A 1911 Saanich house that contains several rental suites could lose its registered heritage property status so it can be demolished to make way for a housing development.
Abstract Developments is working on a proposal that involves removing a house at 3579 Quadra St., near Tattersall, from Saanich’s heritage register, a list of nearly 300 properties that are deemed to have heritage value to the community.
The building is on the register but is not heritage-designated, a classification with more protection that requires permission from the municipality to demolish a building or alter the exterior.
About 80 properties on the heritage list have a heritage designation. Removal from the heritage register requires approval from Saanich council. The district has also received an application for demolition of the building.
Ken Johnson, president of the Hallmark Heritage Society, said it’s relatively uncommon for a building to be removed from the heritage register. The 2½ storey home on Quadra Street, called Highfield, was built just five years after Saanich incorporated in 1906, and thus reflects some of its early history, he said.
Demolishing it, Johnson said, would be a “terrible loss for the community.”
Its construction was influenced by the arts and crafts design movement and has characteristics of the Edwardian Tudor Revival Style, such as wood framing, half timbering and heavy brackets.
The developer’s request for removal from the heritage register was set to go to council last week, with a staff recommendation that councillors approve the request, but the discussion was pulled from the agenda by the applicant.
Abstract confirmed in an email that it still intends to pursue removing the building from the heritage register and is working on the project details.
A staff report to council says Abstract previously considered restoring the heritage building, but costs to bring it up to current safety and seismic standards have increased substantially and make the idea unfeasible.
The staff report notes several aspects of the property “appear to be aging but satisfactory,” but says that it’s typical for older buildings to have deficiencies, because they were built at a time before building codes and municipal standards were in place.
A structural examination by a professional engineer would be needed to accurately determine the structure’s conditions and restoration needs, the report says.
Abstract owns the lots on either side of the heritage building. An earlier version of the project involved retaining the heritage home and rehabilitating seven rental suites in the building, while adding 11 townhomes across the three lots.
The earlier proposal also included new sidewalks, landscaped boulevards and possibly new cycling infrastructure.
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