Heritage-district notion splits Lawrence Park West
Residents of Lawrence Park West are divided about whether it should become a heritage district. One group touts preserving the local esthetic; the other, homeowners’ rights.

thestar.com
July 21, 2015
By Geoffrey Vendeville

A proposal to make Lawrence Park West a heritage district is pitting neighbour against neighbour.

Local preservationists have asked the city to make the westernmost part of the century-old neighbourhood a heritage district, like Rosedale, Wychwood Park and other areas.

“I’ve been very upset for a number of years about what is happening to the area,” said Alex Grenzebach, a member of the Lawrence Park Heritage Committee and lifelong resident of Lawrence Park.

“There is a monster house under construction next door to me right now. The houses are much more massive than what was there before.”

Local city Councillor Jaye Robinson has promised a public consultation before any decision is made about heritage status; though the city’s integrity commissioner told her she can’t vote on the issue because she lives in the neighbourhood. Robinson adds that she has met with the city’s preservation services staff and was told the Lawrence Park West application wasn’t an active file.

But some locals think the time is now to protect their neighbourhood. Lynda Moon, a consultant to the committee and co-author of the book Historical Walking Tour of Lawrence Park, said many of the new houses clash with the vision of the “garden suburb” held by its developer Wilfrid Servington Dinnick, the president of a loan and mortgage company, in the 1900s.

Other residents disagree, and have come out strongly against heritage status - which as proposed would apply from Yonge St. east to Mount Pleasant Rd., from Lawrence Ave. E. south to Blythwood Rd. - because it would impose new restrictions on homeowners.

“We need to inflame homeowners in LPW (Lawrence Park West) about the perils of Heritage and make sure that they are unrelenting in voicing their opposition to Jaye (Robinson) and LPRA (Lawrence Park Ratepayers’ Association),” wrote John McNeil, a Lawrence Park resident, in a recent email to other heritage opponents.

Tim Stanley, president of a data management company, was at the centre of a neighbourhood squabble about heritage versus development in 2012 after buying a 1930s Tudor home on a corner lot on Dinnick Cres. He planned to build a bigger and more modern house from the ground up, but local preservationists stood in the way.

After a costly six-month legal battle, an Ontario Municipal Board judge ruled in the Stanleys’ favour. They knocked the old Tudor down the next day.

The Stanleys’ new 4,300-square-foot house was made with a combination of stucco, stone and wood like the original. “We’ve received countless compliments and positive goodwill for raising the esthetic value of the neighbourhood and also being respectful of the tradition of it,” Stanley told the Star recently.

Those in favour of heritage status have accused their critics - including developers, real estate agents and builders - of thinking only of their wallets. However, Lloyd LeBoeuf, who lives in the neighbourhood and has built the Stanleys’ house and many others in Lawrence Park, argued that “to disenfranchise somebody because of their occupation, it’s inappropriate.”

Making the area a heritage district would hurt homes’ value, LeBoeuf warned, because owners would need city council’s approval for some major renovations and demolition. On the other hand, Michael McClelland, an architect specialized in heritage planning and design, said studies on how heritage status affects property value aren’t conclusive.

Rosedale is one of the most expensive places in the city although it’s a heritage district, McClelland noted - “they haven’t had any downturn in their value at all.”

Lawrence Park fits the bill for a heritage district, in his opinion. “It’s a cohesive neighbourhood with a very strong character and identity.”

But homeowners in Lawrence Park are divided.

George Crothers, who lives in a grand English cottage on Lympstone Ave. designed by the noted mid-20th century architect Forsey Page, said he doesn’t want the city telling him what to do with his property.

Down the street from Crothers, Elizabeth Moore said she wouldn’t mind if her 1930s Georgian house with twin bay windows became a heritage building.

She has hardly done anything to her home since she and her husband moved in more than four decades ago, she said.

Even the bushes in her front garden are the same, she noted.

“I would just hate to see the old thing knocked down. I really would,” she said. “For my whole married life it brought me a lot of pleasure.

“I don’t know how anybody could replace it.”