Five year fight to save 100 Stanley Street may go another round

London, Ont. -

It’s not over, yet.

Heritage advocates want to make their case to council’s Civic Works Committee to reconsider demolishing the house at 100 Stanley St.

City hall bought the yellow-brick Victorian home for $500,000 to accommodate a wider rail overpass of Wharncliffe Road north of Horton Street.

The project’s Environmental Assessment (EA) envisioned relocating the house to a nearby city-owned property on Evergreen Avenue, but in March council changed course, deciding to pursue demolition after city engineers estimated the moving cost at $900,000 to $1.1 million.

Joe O’Neil, Vice-President of The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario’s (ACO) London Branch, believes the estimate used to justify demolition was too high, “When members of ACO London contacted two smaller building movers, they got a different quote.”

In a letter to council’s Civic Works Committee, O’Neil requests delegation status and includes an estimate by Laurie McCulloch Building Moving, for $375,000 plus HST.

O’Neil admits reopening debate about the house’s future won’t be popular.

“They’d all rather have a root canal done by an angry dentist rather than talk about this house again, but I think it’s our job to give them the information and let them decide for themselves,” he tells CTV News.

In March, council voted 8-7 to seek an amendment to the EA to demolish the house.

At the time, the city engineer warned that any impacts to the timeline for the rail overpass replacement could delay several other road projects on north-south routes in the area including the replacement of the Wellington Bridge on Ridout.

“They haven’t got the backhoe sitting in the front yard, so I still think there’s time to get this done,” O’Neil says. “It might take more time to demolish the house because they already have the plans done to move it.”

A statement from city hall reads, “As part of the EA process and through our engineering consultant, an experienced relocation contractor was retained to review the site and prepare a detailed engineering report regarding the feasibility and cost of relocating the building.”

That cost estimate will include:

• costs for the temporary relocation of utilities
• demolition of the existing foundation
• repairs to the existing building to make it compliant with building and electrical codes
• addressing designated substances
• establishing a foundation, and servicing at the new site

ACO London’s request for delegation status goes to the Civic Works Committee on Wednesday.

O’Neill believes a re-examination of the business case is justified because of rapidly rising home values.

“This is an opportunity that exists now because of house prices that didn’t exist a few years ago, and we think this could set a precedent for saving heritage homes.”