I'm surprised this didn't get any visibility, or discussion, on the board.
I would have thought the city spending $600K+, to purchase two 120+ year old homes, only to demolish them for more grass would have had discussion.
July 11, 2008
Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 11, 2008)
The city is trying to buy two houses on Carlton Street West. Both are handsome, both were built in the 1880s and, if purchased by the taxpayer, both will be flattened.
Both are surrounded by Durand Park, nearly a block in size, bounded by Charlton, Park and Herkimer.
Durand is the densest neighbourhood in the city. At the south end, it has many streets of fine old homes. At the north end, it has the thickest forest of highrises in Hamilton. There are 12,000 people in Durand -- and just that one park.
The city wants to buy the last two houses that jut into that solitary green space. It probably won't get them.
"I'm not selling to the city. These houses won't be levelled."
That's Louis Leonowens, proprietor of the long-established Deja Vu vintage clothing store downtown. He has lived at 85 Charlton West for 14 years.
His four-bedroom brick home still has most of the features it did 120 years ago: windows, trim, porcelain door knobs.
In the beginning, in the late 1800s, Rev. John Morton lived there. By the 1920s, an engineering inspector named McCallum. And by the 1940s, lawyer W. Bruce Duncan moved in and stayed on for decades.
In the early 1970s, the citizens of that part of town came together and formed the Durand Neighbourhood Association. They were out to stop the tsunami of highrises.
At that time, a developer was assembling land for an 18-storey tower. The city heard the DNA's pleas and expropriated the land. It became Durand Park.
There were still five houses on the site. Members of the community were divided about tearing them down. They had watched too many houses fall already.
They hoped a large residence at Park and Herkimer could become a "neighbourhood house." The city rejected the idea. That house came down, along with two more on Charlton.
That left the two still standing today.
Lawyer Duncan lived in one, and his neighbour next door at 83 Charlton was Mary Farmer, a single woman of great character who was the first manager of local history at the Hamilton library.
The city kept the two houses on a list for acquisition if the owners ever chose to sell.
The houses did become available in the mid-'90s, when both might have been bought for a total of $230,000.
Russell Elman, who wrote a book on the DNA's success in halting the highrises, remembers that by then the money once set aside to buy the houses was nowhere to be found.
Now it seems to be there again. Speaking only for himself, Elman believes buying the two houses today only makes sense if that land is needed as part of a master plan to make Durand a better park. "But not just for more grass," he says.
The city got out its offer after a For Sale sign went up at 83 Charlton West last month. Asking price, $370,000.
We weren't able to have a conversation with owner Delaney Gowling, but her late father fully restored the house.
When Louis Leonowens saw her sign, he tacked a For Sale sign to his tree, just to see what his house might be worth. He decided to ask about $330,000.
He has had a lot of interest. And a visit from the city, who made an opening offer of $265,000.
"I can sell for a lot more," Leonowens says. He isn't sure he wants to move anyway. "This place isn't for everyone, but I love it."
He was told the offer was conditional on the city getting both properties.
Bob Bratina, councillor for the ward, wouldn't talk about the in-camera negotiations, but favours the plan "even if we have to sacrifice properties of heritage interest. Durand is almost totally bereft of parkland."
The two houses, each with yards just 32 feet wide, would add less than a 1/4 acre to the park.
Besides, those houses make the street and the park more interesting. And the park never seems crowded.
At a time when the city is so strapped, spending more than $600,000 to buy and demolish two fine homes is tough to justify.
However Sarah Matthews, president of the DNA and a regular at the park with her kids and dogs, is firm on this one. "We need to enhance that space for all residents. While it might be regrettable that anything is taken down, it is for a greater cause."
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