Residents cheer pending demolition in heritage district

On Sept. 30, city council approved the demolition of a Yorkville house that lies on designated heritage property — against the wishes of the Toronto Preservation Board but to the delight of neighbours, and with full support from board member and Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.

The house at 36 Berryman St., a white two-storey detatched with a gabled green roof, green shutters and green trimming in Yorkville’s Hazelton Conservation District, is not a heritage home, ABC Residents association co-president John Caliendo said.

“It’s not on its original foundation,” he said. “It doesn’t have its original plotting. The only thing original about that house is a bit of gingerbread trim underneath the gable. That’s it.”

Reached while visiting Italy, Caliendo learned that council had approved the current home’s demotion from the Town Crier.

“That’s great,” he said. “You won’t find one area resident that will be upset by that news.”

Toronto Preservation Board chair Jenny Rieger said in March the board had recommended issuing a demolition permit for the home, provided that whatever replaced it conformed to the character of the surrounding district.

On Berryman Street that character is Victorian, with gabled roofs, she said.

At a board meeting in July, owner Robert Hiscox and architect Julian Jacobs presented a replacement design that featured a four-sided mansard roof, characteristic of Georgian architecture and not compatible with other gabled roofs in the neighbourhood, Rieger said.

The new proposal also included an integral garage in front of the home, which was “completely against the guidelines,” she said.

“The garage raised the most flags for us, but we also felt the design really did not reflect the guidelines,” Rieger said. As a result, the board recommended that city council refuse the demolition application.

Caliendo called the board’s decision “bizarre,” saying the revised design would resemble a heritage home to the average person, and that other houses in the neighbourhood, such as 15 Berryman St., have manse roofs as well.

“We take heritage very seriously,” he said, noting the residents association instigated the heritage preservation district in the first place.

But the current house on 36 Berryman St., Caliendo said, illustrates Napoleon’s maxim: “The general that tries to defend everything defends nothing.”

“As a residents’ association we said, ‘Enough!’” he said.

Rieger acknowledged that while a property next door to 36 Berryman St. looks very similar to Hiscox and Jacobs’ proposal, “that property was put up before the guidelines were in play,” she said.

On Sept. 30, Wong-Tam encouraged council to vote in favour of demolishing the current house on 36 Berryman St., a designated heritage property, against the Preservation Board’s wishes.

“The property owner has assured each and every one of us that he plans to build an architecturally stunning home that we can all be proud of once he’s done,” Wong-Tam said. “And of course we expect nothing less from him now.”

Architect Jacobs declined to be interviewed and owner Hiscox could not be reached for comment.