Have you wondered which properties in Huntsville either receive some protection as designated heritage properties, or are at least listed as properties of heritage interest? The Municipal Heritage Committee announced today that an updated list is now available on the Town of Huntsville website.
Included are 12 designated heritage properties: Hart House, Proudfoot House, Huntsville Town Hall, Howland House, Forester Press, The Locks, Butcher-Rumney House, Bandshell of the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company, CN Railway Station, Ashworth Hall/Stisted Fair Building, Purser’s Cabin, and St. Andrews Presbyterian. Owners of these properties are required to apply for and receive a heritage permit to make any changes to the property, exculding regular repair and maintenance using the same materials as original.
The remaining 190 properties listed are properties of heritage interest. A heritage permit is not required to make changes to the property unless the owner wishes to demolish it. The Town then requires up to 60 days to review the application and assess its heritage significance before a decision on demolition is made by Town Council.
In future, the Town will also post an interactive GIS map showing the location of these properties.
Teri Souter, the Town’s Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage, invited members of the public to provide further information for the properties on the register.
Both the register and the Town’s Designated Heritage Property Policy are available on the Town of Huntsville website here.
Madill Church, one of the Town’s properties of heritage interest, was recently in the news as possibly being slated for demolition. Read more on that story at these links:
What will be the fate of Huntsville’s historic Madill Church?
Board of Trustees says Madill Church needs significant work to prevent demolition
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Hi Bob,
It’s at the link mentioned in the story above: http://www.huntsville.ca/en/visiting/artscultureheritage.asp
How does one access the current designation list? (digitally)
Totally agree with Rose Evans…There was a report issued by the town staff outlining the changes being contemplated by the owner following the garage fire of last year (maybe even the year before?).
Whilst the drawings showed a stone facing at the bottom of the original HH walls, there was no mention of that in the itemized list of work being proposed. There was, however, a comment that the proposed work would generally match the design of the existing structure. What has happened is that the existing structure has been modified to match the new construction.
Much the same happened with the previous permit of 2 years ago to repair the deck of the once magnificent verandah, which was rotted out, Rather than follow the tenets of heritage structure maintenance by using the same materials, the entire wooden verandah deck was removed and replaced with concrete and manufactured stone slabs. This project is still incomplete, as the verandah roof support posts are still propped up with 2×4’s under them. Mind you, the verandah will now outlast any building in Huntsville.
While the Ontario Heritage group no longer has any control over municipally designated properties, we’ll never know what their thoughts were on the current changes because they were not consulted by the town for a second opinion on the changes being proposed,
If the Hart House is a designated heritage property – has anyone seen it lately???? Who monitors this ???
It does not even resemble what it once was.