The Heaven & Hell of Heritage Homes

By Ted McIntyre

As historic restorations become more commonplace, are you focusing on the nuisance or the opportunity?

So you’ve acquired a chunk of land with a heritage property on it. Barring an earthquake, meteorite or some other random occurrence wiping the thing from the face of the earth, there are legal constraints to the situation. 

The Ontario Heritage Act gives the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, as well as local municipalities, the power to designate a property of cultural heritage value or interest—be it for its architecture, cultural importance or a notable prior owner. The best way to determine if you have a listed property or designated heritage property in your hands is to check the local municipal register.

A heritage designation prohibits the demolition or removal of any structure and requires municipal approval for alterations. Province-wide, municipalities have designated more than 7,200 individual properties and in excess of 130 Heritage Conservation Districts that protect 24,000+ additional properties.

A property that has merely been listed on the Ontario Heritage Act Register, on the other hand, has been identified as having heritage value but hasn’t yet been designated. That means there are no restrictions to making changes to the property. If you want to demolish the structure in question, you just have to provide the municipality with 60 days’ notice.

The problem for builders is that many municipalities have a thick catalogue of listed properties that may or may not be designated in the near future, which can make renovation or development plans problematic. Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, is clearing things up with several amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act. The most notable is that properties listed prior to the new legislation must be either designated or deleted from the Ontario Heritage Register by Jan. 1, 2025. That has many municipalities scrambling, including Oakville, which initiated the Heritage Designation Project 2023-2025 in January 2023, with a goal of designating approximately 80 out of its 290 listed properties prior to their required removal from the register.

That’s welcome news for a company like Whitehall Homes & Construction President Dave Farris, who has worked on dozens of homes in the Oakville Heritage District since 1980. “Homes of this vintage are always in need of upkeep and restoration,” says Farris, whose latest project on Second Street in Oakville commenced in December.

Farris handpicks his assignments, which means “not dealing with the historic component in order to get what you actually need elsewhere.” 

But that’s not the case for most builders. “Typically, it’s a necessary evil,” describes Halminen Homes’ CEO Hannu Halminen who, along with Peterborough Homes President Brian Fenton, began stitching together an 86-acre parcel on the western edge of Newcastle 10 years ago. Subdivisions and servicing were added to the plan, with Treasure Hill Homes purchasing serviced lots for its new Belmont Newcastle development. But 1.4 acres were reserved for a heritage house on the property. Known as the Belmont House, it’s an imposing two-storey red brick edifice completed in 1898 in the Georgian style with Edwardian Classicism elements. It was built by Samuel Wilmot on the same foundation as a home constructed by his father, Samuel Street Wilmot, in 1816, before it burned down in 1896. 

The home merits saving for its architecture and age alone, but it was the original owners that made its heritage designation a no-brainer. Samuel Street Wilmot was a political figure in Upper Canada, a major in the War of 1812 and later a deputy surveyor in Upper Canada. His son Samuel achieved even greater notoriety. With a goal of restoring the Atlantic salmon population in Lake Ontario, which had been significantly depleted since the arrival of European and American settlers in the late 18th century, Samuel Jr. began experimenting with artificial fish breeding in the 1860s. The federal government enlarged his project in 1868 into Ontario’s first full-scale fish hatchery—one of the earliest in North America.

Wilmot Jr. also constructed a grist mill nearby where he installed a dynamo (a water-driven generator) to provide the area’s first electricity in the early 20th century, highlights Manorville Senior Project Manager J.J. MacLellan. “Toronto barely had electricity at the time, never mind anything an hour east of it!”

Specialized Work 

Were Halminen and Fenton prepared to take on the Belmont House restoration themselves? Not even close! “It’s too much of a hassle. Restoration is much more challenging than a custom build, and it’s all specialized work,” stresses Halminen, who contracted Ajax-based Manorville Homes to tackle the project. 

While Manorville has taken on dozens of restorations since being founded in 1975 by Larry Jamieson, the Belmont is its largest and most complex. Big or small, though, patience is not just a virtue in these sorts of projects—it’s a prerequisite. “Getting our final heritage approvals and permits took four years, beginning in 2019,” recalls Manorville President Matthew Jamieson, who is used to the prying eyes and concerned parties this sort of undertaking engenders. “It’s all about relationships. It’s not just the planning department that has a say in this—you also have multiple town and regional heritage committees.

“But there has always been active communication back and forth,” Jamieson continues. “A couple of items in the original heritage assessment and rehabilitation report had to be modified. A spring-fed well was listed to be preserved. It fed into a small cistern in the basement where Samuel Wilmot would have done some of his fish-breeding experiments. The cistern is still there, and we are restoring it. But we couldn’t find the well. After 100 years, it was no longer locatable. So in lieu of that, we’re putting in a commemorative well with a plaque on it.” 

Jamieson appreciates the passion of local committees. “The Belmont House was there before there was a Canada—when it was just Upper Canada,” he says. “It’s part of the history of not just the community but the country.” 

As such, he sees potential value to be had. “Anyone can live in a cookie-cutter neighbourhood, but I think it means something to a lot of people to live in an area where they feel the history of the place,” Jamieson says. “There are a lot of these projects out there, and given the right opportunity, they can be centrepieces and selling features.”

The Belmont certainly qualifies. Halminen and Fenton plan to sell the home—which will be roughly doubled in size to approximately 8,500 sq. ft., including a three-car garage—once the restoration is complete this autumn. “The intention is to make money—this is not a charity operation,” Jamieson stresses. “It doesn’t have to be a money pit. There are projects out there that weren’t planned properly, or the right people weren’t used, or the knowledge, training and experience weren’t there, and they probably lost their shirts because of that. But I want to make these profitable for my company and for the developer.”

And these projects are only going to become more common, believes Joe Miller, who has served as a management consultant for Manorville Homes and other builders, helping them expand in the heritage space. “There will be more historic properties coming to light, not just because of the legislation, but because builders and developers are going further afield to purchase properties, and a lot of these designated homes are rural farmhouses,” Miller notes. “Townships have their eyes out for these heritage properties now, so a lot of subdivision agreements have their restoration stipulated in the contract. And it’s noted in the heritage assessment that you have to have an experienced heritage builder or renovator do the job.”

That means rounding up a very specialized team. “The millwork, carpentry, masonry—some of these techniques haven’t been done in more than a century,” Jamieson says. “You can’t just look in the phonebook and find Bill’s Masonry Repair and expect him to be able to do this sort of thing. It’s a certain skill set that, in many cases, has been lost, so a lot of planning and prep work is required.”

“I’ve echoed this to a few people—choose a consultant or contractor who understands how these houses were built,” says Andrea Cammisa, Senior Director of Low-Rise Construction for Minto. “That can aid in making better educated decisions, as they’re also aware of certain manufacturers that can either emulate the product you’re trying to replicate or help you restore some element in a more cost-effective manner versus using your typical sources to execute on the work, which may not meet the requirement of the heritage impact assessment. 

“Doing your homework also means exploring whether there are any municipal grants or programs available to help subsidize some of the rehab,” Cammisa adds. “That’s the one thing I don’t think people spend enough time researching.”

No Stone Unturned

Manorville has left no stone unturned in a more literal respect in Clarington. “The original house was built on a fieldstone foundation, with a new brick house built on top, so just shoring up and rebuilding that 200-year-old foundation required a unique skill set,” Jamieson says. “There were certain areas where the bricks had to be disassembled, cleaned one by one, and then reassembled after the foundation was repaired. We worked with Port Hope’s Historic Brick Company. That’s all they do—masonry work on historic and heritage buildings.”

Sometimes you have to go further afield. “In Aurora, when I was with Mattamy, we imported brick from an old, reclaimed factory in Michigan that actually had the identical brick to what was on the original house,” Cammisa says.

Piecing the puzzle together becomes more complicated when the structure has to be relocated. “In my experience, when a developer acquires a property, that heritage house is usually in an inconvenient place and has to be moved to allow for maximum utilization of the land,” advises Miller. “And you often can’t put it onto a traditional 36’ lot. And the value of the now-vacated lot is offset by the huge expense of moving, rebuilding and restoring the original home.”

Argo Development went through one such relocation of a heritage property at 5 Bowbeer Road within a new north Oakville community. “While most heritage houses are not reconstructed, in this case unstable ground had impacted the integrity of the building’s walls, requiring its dismantling and reconstruction using its historical materials,” relates Carolyn Van Sligtenhorst, Supervisor with the Town of Oakville’s Heritage Conservation Planning Services. “The developer worked collaboratively with the Town for a heritage easement agreement (signed in 2012). Following the Town’s approval, the developer dismantled the heritage building and safely stored the heritage elements before rebuilding it on a new site in the subdivision when its development commenced in 2020.”

A more conventional recent restoration for Argo is Robert Wilson House in its Lotus Pointe community in Caledon. Built for Robert Wilson III between 1872 and 1891 by Scottish immigrants, this showcase of local stone building and high-quality masonry was Argo’s third such heritage home project. The existing farmhouse combined “reddish-brown Credit Valley sandstone with grey limestone to produce a dichromatic palette in keeping with its High Victorian Gothic style,” describes the Caledon Statement of Heritage. Argo combined with Sedgwick Marshall Heritage Homes, a veteran in the heritage restoration realm, to preserve several details. Extensive foundation work required the careful raising of this 500-ton home by four feet to stabilize it. The stone back wing was carefully dismantled and rebuilt, with the original stones repurposed for a dramatic interior wall feature. Exterior doors were restored, exterior stone was re-mortared where necessary, salvaged wood was used to box in the ceiling’s steel support beams, reclaimed wood was used for the counters in the butler’s pantry, the original mantle and stone were used for the fireplace, and the pass-through in the kitchen, originally a doorway, was finished in reclaimed wood. Further, a side entry into the dining room was uncovered during construction, exposing a curved soldier stone detail.

The finished 4,000 sq. ft. restoration, fully modernized within, was purchased for $2.3 million two years ago by ReMax realtor Raman Johal, who was feeling out the market last month by listing the property for $2.37 million.

Pillars of  Support

Although the Belmont House was in relatively good shape, having been recently occupied, it was in dire need of structural support. “Three or so years ago when we first visited the house, we noticed the basement height was just over 7’, but there were some peculiarities that made us suspect that it at one time had been deeper,” relates Manorville Senior Project Manager J.J. MacLellan. “So we dug a couple of test holes around the perimeter and discovered the original stone foundation was indeed some 2.5’ deeper. With that information in hand, the plan was revised to lower the basement height by one foot. We ultimately had to dig down 20” to allow for the thickness of the new concrete floor, a clear gravel layer, insulation and a new interior weeping system.

“The basement floor itself was just a concrete skin, maybe an inch thick,” MacLellan adds. “After that, there was roughly 6” of dirt and gravel, and then an ash layer approximately 1.5” thick. The ash was a remnant of the original house when it burned down in 1896. I had a crew of six to eight guys in there for two weeks breaking up the concrete floor and digging out all the dirt and ash. 

“With the brick arches in the basement, we knew there was considerable weight coming down on the existing footings,” MacLellan continues. “The process of digging out under each section was slow and tedious. It involved first knocking out a few bricks above grade, installing needle shoring, removing the brick underneath, removing the brick/stone footings, digging down further, forming and pouring new footings, re-bricking the walls as needed and removing the needle shoring. It took us about four weeks to replace roughly 60 linear feet of footing.” 

Resting upon that foundation was a freestanding brick structure. “It was not supported by any type of wood structure,” Jamieson explains. “All the floors and the roof stayed, but all the walls came down, because it was really just a lath-and-plaster interior finish. We’re dealing with heritage architect Pamela Farrow, who did the drawings inside and out. A lot of the walls and rooms had to be moved around to accommodate the interior redesign—not necessarily for the electrical and plumbing but for HVAC. The house obviously wasn’t designed for a ducted system. It had four fireplaces providing the heating—one in each corner at the house. So we’re really building a new house inside of a heritage house, with massive beams installed to support the roof. We have an engineering consultant here on a regular basis to assess a lot of these structural components—old and new. ‘Can this foundation support XY or Z? Can these walls support what we want to do?’”

Jamieson is expecting to use at least 80% of the original 1.5”-thick pine flooring—painstakingly removing paint, varnish and even horseshoe prints. “When they’re done, they will look spectacular,” he says. “But it’s not like nowadays where we put down joists and then the subfloor, and then put a decorative floor on top. These are pine boards sitting atop the joists.”

The finished product will look as though it was freshly built in 1898 on the outside, Jamieson assures. But the interior will employ an array of modern creature comforts—from heated bathroom floors to a speaker system. Still, historical elements will be interwoven throughout, such as the preserved kitchen dumbwaiter and exposed brick in bathrooms.

Insuring the Future

What have Manorville staff uncovered of note during the process? “I think it’s the little things you don’t think about—bottles, teacups, horseshoes,” Jamieson says. “After the original house burned down, a lot of the rubble was thrown into the hole of the foundation before the new home was built. They were everyday items for the Wilmots, but to us they’re links to the past. At one point Samuel Wilmot would have had some tea in this cup or some whiskey or beer from that bottle. Or his horse had that horseshoe on. The most amazing thing we found was a 120-year-old organ stored in the attic. Unfortunately, after the most recent occupants had moved out and while we were assembling reports, and before power and security cameras were hooked up, some kids used the home as a clubhouse. There was some vandalism, including turning that organ into Swiss cheese. You can’t replace something like that.”

What do you need to protect? “The heritage department in the township will sometimes ask the developer for security—perhaps a letter of credit—to make sure that house doesn’t get destroyed and to cover the cost of rebuilding it if something happens,” Miller explains. “They don’t ask, ‘Are you adding an addition?’ and then reassess the value, though—they’re only interested in the original house.”

While you can’t put a price on historical value, the Province advises owners of heritage properties to share the designation bylaw with their insurer to be certain that heritage attributes are properly covered by their policy. Insurance companies may increase premiums for older buildings for a variety of reasons such as outdated wiring, old heating systems, etc., but your premiums should not go up simply because of a heritage designation. And if a building on a heritage property is completely or partially destroyed by accident, the designation bylaw does not require the owner to replicate any lost heritage attributes. Further, the replacement building can be of a different design.

But there’s a price to pay for trying to circumvent the rules. While most builders comply with the processes, “in rare cases where heritage elements were removed without the Town’s consultation and approval, the Town has prosecuted the property owners for not complying with heritage legislation,” says Oakville’s Van Sligtenhorst, who notes that the Ontario Heritage Act allows for fines up to $1 million.

Does she have any advice for builders with heritage properties? “Connect with the Town’s heritage planning staff from the very beginning of the project,” Van Sligtenhorst recommends. “Our team can provide builders and property owners with up-to-date information to help guide their planning process. Each heritage property is unique, and having the correct information from Town staff can really help. For example, there may be support for changes or development that the owner hasn’t considered, or there may be historical portions of the building that can’t be removed, or there may be guidelines for specific cladding materials to be used. Getting the right people on board can’t be underscored enough.” 

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