The deputy mayor of St. John’s has called out the owners of an historic building for putting profit before protection of the city’s limited heritage structures.
Ron Ellsworth was speaking yesterday during council’s regular public meeting, regarding renovations of 145-year-old Devon House, in downtown St. John’s.
The reno included a proposed deck high at the rear of the building, requiring removal of an original hooded, dormer window.
That’s something the unnamed owners lobbied hard for, despite being against the city’s Heritage Design Standards, and even a deal with Heritage NL to maintain such windows as part of a grant to renovate the building.
In the end, council accepted a staff recommendation to reject the plan, and Ellsworth didn’t mince words in his condemnation of it.
“This is not about one window, one deck, trying to do something,” he said.
“This is about degradation and cutting away the heritage that we’re trying to protect in the city, because we’re getting a bunch of calls from a proponent, developer and consultant who feel we should be allowing this dormer (window) to be decimated, because they can make more money by having that deck. That’s what this is about.
Councillor Sandy Hickman was the only one not to reject the application, saying he wanted more information about the grant from Heritage NL.
Four Sisters on Temperance Street to undergo renovations
Meanwhile, just around the corner from Devon House are the equally historic Four Sisters, stone structures which are also getting a facelift.
Built in the late 1890s, “minor” exterior work was done last year without a permit, triggering a stop-work order.
The owner has since submitted an application for a building permit.
City staff say further proposed upgrades for numbers 35 and 37 Temperance Street “comply with the heritage design standards for residential designated Heritage Buildings and are recommended for approval.”
Councillor Sandy Hickman says that’s good news for all.
“They’re so old and have been so neglected, certainly since my time on council,” he said.
“So I’m delighted to see the work that they’ve done, even though they did so without a permit. It appears it was done appropriate to design, there’s nobody taking out dormer windows and putting in strange-looking windows or anything, so this is a positive thing.”
