6. Gordon T. Legg Residence (1899) [lost]

Single Top 10

—
2011 Top10 Watch List

2011

6. Gordon T. Legg Residence (1899) [lost]

Photo: the Legg House built in 1899, at 1245 Harwood Street. Slated for demolition, no development or demolition permit has been issued to date (update - lost; demolished June 20, 2014).

1241 Harwood Street

This very significant late Victorian-era estate house will be demolished unless the City of Vancouver approves an onsite density bonus of 26,000 square feet. The density cannot be transferred offsite as the Heritage Density Bank has been frozen since August 2007. Heritage Vancouver supports this proposal, but there is significant neighbourhood opposition.

Threat

What is the threat to the Legg Residence?

The owner of the Legg Residence is seeking to negotiate a Heritage Revitalization Agreement with the City and is planning on restoring this important heritage home located in Vancouver’s West End.

In the summer of 2010, Council turned down an earlier proposal that called for the building of a tower on site to compensate for the cost of retaining both the home and a significant tulip tree. Council chose not to make the tree eligible for a heritage density bonus because its roots were also on the property of an adjacent house.

If the Legg Residence is demolished, the owner will still be able to build an 11-storey tower instead of the proposed 18-storey tower.

The owner has put forth a new proposal to build an 18-storey onsite tower that is required to absorb the heritage bonus density necessary to offset the costs associated with saving the house. He has also indicated that if this proposal is not accepted he will demolish the Legg Residence.

The City’s Advisory Design Panel has given the proposal its approval but the tower is meeting with resistance from some people in the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, the City of Vancouver is not accepting density into its heritage density bank at this time, thus forcing the owner to absorb the heritage density on site.

The city does not have any other meaningful incentives it can offer building owners to cover the cost of restoring heritage buildings.

Significance

Why is the Legg Residence significant?

The Legg Residence is one of the few surviving grand estate homes built in the West End at the end of the 19th century. This house was under construction in July 1899, just 12 years after the arrival of the CPR railway. The Klondike Gold Rush had ushered in a brief wave of prosperity, and the city’s wealthier citizens were developing a number of grand residences, such as Gabriola on Davie Street, in the desirable West End. Gordon T. Legg, who arrived in Vancouver in 1889, was the manager of Union Steamships of BC, and was one of the founders of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.

Designed in the British Arts and Crafts style, the house – with its broad overhanging jerkin-headed roof – typifies the style and grace of the late Victorian era and the patriotic connections to the Mother Country of many of Vancouver’s elite.

Position

Heritage Vancouver’s Position

Heritage Vancouver supports the use of onsite density to preserve the Legg Residence, a significant late Victorian-era West End residence; and
the City of Vancouver should renew its efforts to absorb the remaining density in the Heritage Density Bank, and develop additional incentives to assist with the costs associated with restoring buildings of this significance.

Updates

Update June 20, 2014: After surviving for 115-years in the West End, the A-listed (Heritage Register) Legg Mansion was fully demolished June 20, 2014.

Update April 29, 2014: The demolition permit was issued today for the A-listed Legg House at 1241 Harwood Street, built in 1899. This will be the 2nd A-listed building demolished under the current Council.

Letter from the City DE415100 (PDF)

Update March 24, 2014: The dreaded orange fencing, erected in the past week is a signal that demotion of this important heritage landmark is imminent. Both a development and building application have been submitted to the City, but not yet issued. Once issued, a demolition permit would follow.

Heritage Vancouver urges the City to place a moratorium on the Legg Residence to allow for discussions to happen with the owner to find a way of retaining the Legg Residence. The owner attempted for five years to find a way to save the house, yet all attempts were rejected by City Council. We believe that this owner would be open to finding ways to retain the Mansion. It is our strong belief that new developments in the City’s Heritage Conservation policies over the past two years since the proposal was approved give the city the opportunity to revisit the decision to demolish this building. Demolition now flies in the face of heritage recommendations outlined in the recently approved West End Plan and in the City’s Heritage Action Plan.

Our letter to the City dated March 24, 2014 (PDF, 244k)

Update October 11, 2011: The City has received an application that seeks to demolish the Legg Residence, one of the city’s three remaining grand estate homes from the turn of the 19th century. Heritage Vancouver is now shocked by the alternate proposal to demolish the A-listed building while still allowing a 17-storey tower to be built on the site. We do not understand why this proposal would be supportable if the previous application – which retained an A-listed heritage resource – is not. Following this direction, rather than approving the proposal to preserve the Legg Residence, would be an enormous setback for the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Program and would send a profoundly negative message to other owners contemplating retention of a heritage building. The demolition of this West End Mansion is absolutely unnecessary and would undermine the credibility of the City of Vancouver’s Heritage Program.

Update July 2011: The DP application (DE414280) has been reviewed back to staff for further study to determine issues regarding the Tulip Tree and the proposed massing of the new building.

Update May 31, 2011: Council rejected the proposal today, requesting it be sent back to staff for further review… after a five-year process. The owner may revert to the conditional proposal to build an 80-foot wide, 11-story tower on the site (at a lower FSR of 2.2), demolish the house, cut down the tree, demolish the gardens, all without the necessity of Council approval. The developer has no further incentive to continue this drawn-out process, and that along with a lack of other meaningful City heritage incentives may have doomed this A-listed heritage property.