The Built Heritage Committee today approved changes to the City’s heritage grant program to account for increased construction costs and to create a new funding stream for buildings run by charities and non-profits.
Changes to the grant program reflect a scan of similar programs in other municipalities, feedback from program users, heritage trends and City staff resourcing. The changes would:
- Maintain the existing matching grant for small-scale properties, with a maximum grant of $10,000
- Increase the $25,000 threshold for large-scale properties to $35,000 if funds allow, to reflect construction costs that have risen 51 per cent since 2019
- Introduce a cost-sharing stream for eligible incorporated not-for-profit organizations and charitable organizations. Up to 75 per cent of eligible restoration costs would be covered, to a maximum of $75,000. This stream would help fund large-scale conservation projects.
- Change the program name from the Heritage Grant Program for Building Restoration to the Heritage Property Grant Program
The Committee approved a Notice of Intention to Designate 123 Metcalfe Street under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The property meets six of the nine criteria for designation. It is a representative example of a purpose-built, early-twentieth-century YMCA building that features elements of the Italianate, Edwardian and Renaissance Revival architectural styles. The property displays a high degree of craftsmanship and artistic merit through its material detailing and architectural ornamentation. The building was designed by New York architectural firm, Jackson & Rosencrans, notable for their YMCA designs across North America, in association with significant Ottawa architect John Albert Ewart. The property provides information about early queer communities and spaces in Ottawa as YMCAs were male only spaces associated with virility in a time where there were no alternative safe spaces for gay and bisexual men.
The Committee approved a Notice of Intention to Designate 50 Carruthers Avenue under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act as it meets five of the nine criteria for designation. Built starting in the 1870s, the house reflects the simple forms and modest massing of early village buildings. It features a curved veranda in the Queen Anne Revival style. The property is directly associated with the Vachon family, well-known merchants, and Francophone residents of Mechanicsville. They lived at 50 Carruthers Avenue and operated C. Vachon & Sons, a company that traded ice, coal and wood in the twentieth century. They occupied the property from approximately 1907 to the 1980s. The property supports the character of Mechanicsville, a 19th century mill village. The house at 50 Carruthers was one of the earliest to be built on the street and was one of the first buildings in the community to be bricked. The property provided a central location west of downtown Ottawa with convenient access to the river, local mills, the railway, storage buildings and stables.
Items from today’s meeting will rise to Council on Wednesday, September 18.
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