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Should the City buy Jane Jacobs’ house?

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From today’s Globe and Mail, an article on whether the city should buy Jane Jacobs’ house:

With an asking price of $850,000, the ivy-covered Annex house at 69 Albany Ave. looks like it could be a bargain in one of Toronto’s most desirable neighbourhoods.

But this Edwardian semi-detached home, last renovated in the 1970s, has an added selling point: Upstairs, in a modest study with a water-damaged wall, is the beat-up desk chair and the manual Smith Corona typewriter used by the late urban thinker Jane Jacobs.

…

Word of the house going on the market had some at city hall musing that the city should use it to commemorate the legacy of Ms. Jacobs, perhaps by putting a historic plaque in front of the house or even buying the property so that it could be put to some other use — as a museum, an office for a foundation inspired by her ideas, or a centre of learning, for example.

Mayor David Miller, for whom Ms. Jacobs was a trusted adviser, said any move to commemorate her had to be made with her family’s approval, although he said he thought that a plaque at least should mark the building.

“It needs to be acknowledged in some way. In Jane’s philosophy, the reuse of buildings is really important. So she would want to see it be used and be part of the neighbourhood,” said the mayor.

photo by Himy

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6 comments

  1. Unless it was used as a residence (by TCHC for example) no. Alternatively it could be bought, then leased at market rate on the proviso that a City-purchased plaque not be removed or obscured by the lessee.

    With the predicted expansion of the city’s population the last thing we should do is take housing out of the system.

  2. I think it is okay for the city to buy it. Whiel I agree with Mark’s comments about housing, I do think it is a signigcant place and can be used as a laerning centre, an Annex museum. maybe U of T should buy it and use it as a place for their new school of city studies that they have created (are they still doing it?).

  4. I wonder if something similar’s currently being considered for Syd Barrett’s house in Cambridge…

  5. thickslab

    Good point. I wouldn’t agree with every cause Jane Jacobs believed in, but I respect the way she believed in how things could be, and to simply buy a house and stick some pictures and documents in there while continuing with general acquiescence to whatever developers feel like sticking up if they throw a million or two to a small park a councillor can cut a ribbon on would be the height of hypocrisy.

    Better to spend the 850k on a project true to Jacobs’ vision and name it after her.

    Also, as I keep mentioning on forums like this – people who like Miller and Jacobs should remember that City Hall has changed before. Can you imagine if Lastman was still Mayor? He’d probably want to buy Conrad Black’s house or something. Best not to set that kind of precedent.

  6. Though re Conrad Black, what might be the problem if the city acquired the Hollinger HQ at 10 Toronto St? (Admittedly, it’d be more on account of it’s being Fred Cumberland’s 6th Post Office of 1853…)