardens Conservation Plan was approved in 2021
- Built 1858, home to six generations of the Chisholm family; acquired by the Town in 1977 and opened as the Oakville Museum in 1991, with restored gardens and lakeside grounds
- Heritage buildings integrated into new development as commercial space, community amenities and gathering places
- The 2010 Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership from the Heritage Canada Foundation, awarded from 2000 to 2020
The memo frames the nomination as recognition of Council and the advisory committee together, for 'heritage stewardship, policy leadership, and the ongoing protection of Oakville's historic places', and of the Town's practice of folding historic properties into new development rather than clearing them. It does not say who submitted the nomination; ACO accepts nominations from the public, heritage advocates and its own members, and does not allow self-nomination.
What happens next
ACO's jury decides each category, and may move a nomination to another category or give no award in a category at all. The 2026 ACO Heritage Awards ceremony is on October 29, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at Magnolia Hall, 115 Hunter Street West, in Hamilton, according to the Town's memo; ACO's nominations page gives the same date. Staff say they will report back to Council and the heritage committee after the ceremony.
Sources
Architectural Conservancy Ontario
The 2026 Nominees — ACO Heritage AwardsArchitectural Conservancy Ontario
The Awards: Categories and History — ACO Heritage AwardsArchitectural Conservancy Ontario
2026 Nominations — ACO Heritage Awards
