A historic Rockland home once owned by the coal-mining Dunsmuirs and Victoria politician Sam Bawlf has earned a reprieve from demolition.
Victoria city councillors voted Thursday to invoke a section of the Local Government Act to order the house at 1525 Shasta Pl. be protected for 60 days to discuss the possibility of longer-term preservation.
The city’s board of variance was scheduled to consider an application for the property on Sept. 14. Board decisions cannot be appealed, and if the application were approved, the city would have no choice but to issue a demolition permit to make way for re-development. The temporary-protection order provides a reprieve.
According to B.C. assessment rolls, the home is owned by Matthew N. MacNeil and Wendy L. MacNeil. Neither could be reached for comment. The value of the property is assessed at $1,232,000 for the land and $373,000 for the house.
The motion to delay was authored by councillors Pam Madoff, who takes a keen interest in heritage matters, and Charlayne Thornton-Joe. The decision was made at a committee of the whole meeting.
Madoff said the delay would give the city and property owner a chance to talk about preserving the house.
The city has taken a similar approach with other properties with good results, she said.
The home is listed on the city’s register of heritage properties, but that does not provide any formal protection or restrict what an owner can do to the property.
It has not been officially designated as a heritage property. Such status means any alterations or demolition must have the permission of city council.
According to the Victoria Heritage Foundation, the house dates to 1904 and was originally built as a carriage house and stables. It is the last remaining structure on The Leasowes, built by the Todd family and considered one of Victoria’s greatest estates.
The estate was sold in 1911 to James Dunsmuir, who renamed it Westover. The carriage house and stables were remodelled and housed the chauffeur and later a gardener and his wife.
The Dunsmuirs gave the remodelled stables to a former nanny as a gift in 1938. The main house and most of the land passed to the city in 1941 for unpaid taxes.
In the 1980s, Bawlf took possession and restored it.
Bawlf, who died last year, had a love of heritage. As a Victoria councillor in 1973, he developed the city’s first heritage policies. In 1977, as the Social Credit minister of conservation, he enacted B.C.’s first Heritage Conservation Act.
Council heard from dozens of residents urging them to support the 60-day pause.
“I am outraged that again another property of great historical interest and value is about to be demolished in favour, I would presume, of yet another characterless box,” wrote Susan Erling-Tyrell.
Paul Gelpke wrote: “This should be a designated heritage building with its 1904 design and its connection to James Dunsmuir and other early Victoria families.”
