At 9 a.m. Monday, an almost 150-year-old house was standing at 9 Cork St. W. in Guelph. By the end of business day there was nothing left but a hole.
Before demolition was approved, the heritage value of the building was considered by Guelph’s Heritage Committee, said Stephen Robinson, senior Heritage planner.
The single-family home may have been culturally significant at one time, said Robinson, but most of the original features have been lost.
“There was a structure on that property by 1872, so there has been a building on that property for some time,” said Robinson. What’s there today was actually built overtop of it and essentially destroyed what was there before with a brick-veneer building that was largely built on a concrete foundation.”
The building had not been designated as a heritage property, but was listed in the Couling Building Inventory, which was created in the 1960s and 70s to document every building in the city built before 1927.
“In the case of a property that is on the Couling Inventory, the options are either to offer no objection or to direct council to protect that property with a Heritage designation bylaw,” said Robinson. “Staff’s recommendation was that it didn’t merit that and the committee agreed with that opinion.”
That non-designation paved the way for Monday’s demolition.
The front windows of the house have been boarded up since the fall. A worker overseeing the demolition said a person had to be removed from the house prior to demolition.
As the demolition peeled back the exterior, the original timber frame was exposed, as well as interior walls covered in graffiti tags.
It wasn't uncommon to see several bicycles, some partially dismantled, in the parking lot behind the house.
A complaint about debris in the yard of 9 Cork St. W. was made to the city’s By-law office in September, said David Wiedrick, manager of Bylaw for the city.
“The investigator was advised of the homeowners goal of rebuilding, but due to the debris continuing to be on the property, the file was kept open to ensure that compliance was completed once the demolition was completed,” said Wiedrick.
