A 19th century home in Moncton that is in the crosshairs of a local developer who wants to tear it down should be spared according to the Moncton’s Heritage Conservation Board chair.
“We want to revitalize the downtown but not to the detriment of the history of the city of Moncton,” said Paulette Theriault who is also a Moncton city councillor.
Theriault said The Ashford Group, who owns the home, is building a six-storey apartment complex next door and the development company applied to the heritage board to tear down the home to make way for a parking lot. She said the application was denied.
On Monday, councillors voted unanimously in favour of first reading of a bylaw to add the property at 84-86 Highfield Street to the city’s heritage list.
Built in 1898-99, the Queen Anne-style architecture of the home has historical significance along with the original owner Amasa Killam, says Moncton Heritage and Culture Coordinator, Lawren Campbell.
“He helped with the replacements of the Gunningsville Bridge, the creation of the Irishtown reservoir,’ said Campbell.
The home housed one of Moncton’s most prominent families in the late 1800s and too many homes with historical value have already been torn down says Theriault.
She said she wants to see it and 40 other homes in the city now on the Canadian Register of Historic Places declared heritage sites by the city.
“We can’t afford to lose these,” said Theriault.
A public hearing on the bylaw to add the house to the heritage list is scheduled for Nov. 16.
David Ostridge, who owns Hub City Time right next door said he would like to see the house spared.
“We don’t have a lot of nice heritage properties left in Moncton so it is a shame to see more bite the dust all the time,” Ostridge said.
According to Theriault, a heritage designation doesn’t prevent the building from being torn down, it just makes the demolition application process by the owner a lot more complicated.
A representative of Ashford properties, Patrick Gillespie, told Global News that even if the property is declared a heritage site, he will move forward with an application to have it torn down.