A property in the city’s south end featuring an historic stone barn that partially collapsed earlier this summer should be preserved for future generations, say city staff.
Heritage Guelph will weigh in next week on a staff recommendation to urge the designation of 2187 Gordon St. under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). The property, which features a stone barn built around 1850 and a 1907-built farmhouse, sits on the west side of the road, south of Gosling Gardens and north of Maltby Road.
It’s owned by Mattamy Homes. Efforts to reach them for comment weren’t immediately successful.
Concerns about the barn’s fate came to light in July, following the partial collapse of a stone wall. At that time, a Mattamy spokesperson told GuelphToday the company was "working with the city to address the barn while future plans are being considered."
News broke last week that city officials have ordered Mattamy to secure the barn’s roof and the wall that collapsed.
The property is currently listed on the city’s municipal heritage registry. Staff is encouraging Heritage Guelph to recommend city council designate the property under the OHA, which would require city approval before alterations, renovations or additions can be done that may impact the property’s heritage attributes, including landscape and natural features.
Combined, the barn and farmhouse meet six criteria for designation – design or physical, historical or associative, and contextual value. Only two are required for designation. They were built by the Kidd family.
“The most distinguishing feature of the original Kidd barn is that it was built with slots in the fieldstone walls for ventilation. This type of large bank farm barn constructed in stone with ventilation slots is unique as it is now the only building of its kind within the City of Guelph,” the staff report states. “The slots provided much needed year-round ventilation against spontaneous combustion of the grain stored in the barn.”
Under provincial legislation changes approved last year, any property on a municipal heritage registry must be designated within two years or it will be automatically taken off the registry. In the cast of 2187 Gordon St., that deadline is Jan. 1, 2025.
Coun. Leanne Caron previously told GuelphToday the barn has been “earmarked for designation since 2011.”
In addition, the barn property is identified in the council-approved Clair-Maltby secondary plan as a site to conserve, though that document is under appeal by a variety of property owners including a numbered company associated with Mattamy Homes.
Heritage Guelph will gather virtually this Monday, beginning at noon, for a meeting streamed here.
Anyone wishing to address the committee as a delegate must do so ahead of the deadline this Thursday at noon. To do so, call 519-837-5616 or email [email protected].
The barn and farmhouse sit on the same property where Mattamy Homes violated the city’s tree clearing bylaw in 2019, removing an estimated 542 trees without permits, as described in an article in the Waterloo Region Record, citing information from city environmental planner Leah Lefler.
As a result, Mattamy Homes paid about $25,000 in fines and was ordered to plant 2,170 new trees on the property.
