Decrepit Strathcona home likely added to Vancouver Heritage Register as part of development deal
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2019 04:18:11 +0000
A broken-down home in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood will likely be added to the city’s heritage register as part of a deal with the planning department to finally issue a development permit.
According to a Vancouver Heritage Register annual update going before council on Tuesday, 320 Union Street is one of two properties that Gil Kelley — general manager of planning, urban design and sustainability — wants added to the register’s A-class list.
The report states the home was built in the 1890s by Robert Pollock and is “valued as an example of development in the first years after the city’s incorporation that occurred after the introduction of streetcar services along Westminster Avenue and Hastings Street.”
According to a story published in The Vancouver Sun in 2016, the three-storey home on a 39-foot wide lot sat empty for a decade before being purchased in Sept. 2015 for $1.1 million. It is assessed at just under $2 million.
At the time, the owner was having issues with the city because the property was classified as a single-room-occupancy hotel and the city wanted a fee of $875,000 to allow conversion back to a single-family home. The logic behind the city policy was that money raised from allowing SRO stock to go back to primary resident properties would be used to build new SRO stock. The owner wanted to restore the home as a residence for female artists, while building a laneway home for themselves.
Now, three years later, it appears an arrangement has been made, predicated by the property becoming an A-class heritage property.
FILE PHOTO – Sandra Botnen and Vince Hemingson are working to restore this old house at 320 Union street in Vancouver, BC. June 3, 2016.
The other A-class property recommended for addition to the register is the “Rosemary Stable” at 3633 Selkirk Street.
An A-class property is considered to be of primary significance to the heritage of the city, representing the best examples of a particular style or type of building. Once a home is on the register, the owner can negotiate with the city to achieve benefits in exchange for retaining the home.
Sandra Botnen and Vince Hemingson are working to restore this old house at 320 Union street in Vancouver, BC. June 3, 2016.
After Tuesday’s council vote — which is expected to be in favour of the recommendations — there will be 270 A-class buildings in Vancouver.
Kelley has also asked that two buildings be added to the B-class and two to C-class on the registry.
Two of those additions are also a condition of the owner receiving a development permit.