Posted Jul 5, 2013, 5:54 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Hamilton
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Last-ditch bid to preserve venerable King Street buildings
Hamilton Spectator
The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) has sent a letter to city council urging a heritage designation for a row of King Street East buildings slated for demolition within weeks.
ACO president Richard Longley urged in his letter, sent Thursday, that the three pre-Confederation buildings at 18-22 King St. E. and the two late-Victorian buildings at 24 and 28 King St. E. be preserved rather than demolished.
"This is with a view to saving all of these buildings, that they might contribute once again to the life of Gore Park that is the city's heart," he wrote.
Property management company Wilson Blanchard, which owns the buildings, has a permit from the city for the demolition, which is scheduled to happen within two weeks.
Longley acknowledged a compromise made in January between the city and Wilson Blanchard that would see the facades of 18-22 preserved if a structural engineer deems them worth saving.
"Our deal with the city is to keep 18-22 and we're going to rip down 24 and 28," said developer David Blanchard.
Longley added that the buildings at 24 and 28, dating from the 1870s "are scheduled to be demolished completely (and) have been placed on Heritage Canada's 2013 list of top 10 most endangered places. "
Blanchard suggested the costs of maintaining the buildings make heritage designation unrealistic: "They're not worth putting money into. There is no sense in leaving them there and letting them rot like the Lister block did for 20 years," he said.
Ward 2 Jason Farr commented on the ACO letter and said the matter is out of council hands. He referred to the agreement made between the city and Wilson Blanchard: "For me, personally, I'm going to maintain the Jan. 23 compromise. I can tell you personally as the ward councillor, as someone who works with the heritage committee and with staff, I'm not going to seek an overturning of a unanimous council decision."
Possibilities for preserving the facades of 18-22 will be decided when Blanchard receives the structural engineer's assessment this week or next.
"Once we find out if they can be retained, we can find out what we can do to fix them and repair them. That's the economics, we don't know that yet," he said.
Longley said preserving only the facades would be disappointing but understandable. But he said the ACO would not understand "the complete demolition of buildings that have contributed so much and for so long and might continue to do so, well into the future, to Hamilton's history and culture."
If the buildings are demolished, Blanchard said new developments on that block would include retail spaces, condominiums and offices.
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