Detlef Holberg has lived in his 1912 Point Grey character home for about 35 years but these days he can’t stand to look across his alley.
“It’s a shame to see it go,” Holberg said.
Holberg is referring to a 1914 home that neighbours have been trying to save from demolition. The character house at 4255 West 12th Ave. is in the middle of a trio of heritage homes and was once beautifully maintained inside and out — but now appears to be getting prepped for the wrecking ball.
The home is on the City of Vancouver’s heritage register but without heritage designation, it is not protected. It was granted a temporary 120-day heritage protection order in December 2016, which will soon expire.
“I phoned the city of Vancouver and they said that there’s a permit for demolition and there’s a permit in place to build a new single family home. It’s just been heartbreaking, this whole process. I mean, it’s been going on for a long time and we’re just really sad to see that house go down,” said neighbour Margaret Gardiner, who lives in the heritage home next door.
In September 2015, the City of Vancouver made history by designating a neighbourhood a heritage zone. ‘First Shaughnessy District’ gives blanket protection to 315 homes built before 1940 in an area between West 16th Avenue, King Edward Avenue, Arbutus and Oak Streets.
But in many other single family neighbourhoods, the battle to save heritage homes is far from over.
Concern over the loss of character homes recently prompted the City of Vancouver to undertake a zoning review. After surveys and public consultation, the city found there was support for initiatives to retain character homes – but few were in favour of down-zoning or decreasing the allowable size of new homes — so it will not be pursued.
“What staff discovered was that if you gave extra density to people who protected a character home, it was very difficult, almost impossible, to give them enough density to make it worth their while. The idea of doing a down-zoning — saying to someone if you tear your place down or someone tears it down, you’re going to have to replace it smaller because of the character aspect — was objected to by a very large share of the property owners out here,” Vision Vancouver city councilor Geoff Meggs said.
According to the city’s public consultation, homeowners feared a reduction in floor area may impact the size and number of secondary suites and may reduce land values by five to 10 per cent, but not likely below 2015 values.
Caroline Adderson doesn’t buy it. The Vancouver author and creator of the “Vancouver Vanishes” Facebook page said 4255 West 12th Ave. is a perfect example of what zoning changes could have saved, and claimed the city is giving in to developers.
“Why are you removing the only effective tool we have to protect these houses? Because now it will all go, it will all go,” said Adderson.
City staff is preparing a report with recommendations for council to consider later this month. No decisions have been made, although some believe it’s too late to save the home at 4255 West 12th Ave.
“There has to be a better way forward,” said Gardiner. “Once these are knocked down, they’re not going to replace it. There’s a lot, a lot of houses torn down around here.”