Council approves Heritage designation for 795 Brant St.

A downtown home which once belonged to William Ghent has been declared eligible for Heritage designation by Burlington Council.

The designation would protect the 168-year-old home — the oldest on Brant Street — which is on the proposed site of a 31-storey high-rise development and was to be demolished. 

The house at 795 Brant Street was built in 1854 and is considered the earliest example of a brick-built, Georgian-style home in Burlington.

It was constructed by brothers Jabez and James Cushie Bent. According to a heritage evaluation presented to Council on Tuesday (Dec. 7) by Aecom cultural heritage lead Tara Jenkins, Jabez was a brickmaker and mason and James was a master builder.

The original 53-acre property around the house also contained a brickyard when it belonged to Jabez Bent.

In 1859, Bent sold the property to Frederick Bray, a small fruit farmer. Ghent purchased it as working fruit farm — then called a market garden — in 1896.

"We concluded it has highly significant connection to the economic development of Burlington in its formative years," said Jenkins, who undertook the research for the City.

Craftsmanship of the era

Council heard that the property "displays a high degree of craftsmanship for its era" and was made with hand-made bricks.

"The brick is laid on the front façade in Flemish bond, which took a skilled bricklayer, such as Jabez Bent, to execute," Jenkins said. "Ultimately, the house at 795 Brant Street reflects the architectural ideas of the Bent brothers, who brought from England a deep knowledge of their respective trades, which they used to assist in building up the local community during a pivotal time of development."

The presentation concluded with a recommendation to designate the building.

Heritage planner John O'Reilly told the Council that the owner, Camarro Developments, has been unwilling to preserve the house, although planning staff had encouraged incorporating the front portion of it into their development plan.

Camarro submitted a plan for a 31-storey mixed-use building on a seven-storey podium, which includes retail space as well as 356 residential units, in July.

O'Reilly noted that the proposed development exceeds density and height permissions for the site under both the old and new City plans.

He said the applicant had conducted their own heritage assessment, which "concurred with the City's recommendation to preserve the front portion of the building".

However, this recommendation was rejected, O'Reilly added, as they felt it would impact the floor area of the podium and the parking garage and that "in their opinion, the house is unattractive and would not make a good addition to their development, it has been altered too much and doesn't deserve to be saved".

Developer still has options

O'Reilly said protecting the house would not preclude the development as it only comprises 3.5 per cent of the proposed site, which stretches along Prospect Street, with the area behind 795 Brant currently used as a parking lot.

He pointed to a number of modern developments in Toronto which have been built around a historic property, for example Canada's National Ballet school on 400 Jarvis Street.

"Conservation of buildings of this kind is done routinely," O'Reilly said, and the modern construction can provide a "frame" for the historic building "and creates a nice focal point in the overall development".

"Staff's recommendation is that Council state and intention to designate this property under the Ontario Heritage Act," he concluded.

Council unanimously accepted this recommendation. with Mayor Marianne Meed Ward saying, "We can have development and have heritage protection, too."

She also noted there are incentives to preserving the building that can be discussed with the developer.

"It is never easy when an owner does not want to preserve heritage to nevertheless require them to do so but that is actually why the Act exists," she said. 

Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman added that the development is unlikely to be blocked by the designation and the developers still has many options. "They are going to make a lot of cash off the building anyway, so let's take care of it," he said.