WHAT MAKES A HOUSE HISTORIC?: HISTORIC HOUSES AND HERITAGE LANDSCAPES

 Heritage Moments | Madison Carmichael

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At any given time, regardless of where I live, I have an ever-evolving roster of my favourite old, pretty houses, and I tend to build walking routes around those houses. It’s fun to find such old looking places in increasingly modern cities and towns. What’s more interesting is that on some of those houses, in some places, you’ll sometimes see a small plaque affixed to the front. They look different, from city to city, but they all mean the same thing: this house has been designated as historical.

The plaque on the side of the Maitland house in question. Check out that limestone. Courtesy of Madison Carmichael.

One particular house that I had the pleasure of living in for a bit had such a plaque. I didn’t notice it at first, as the plaque was proportionally quite small to the rest of the two-story building, but both its age (1841) and its original role (Carriage House) intrigued me. At the time, I didn’t know much about the designation process, so I never did find out much more about the house; I’ve since done some digging.

The house in question sits on Maitland Street in Kingston, Ontario, which is within the bounds of Old Sydenham – a heritage district in the city. The limestone building – limestone being highly characteristic of older buildings in Kingston – was built for the Honourable John Hamilton. It was originally used, as previously mentioned, as a carriage house, as well as stables and as servants’ quarters. It is complimented by another similar former stable building that sits on the adjacent lot, and it sits behind a stone wall that spans several houses and marks the driveway for this house in particular. This wall, along with the two limestone buildings, helps to define the distinctly mid-19th century historic character of Maitland Street.

Here you can see the house as well as an equally historic stone wall on the left side of the photograph. (Source)

So: “is it historic or is it just old?” asks Shannon Dauphin Lee, contributing writer for “old house web,” an idea and advice website for old house enthusiasts. That’s the question du jour when it comes to heritage designations. Luckily for such enthusiasts, and heritage professionals everywhere, there’s legislation to help.

Lee explains that in the United States, the National Register of Historic Places goes by a set of rules to determine whether or not an old house is historic. In order to make the Register, a house must be associated with significant events in history or with the lives of people significant to the past; it must embody some distinctive characteristic or construction technique that makes it a unique structure; or it must yield important information about a certain time period.

Canadian designation criteria runs along a very similar vein. The Ontario Heritage Act confers the power to make designations and preserve heritage in Ontario to municipalities and to the province more broadly. Such parties can designate either individual properties as heritage sites or entire neighbourhoods as heritage districts. Under the OHA, a prospective property must have either: design or physical value, historical or associative value, or contextual value.

Toronto has many Heritage Conservation Districts, but Fort York was the first. This district includes Historic Fort York as well as the Garrison Common to the west of it. (Source)

So, how does our Maitland house shape up? Our Maitland house has classic limestone walls and distinctive windows, which mark the property as having design value. Such features also highlight its contextual value, a criteria which states that the property must be important in supporting the character of an era. As previously noted, the house evokes 19th-century Kingston and helps to define the overall historic character of the street. That’s two criteria satisfied. Next, let’s look at John Hamilton. According to the City of Kingston’s Property Inventory, much of the block upon which this house sits was purchased by Hamilton in 1841, who owned a steamboat line that operated on the St. Lawrence River and on Lake Ontario as well. Beyond his business, which contributed to Kingston’s early prominence as an important harbour, he was involved in local Kingston boards and the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1867. Thereafter, he sat on that same council as a senator. Hamilton’s involvement with the building imbues it with historic, associative value.

Another angle on the Maitland house. (Source)

A public survey in Vancouver found that the vast majority of residents thought that heritage buildings contributed to their sense of place – a special meaning or character that a geographic location has that gives a community its identity. In their report on that survey, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation put forth that “heritage buildings contribute to the physical and social fabric of the city.” Their value is not limited to their role as landmarks and icons; they also function as places that people can identify and interact with.

I think this can be said of almost anywhere. More locally, Toronto boasts thousands of properties that fall under the City’s Inventory of Heritage Properties. In this Inventory, properties are either “listed” or “designated,” the difference being that a listed property has only been recommended to the Inventory, implying that the City would like to see it preserved. However, a listed property has no legal protection. Conversely, a designated property requires the approval of City Council for any alterations or demolition. In a city like Toronto, which seems to be constantly under construction or considering new developments, heritage buildings play a critical role in representing the ever-transforming “physical and social fabric” of the city by memorializing older, enduring places that remain places that Torontonians interact and identify with.

But it’s not just 19th-century stone buildings. Toronto’s Heritage Preservation Services is in the process of expanding its scope in order to better value and include buildings from a variety of eras as well as the more recent past, like the 1960s and 1970s.

So, think of some of your favourite local landmarks! Do they have a designation? If so, what about them makes them historic, and what place do they have in your heritage landscape?