The City has received an application that seeks to demolish the Legg Residence, one of the city’s three remaining grand estate homes from the turn of the 19th century and an extremely important link to the history of both the West End and Vancouver. The house at 1241 Harwood Street was under construction in July 1899, just 12 years after the arrival of the CPR railway. The Klondike Gold Rush had ushered in a brief wave of prosperity, and the city’s wealthier citizens were developing a number of grand residences, such as Gabriola on Davie Street, the Abbott House on Jervis Street and the Legg Residence on Harwood Street in the desirable West End neighbourhood.
The fact that the Legg Residence has been evaluated as a category “A” resource, the highest rating on the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Register, speaks to its historic value for our community.
In May of this year the owner presented a proposal to Council that would have seen the Legg Residence preserved and restored to its “Gold Rush splendour” in exchange for permission to build a 17-storey tower on site. The Heritage Revitalization Agreement would have ensured that the Mansion would be conserved for the enjoyment of future generations. The proposal followed all of the city’s own guidelines, had been approved by the city’s Heritage Commission and Design Panel and was supported by city staff. Despite this, City Council turned down an opportunity to preserve this important part of Vancouver’s history.
Heritage Vancouver is now shocked by the alternate proposal to demolish the A-listed building while still allowing a 17-storey tower to be built on the site. We do not understand why this proposal would be supportable if the previous application – which retained an A-listed heritage resource – is not. Following this direction, rather than approving the proposal to preserve the Legg Residence, would be an enormous setback for the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Program and would send a profoundly negative message to other owners contemplating retention of a heritage building. The demolition of this West End Mansion is absolutely unnecessary and would undermine the credibility of the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Program.
What can you do?
As a community, we have the opportunity to preserve one of the last grand original mansions of early Vancouver. Here are two opportunities to let Mayor and Council know this is important to you.
- Write the Mayor and Council mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca
- Attend the City Open House, Monday, October 24, 2011, Gordon Neighbourhood House, 1019 Broughton Street, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
> Our letter to Vancouver City Council & Staff (Oct 6, 2011) (PDF)
> Press Release (Oct 11, 2011) (PDF)
> Top 10 Endangered Site entry for the Legg Residence
2 comments
Thanks for your article. A hallmark of the great cities of the world is the integration of old buildings with new. For some reason Vancouver has never quite grasped this concept….
It’s shameful that we allow greed to ruin our city! There are plenty of opportunities to increase density in the area by rezoning other site. Legg house is a treasure that the owners should appreciate. They must have agreed to the heritage designation and reaped the benefits, but now want to cash in on rising property values. I say kill the deal!