[ScreamingViking]

After two fires and with development looming, heritage advocates look to save ‘unusual’ features of former Rebel’s Rock Irish Pub
Vacant King Street East building a candidate for heritage designation — but it has had two recent fires and owner has plans for demo.

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...45bb6c54d.html

Nicole O'Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
Nov. 13, 2024



A vacant King Street East building remains boarded-up — but still standing — following two recent fires, amid a push to give the building heritage designation.

The owner of 537 King St. E., which formerly housed Rebel’s Rock Irish Pub and is slated to be part of a bigger condo development project, applied on July 20 for a demolition permit, the City of Hamilton told The Spectator. However, the application remains “under review,” awaiting response from the applicant.

Despite the two fires, the building is not at imminent risk of collapse, but is unsafe for occupation, according to the city.

“The owner submitted a building permit application to demolish and is working through the process with the building division and heritage planning to ensure due process is followed,” the city said, adding that a permit to demolish cannot be issued until the owner has met requirements under the Ontario Heritage Act to give formal notice of its intention to demolish.

The building has been on the radar of Hamilton’s municipal heritage committee for several years and is on the register of places with heritage interest. This means there is some interim protection of the building, including a requirement to give 60 days’ notice before any demolition — a delay meant to allow the committee time to consider designation.

“Despite the recent internal damage caused by the fire(s), the building still retains cultural heritage value or interest (primarily the exterior features of the building) and is still a candidate to be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.,” the city said.

Graham Carroll, a citizen member of the Hamilton municipal heritage committee, researched the property and says he believes it’s a clear candidate for heritage designation that will easily garner approval.

The property dates back to at least 1890, when it first appeared on the city’s street directory, he said. It was owned by a man named Thomas Lovejoy, a brick mason who was originally from England.

Among the features of the house that he’d like to see preserved is the terracotta on the outside of the building — an unusual feature for the time and area. Carroll wonders if Lovejoy built the house or did the brickwork himself. There is also a window inside the chimney on the east side of the house — something he’s never seen before — along with an unusual hexagon-shaped tower, and a half-round window with a brick voussoir (an arch more often found in stone) on the west side.

“We drove a bunch of streets in the area and can’t find anything similar,” he said, describing the building’s features as Edwardian with Victorian highlights.

Carroll hopes these “very unusual” features can be incorporated into the development design. Fortunately, damage from the two fires is primarily in the interior and the back of the building.

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