Aziz studio designated London Heritage Site
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In 2004, the studio, gallery and home of Philip Aziz was designated a London Heritage Site. Philip's home is an original example of an early Ontario timber frame farm house. The studio, built in 1957 and gallery, built in 1967 as a centennial project, incorporates material, artifacts and architectural features of many famous London buildings that were demolished and saved by Philip. Several of these artifacts are worthy of note and deserve preservation in their current context. Flanking the driveway are brick walls adorned with stone brackets taken from the former Prevost Building. The courtyard surface is paved with bricks from the early London Street Railway tracks in downtown Dundas Street. Around the courtyard is a brick fence highlighted with carved stone capitals taken from the previous Bank of Montreal building at Dundas and Wellington Streets. Several other capitals decorate the courtyard as free-standing planter bases or plain pieces. The studio on the west side of the courtyard is finished in salvaged London clay brick adorned with more stone capitals from the Bank of Montreal. Many of the windows in the studio were taken from various old homes in the city. Inside the studio and gallery, the architectural artifacts continue among the collection of Mr Aziz's art, including a large hammered copper sink taken from the Smallman residence at 468 Colborne Street (now the Mocha Shriners building), decorative cut and beveled glass windows from several old homes and more carved stone capitals in brick walls and columns. One pair of capitals, taken from the Prevost building, form the bases of two stone columns at the south end of the gallery. The fireplace in the west wall of this area is formed in two-tone green marble salvaged from an altar that was being removed from the chapel in St. Peter's Seminary. Several other artifacts can be found around the studio and courtyard where Mr Aziz has not yet found the place to incorporate them in the building. |
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