The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury has officially stepped in to secure a heritage designation for a home once owned by Earl Rowe after its current owner told the town he planned to tear it down.
BWG council voted Tuesday evening in favour of starting the designation process for 4304-4306 Line 10, just outside Newton Robinson.
“We want to get this right. We want to make it palatable for the town and the owner,” said Coun. Ron Orr during the council meeting. “It’s time to move forward. The (town’s) heritage committee doesn’t want to lose this property.”
The 41-hectare property has several buildings, including a barn and a farmhouse, the latter an example of Gothic Revival architecture.
William Earl Rowe, who lived there from 1917 and 1984, was Ontario’s 20th lieutenant governor and a major contributor to Newton Robinson and the Township of West Gwillimbury.
There is an Ontario Heritage Trust Plaque on the property, and his local contributions are commemorated in the naming of Honorable Earl Rowe Public School and Earl Rowe Provincial Park.
Rowe also ran a successful horse breeding and harness racing business, and he and his son, Bill Rowe, were founders of harness race tracks Barrie Raceway and Windsor Raceway.
Currently, no one lives on the property and some councillors have concerns about the condition of the buildings.
“Even the barn looks like it may fall down,” said Coun. Mark Contois. “It’s probably going to be a tough fix and probably very expensive.”
Shortly before the Christmas holidays, the owner informed the town of his intention to demolish the buildings on the property before later deciding against that so he could review more information about the process.
As the town received the notice before its new heritage committee was appointed, it hired Archaeological Research Associates Limited to do a heritage assessment on the property, which cost $2,862.50 out of the committee’s budget, according to a staff report.
The firm recommended making a heritage designation.
At a Feb. 5 meeting, BWG council deferred its decision on whether to start the heritage designation process in order to talk to the owner about their plans for the property.
“We attempted to have that meeting, but that just didn’t happen logistically,” the town’s Manager of Community Planning Ryan Windle told council Tuesday, adding the owner wanted another deferral of the designation process.
However, council voted unanimously to start the process.
“It’s a very valuable property for Bradford and the province of Ontario,” said Deputy Mayor James Leduc. “It’s just a matter of getting the process rolling.”
