Heritage enthusiasts across the province are holding their breath and mobilizing to get expert help and money to save historical buildings damaged in the town Queen Victoria once described as "the prettiest town in Canada."

The Architectural Conservancy of Canada plans to launch a fundraising campaign and an appeal to built heritage experts including engineers for help, fearing Goderich property owners may be uninterested or unable to afford repairs and seize the opportunity to raze historic buildings damaged by Sunday's F3 tornado.

"There is a tendency for some property owners to call in engineers, say a building's not sound and the next thing is they're knocking down a building that is often salvageable," said Lloyd Atler, past-president of the conservancy.

"My biggest concern is the buildings being knocked down, so we want to immediately raise some money and bring in help, including experts who can help provide evaluation of buildings in terms of their repairability and structural integrity."

Rolo Myers, manger of the conservancy, said demolishing heritage properties simply to expedite the clean-up and rebuilding of the town would be short-sighted since "one of the things that brings people to Goderich is the build heritage, especially that square."

The Courthouse Square -- a designated heritage district that includes every building facing the once-treed but now denuded octagonal square -- was the hardest hit area of town, which has 39 designated properties, including some of the oldest homes and businesses in the province.

Remarkably, one of the province's few Victorian-era hotels still operating, the Hotel Bedford with its landmark metal-clad cupola, sustained relatively little damage, according to observations by media and architect John Rutledge, who has worked on many restorations of heritage properties and with the conservancy.

"I'm just shocked," said Rutledge of the devastation, which included his own West St. office where the third floor was destroyed, just above his second floor office.

Rutledge was out of town at the time of the tornado but did a tour Tuesday of areas he could access since the Square is closed.

"It's a real mess. It looks like one of our oldest houses is gone, it's roof ripped right off," said Rutledge, who was unsure of the address.

He said it appears the historic Polley's Livery Stable, now called the Livery Theatre, (which was built in stages starting in the 1840s and completed in 1878) at 35 South St. near the Bedford, also appears undamaged.

The Square is closed to the public for safety and security reasons as the damage is assessed and cleared and buildings evaluated for structural integrity.

Diane Porter, owner of what is known as the Robert Gibbons Home at 86 Picton St. E., was one of the few heritage property owners who could be reached by telephone.

Porter said two trees on her property were blown down by the 280-km/h winds, but no damage was done to the stunning, two-storey, Georgian-style cut-stone brick home built in 1845.

"The walls are three feet thick, so we're fine," said Porter. "We were very, very fortunate on our street, but not far away the damage was quite bad."

Several heritage enthusiasts in town could not be reached by telephone for comment.

--- --- ---

How you can help

Anyone wanting to help or donate to the effort to save Goderich's historical buildings is asked to contact the Architectural Conservancy of Canada at 416- 367-8075, toll-free at 1-877-264-8937, by e-mail at manager@arconserv.ca, or visit the website at www.arconserv.ca.

E-mail joe.belanger@sunmedia.ca, or follow JoeBatLFPress on Twitter.