Village Squire, 1980-10, Page 7pressures, owners are often forced either to sell their homes,
sometimes for demolition, or perhaps divide a house into
apartments.
But designation can provide benefits for the homeowner apart
from a feeling of pride that they're helping to preserve our
heritage.
Mrs. Wallace said if someone, like an old age pensioner for
example, is torn between keeping a designated home or selling
it, he can request assistance from the Ontario Heritage
Foundation. If the owner can sell the Foundation on the historic
value of his residence, then he may receive some assistance in its
upkeep.
"A person can love his house very much, but not afford to get
a new roof or get it painted," Mrs. Wallace said. Although she
doesn't know how often this appeal is successful, she said she
knows it's worth a try.
Goderich isn't the only town where a Local Architectural
Conservation Advisory Committee is alive, well and successful in
saving some of our history.
In Seaforth, a committee under the chairmanship of Winn
McLean has designated a number of buildings, including the
town hall, an interesting frame roundhouse built on the
fairgrounds, and several private homes.
Unfortunately. like other LACAC groups, the Seaforth
committee hasn't been able to rescue all the heritage sites in
their town. They failed to persuade owners of the 1864 Georgian
style Whitman house, home of Seaforth's first doctor and reeve,
to designate the distinctive house. Last fall, it was sold to a new
owner, and this summer it was demolished to provide
subdivision lots.
The London LACAC group is one of the province's older
committees working for historical preservation. and was
established as the city's official historic and architectural sites
committee even before provincial legislation came into force.
Community organizations united in the fall of 1971 in an
unsuccessful attempt to save one of the city's most historic
mansions.Beechwood, from the wrecker's hammer.
LONDON'S DESIGNATIONS
While that campaign failed, they have designated a number of
outstanding buildings in the city, including Grosvenor Lodge,
now the London History Centre, St. Paul's Cathedral and Eldon
House. the city's oldest surviving private home.
A house that didn't make it. The Whitman house In Seaforth was
demolished this summer.
Ontario's architectural heritage is important in a day and age
when our physical environment is changing so rapidly -when fast
food restaurants, high rises, modular homes and instant
buildings are becoming so common. Our throw -away culture
The Strachan House, located at the corner of West
Street, Goderich, was designated due to its "French
Renaissance" style which included the mansard
roofed corner tower, heavily modelled window
headings and the delightful iron cresting which
crowns the roof. The mansion was built around 1880
by a prominent businessman, Donald Strachan and
is featured in the book "Ontario Towns", published
by Oberon Press. (Photo by Gibb)
often doesn't value the past - the past that gives us roots and a
sense of the times when our environment was a more personal
matter between builder and his product.
If Tiger Dunlop could return to Goderich today, he would
undoubtedly appreciate the sense of graciousness that still exists
in the town where the past is appreciated. After all, a man who
carried champagne in his pack cared for the finer things of life -
a legacy carried on by Goderich's architectural conservation
advisory committee today.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1980 PG. 5