Heritage Advisory Committee

0:02Guests here and should reflect upon the responsibility to care for this land, the people who live here today and the generations to come.

0:10If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation, we should take pause and make those decisions with intention and gratitude.

0:18This place we call Gualp has served as traditional lands and a place of refuge for many peoples over time, but more specifically the Adir-Adiranc and the Haudenosaunee.

0:29This land is held as the tree lands and territory with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

0:35Gual flies directly adjacent to the Haldiman tract and is part of the long established traditional hunting ground for the six nations of the Grand River.

0:44Many First Nations in Uit and Métis people who have come from across to our island call Gualpong today.

0:52Committee members, are there any disclosures of pecuniary interest? If so, please raise your hand.

0:59Okay, I'm not seeing any hands. Today we have received regrets from Chair Sarah Epp and David Kimmeletti.

1:10May kindly have members move and second the approval of the minutes from the November 5, 2025 meeting.

1:18Piper and Kelly, thank you for seconding. And then all in favor.

1:29Okay, thank you. That's been carried.

1:32So now we'll move on to item three of the agenda today, which is the Consent Agenda.

1:37So I'm just going to read through all of the item numbers within the Consent Agenda.

1:43And then if you have any questions, you can ask once I'm done reading through those.

1:48So 225 Waterloo Avenue, Draft Council designation report.

1:53Item 3.2, 27 Barber Avenue, Heritage Permit application.

2:003.359 London Road West, Draft Council designation report.

2:06And item 3.489 Arthur Street North, Draft designation report.

2:12Do any members have any questions or comments for staff at this time?

2:16Okay, I'm just checking the other.

2:23Okay, I'm not seeing any hands unless I'm missing someone in the room there.

2:28I want hands here.

2:30Okay, so the motion for the Consent Agenda that the December 4, 2025 Heritage Advisory Committee Consent Agenda be as outlined below be approved.

2:41I have a mover for that.

2:43Thanks, Justin.

2:45Seconder, see Piper's hand. Thanks, Piper.

2:49And all in favor. Okay, great. That's been carried.

2:56Okay, so move on to item 4 today, which is the other committee items.

3:03So 4.1, Downtown Walth Heritage Conservation District Plan, Draft designation report.

3:09And that will start with a presentation with Imogen holding a heritage planner, the city.

3:17Good morning. Good afternoon. Good right in the middle for you guys, I guess.

3:25Unfortunately, there will be no visuals today. So you're just going to have to listen to me give a brief overview of what we're doing today.

3:33And then I will turn it over to back to you guys for any comments or questions.

3:39Just bring up.

3:42So we're nearing decision time on the Downtown Heritage Conservation District, and I wanted to bring the materials to the group at least once more before they go to council in the new year.

3:52Now, when the committee met in September, the draft was about to be released publicly and we were looking ahead to the statutory meeting that's required under the Ontario Heritage Act.

4:03Since then, the draft plan became public. The public meeting was held with minimal opposition. And the comments and questions received from the delegates and the mayor and council informed the newest draft of the HCD plan that we have now and what was added to the materials for this meeting today.

4:23For the upcoming January council meeting heritage planning staff will submit this draft of the HCD plan, a draft of the potential designation bylaw for the district and a staff report.

4:35Like our original or excuse me our individual designation reports that the committee often sees the final report will be a revised version of what was presented to you guys today.

4:47As you've likely seen key parts of the staff report include a brief background on the heritage conservation district project and the overall objectives of the project.

4:57An overview of the extensive engagement program, both phases of the project has gone through and responses to the most frequently offered questions and comments, especially those that couldn't or shouldn't really be addressed in the plan itself like those around insurance and property values.

5:16So before this goes to council today is an opportunity for the committee to offer anything any feedback on the HCD plan, the approach of the staff report and to potentially offer endorsement on the downtown heritage conservation district project.

5:32Next steps, as mentioned include revising the staff report you folks received for council and drafting the designating bylaw for the proposed district. If council supports the project and the bylaw at their January 20th meeting.

5:47There is a 30 day appeal period. If there is no appeal, the district goes into full force, which could be as soon as March 2026 depending on how the next several steps go.

5:59So that's it for me today. Thank you. Thank you, Emma Jen.

6:06Do any members have any questions at this time. No. Oh, Justin, I see your hand.

6:19Oh, you're just muted. Thanks, Kim.

6:25Just a comment really. I have experience as well with the types of objections that are outlined in the staff report. And I think it's always a tough thing to reconcile, right? There's the criteria inside of the regulation.

6:40And then there's well objections that property owners may sometimes bring forward, which aren't per se related to the criteria.

6:48I just want to commend staff. I think it was really helpful for me to see those responses and I think will be helpful for property owners in the proposed district as well to perhaps assuage some concerns in respective property values or obtaining insurance and those kinds of objections.

7:07So that is my only comment.

7:10Thank you, Justin. I appreciate that.

7:18Thanks, Justin. Are there any other members who have any comments or questions? No. Okay, I'm not seeing any hands up.

7:28I'm going to read through the recommended motions here for this item. I was just wondering Liz, is it possible to put these up on the screen for everyone to see just because they are lengthy?

7:39Yeah.

7:42Thank you.

7:44Okay, so I'll read them out to everyone as well as they're on the screen for you to read as well.

7:49That the Heritage Advisory Committee advises City Council that the potential district identified in phase one of the downtown Gwalt Heritage Conservation District project merits designation under part five of the Ontario Heritage Act.

8:03The Heritage Advisory Committee advises City Council that the committee endorses the heritage information attributes and approach recommended in the downtown Gwalt Heritage Conservation District plan draft prepared by Archeological Services Inc.

8:22November 25, 2025, and in the report titled Downtown Gwalt Heritage Conservation Plan draft designation report.

8:32Can I have a mover and a seconder for this? Thank you, Kelly. And thank you, Piper. All in favour? Okay, thank you. That's been carried.

8:55So now we'll move on to item 4.2 of today's agenda, which is the Heritage Advisory Committee 2026 meeting dates. And that's a presentation starting with Jack.

9:06Thank you, Chair. This should be relatively brief. We've done this every year. We bring you the proposed dates for the meetings in the subsequent year.

9:19So I trust that you all reviewed them. It's the first Thursday of the month as we have been doing with the exception of January, where we propose meeting January 15th just to give everyone some buffer time after the holidays.

9:37If there's any questions from the committee, I'm happy to answer.

9:42I'm not seeing any questions for you, Jack. So I think everyone's in agreement with the new schedule then. Okay, awesome. So I'll read the recommended motion then that the Heritage Advisory Committee support the proposed 2026 Heritage Advisory Committee meeting schedule.

10:10I have a mover and a seconder for this. Please.

10:14Piper, thank you. And I see a hand up in the room. Thank you so much. And all in favour? Okay, great. And that's been carried.

10:24And then we will now move on to the next item, which is item 5.1 Heritage Advisory Committee 2026 individual designation properties. And that's another presentation from Jack.

10:39Thank you, Chair. So thanks to those members that took the time to provide some properties. Some folks gave me one, some folks gave me 10, but I think we have a pretty good selection of properties to talk about today.

10:55So I just wanted to say first that we won't be making any decisions today. I will go through the properties one by one and we can discuss them together.

11:07And we will bring this back in January for the committee to have a vote on 10 properties.

11:16If you'll just bear with me as I share my screen. So I think perhaps the best way to do this, I can scroll through these one at a time. And if the member that suggested each property would like to say a couple words on why they proposed it.

12:02I'm also happy to weigh in and let you know if I have any additional information to provide on any of these properties.

12:12So the first is Pen Wolf on Crescent.

12:16Yeah, I recommended it because it was designed by Carl Reader. He's an important Kitchener architect. And I think it was built in 1951. California, Bangalow.

12:32I believe that the owner of this property is supportive of designations.

12:39That's good. That would make it easier.

12:43They've lived in the international style house over off of, I can't remember the name of the street, but it's another important one. You probably know about it.

12:55Allen to drive. Yeah, they move from that to this house.

13:00Any other questions or comments?

13:03I, Jack, I have a comment just I wonder with some of these houses, they may not just simply be in isolation. They might be in a neighborhood or like a plant subdivision.

13:16They are. There's another really interesting house across the street.

13:21Next up we have 13 Shadow Drive.

13:29Yeah, I noticed this quite a few years ago. It's fairly unique in Guelph.

13:35It's kind of, you know, your mid-century Cubist variety. It's largely untouched.

13:42I went to the door and talked to the guy several times. He says there's an architect listed on the deed.

13:50But I think he was hesitant to give me any information because I think he was, he thought I was from the heritage police and I, I assured him that I wasn't. I was just interested.

14:01So I never did find out who designed it, but it's a pretty good example of its kind and fairly unique in Guelph.

14:10Yeah, I can say that I know of no comparable designations in the city to this one.

14:16I can't leave a groove.

14:21Six thirty Scottsdale Drive.

14:24Right.

14:26Again, I couldn't find out a date or an architect for this. I went into dentist's office now.

14:32And of course they looked at me like I was crazy.

14:36But it's a very good example of a prairie style house or a neo prairie style house.

14:42It has all of the things that Frank Lloyd Wright liked, like the banks of horizontal windows, the monitor, everything horizontal and then the vertical chimney.

14:54You know, it's as almost as if Frank Lloyd Wright designed it himself.

14:59Designed as a house and then converted to a dentist's office.

15:04I don't know that nobody there knew anything. They didn't know anybody I could speak to.

15:09It's in a residential neighborhood, so I don't know if it began as a house.

15:14It's been tiled on the inside white, so I don't know if it was an office to begin with or whether it was whether it was a resident.

15:28201 Woodlawn Road West.

15:32This is a fantastic example of international style.

15:37I haven't been able to find the architect, but I know the date it was built. It was 1953.

15:43And it belongs to Linnomar and Skyjack and they keep it in pretty good shape.

15:48The windows in the front of the administration building are new, but they're sympathetic to the building.

15:54So it's a pretty kind of pristine example of an international style building.

16:00For some reason, I think that this one may have been designed or at least built by I think it was Linn, Harris, or an Harris was the name of the, that I associate, that I may be wrong.

16:15I should have asked you to continue the book with an unknown architect.

16:19I'm lost. I may not know.

16:22So we have to confirm.

16:23325 Aramusa Road.

16:29And this is one of the only festival style.

16:35Contempo buildings in the city.

16:39And there was a police station that was just fantastic that got pulled down.

16:45That was more fantastic than this.

16:48The part of the convent that's going to be pulled down the education wing is a Contempo style like this.

16:57And other than that, there was a doorway on a building along, I guess, Woolwich, and it's just been pulled off and the awning in that style is gone.

17:07So this is the last of the Contempo style, festival style buildings in the city.

17:16Festival and the reference really is Stratford Festival.

17:19Yeah, you know the festival ceiling.

17:21They call it the Regency of Mid-Century Modern.

17:24It's the fun part of Mid-Century Modern.

17:29I believe this was designed for the shopping plaza across Stevenson that was built, that is now Zeyres, but was an entry market.

17:41And this, I think, was built as an automotive hardware kind of thing.

17:47Oh, okay. I didn't do any research on it.

17:50I just took me a long time to get a picture of it without a million cars.

17:58You'll notice that I focused on modern because I think we over-focus sometimes on the 19th century and this is a chance to focus a little bit on the 20th century.

18:10You chose a beautiful day to take your photographs.

18:14222 Aramosa Road.

18:17I really like this because I don't know anything about it.

18:21I don't know who built it or when.

18:23Judging by the bricks, it looks like maybe the mid-60s.

18:27But it's Contempo expressionist style.

18:30It goes beyond just being mid-century modern to being an expressionist building.

18:36And this is the sort of building that nobody values, doesn't think it's worth anything.

18:40And it'll be replaced by something more commercial at some point.

18:47So I wanted to include it.

18:49And I do know the architect of this is, but I've forgotten.

18:56And his name might be blown out. I can't remember.

18:58But this is a really elegant transitional building from the international style to the brutalist.

19:05And this isn't even the best picture of it, but they've got no trespassing signs up all over the place.

19:12We're afraid of being arrested.

19:14So I took it from the road, but if you see it straight on, it's really a beautiful building.

19:20We find Victoria River north.

19:25Yeah, this is another really, really good neo-expressionist, you know, mid-century modern building.

19:32And surprisingly, the Catholic Church is one of the most avant-garde, you know, builders of buildings.

19:40But they're also most likely to pull them down too.

19:44So I don't think this church is going anywhere, but I think it's a really good example of its period.

19:52There's a landmark too.

19:54Yeah, it's in a Burstensky.

19:56Yes, it could be.

19:57Yeah, in this house, I visited this with the owners about 15 times because they said,

20:10come back and we'll have all the information for you.

20:13Anyway, I never did get it.

20:15And it's not the best picture, but it's a really good example of that kind of A-line 1960s, you know, better living kind of house.

20:26And there aren't very many of these in Guelph either.

20:30And this is one of only two streamlined modern buildings that I know of in Guelph.

20:40And the other one is the Pagani House in St. Andrews.

20:44This one is, it looks like it's been altered a lot, but it really hasn't.

20:49The only change is that the windows and doors have had an update, but the form of the building and the streamline awning and that sort of thing, you know, all appear to be original.

21:06Thank you for pointing this one out.

21:08I've walked past it probably a thousand times.

21:10I never realized this curved corner.

21:14It's charmed or subtle.

21:16Yeah, it is.

21:17I'll know that this one is within the proposed board heritage district.

21:22That's good.

21:23So there may be some layer of protection given to it.

21:26A lot of these people will be surprised to know they live in heritage-oriented buildings.

21:37776 Gordon Street.

21:40Yeah, so this is abandoned currently.

21:44A lot of the sites online that talk about it that have like exploration pages on it called the Barber House of Glass.

21:52It was owned by the Barber Glass family, which is a really old business in Guelph.

21:58It's been operational for like over 100 years now, I think still running.

22:02And I know there's like that sunroom back there.

22:05So I was wondering if that was an example of their work on the house itself.

22:09And the interior is really cool.

22:11And I think it's a very interesting house.

22:14And like I said, abandoned.

22:15So I'm not really sure what's happening with it.

22:17I believe this property is listed as non-designated on our heritage register,

22:25which is unusual to have something of this almost contemporary to be listed.

22:32I think it's in a perilous location too.

22:37Yeah, it's good to know when we suspect a building to be abandoned because that increases known risk.

22:4737 Liverpool Street.

22:50So this was a man that was owned by North United Wesleyan Methodist Church.

22:55And I also thought it was interesting that it was home to Lester B. Pearson's family for a little while.

23:01And his father was a Reverend lived here and then he lived here briefly after.

23:09Yeah, for a couple years.

23:10I thought that was cool.

23:13I, I've heard that Lester B. Pearson's wife lived in Guelph, but I did not know that he lived here for a time.

23:28200 Bulloch Street.

23:31And this was, I think, St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

23:34It was built, I think, by the same contractor as Paisley Memorial Church, which is currently designated.

23:39It looks very, very similar.

23:41And it's currently listed for sale as a single family condo.

23:45So that would be the motivating factor there.

23:49I'm sorry.

23:50It's listed for sale as a single family.

23:53There's probably a, I think so.

23:55For me, it's listed as a condo.

23:57There's definitely units in there.

23:59I think that's the one that's listed.

24:01It may be sale of a part of the building. Yeah.

24:04I'll note, similar to the York Road property, this is within the boundary of the proposed downtown heritage district.

24:12So maybe afforded some protection through that.

24:16And then Council's decision 69 Nottingham Street.

24:25I'm not even sure if this is listed.

24:29It's listed at all on the register.

24:31It's definitely more of an ugly duckling, but I noticed it was also for sale.

24:36Recently, and I think it's interesting.

24:38It's got a large addition on the side that's older now.

24:42I just thought it was in a cool representation of the houses that are of heritage value that get adapted in Guelph.

24:48So that is a sort of theme.

24:50And it is in poor condition, I think, with the expansion to it.

24:54So this, sorry.

25:06The 11 Nottingham was I was looking at the cooling inventory page and I didn't check into this at all.

25:14But cooling said that there was a confrontation between William Lyon Mackenzie and George Brown here in 1853, that it was some sort of meeting place there but it's also associated with like electric business in Guelph.

25:31And then here I thought the pattern of the brick was really interesting on the facade of the house.

25:42It's not something I've seen elsewhere in Guelph.

25:44I thought it was cool.

25:46It's unique.

25:47And this is just stone cottage.

25:55It's further outside so there are less properties designated in the area.

25:59So just supporting the character there, but it was nice.

26:03And similar to what Steven said about 10 Wolfbund, I think this house was constructed at the same time as three of its neighbors by George Sleiman to be workers housing for his distillery.

26:20This was submitted by a member who's not in attendance today.

26:26But it's the former Royal Knitting Company building on Norwich Street.

26:33And it's listed but not designated.

26:36And it's just outside the boundary of the downtown heritage district and the height permissions have been increased recently.

26:47So there is a greater threat to this property.

26:52So that's those are all the properties that were suggested.

27:00I'm going to propose now that like I'm going to open the floor and invite members.

27:06If anyone wants to weigh in on perhaps thematic considerations, if there are any properties that stood out to you.

27:17Maybe any other considerations you think that should go into selecting a top 10 staffer we're here and we're listening and this will inform what we bring you.

27:29In January, so if anyone wants to provide any feedback or input on any of the properties that we reviewed, please feel free.

27:43Justin, I see your hands up.

27:46Yeah, thanks again.

27:48One initial thought I had reviewing the list I really appreciate everyone putting in the time to compile this by the way.

27:55Is that Jack identified how some a couple maybe belong to proposed district plans.

28:03And I think it might be helpful in terms of context to know what protections they would have under the plans.

28:10Like for instance, I recall from the report that there's contributing versus non contributing and there's sort of tiers of protection and approval depending on how significant the property is within the plan.

28:23So that could be in terms of work planning for next year.

28:27If something would be otherwise protected under the conservation plan, it would be not something we need to prioritize perhaps for an individual designating bylaw.

28:38The other thought I had more on the sort of administrative logistical side of these things is that I appreciate the risk that was identified in respect of the properties that may be sold or where maybe a variance was obtained and you can implied by that is maybe there's plans for redevelopment.

28:57In those regards, isn't it the case Jack that they would nevertheless because they're listed at least next year would require approval in respect of the demolition prior to and there will basically be an opportunity for council at that stage to issue notice of intention to designate.

29:20Accordingly in other words like yes there may be a risk of the property because of a transaction or because of maybe plans for redevelopment, but nevertheless, we would be made aware of those plans at least next year and could take an action at that time.

29:37So those so part one part two, if I could do a part three is that I really like the suggestions I think it covers such an interesting time period of sort of diverse time period.

29:53I do wonder a bit though about, you know, in the absence of having the context of an evaluation report or staff's own recommendations, how much we could actually endorse a set that list of priorities.

30:08Simply because I guess I'm generally worried about in the larger context of high value heritage properties in Guelph and the timeframe of the Jan one 2027 deadline, how much energy staff should put into sort of lower priority properties so to speak,

30:25given that so I think that kind of context when we come back in January would be helpful also.

30:32Those are my thoughts.

30:34Yeah.

30:35Thank you Justin.

30:37I'm just going to try and address each of those.

30:42For when talking about risk, you're right though within if development application is received for any of the listed properties within the next 13 months that would trigger a process under the heritage act whereby we could evaluate a property for designation.

30:59I think it's likely a good assumption for us to make that if a property owner has development plans they may be waiting until 2027 in order to initiate them.

31:16And so I'd rather err on the safe side with listed properties where we believe even if there's just ambient risk to a property like it's an area zone for higher density.

31:30To your second point. I think that's a good idea to add maybe more context to these properties. I'm comfortable. I don't think it would be too onerous for staff to conduct like a very cursory review of each property and list which criteria we believe each one may meet because you're correct that

31:56previous years sometimes we've gone and evaluated a property done all the background research and come to the conclusion that it doesn't actually merit designation under the act which in this time crunch we have over the next 13 months.

32:10We could be using our time more wisely so

32:15staff will when we bring you back like a suggested top 10 after this discussion will include which criteria we believe each property satisfies.

32:26Okay.

32:37Thanks Jack and Justin. Are there any other questions and comments. Okay, I'm not seeing any other comments. I also would like to thank the members who submitted properties I know it takes a lot of time.

32:59So thank you everyone for your input on that.

33:03And Jack I was wondering if it was possible, you were going to email out that list to us for us to have a little bit more time to digest maybe before talking about that list again.

33:16Yeah, I'll follow up with the committee.

33:20After this meeting and I'll

33:25I'll we'll discuss internally what we'll be bringing you in January and then I'll follow up accordingly with perhaps any any more information that we may have about any of the properties.

33:37Okay.

33:39That'd be great. Thank you.

33:42Okay, I'm just going to go around the table again. Are there any other comments from any other members about this list or anything else.

33:50Okay, no.

33:52So there's no motion for this item.

33:56So I am just going to move ahead then to the next item on the agenda today which would be announcements and there are no announcements.

34:08Today, unless staff of any announcements.

34:11Stephen has an announcement.

34:13Okay.

34:14Just a shameless promotion.

34:18It's not shameless.

34:21Mr. Don Michaels, newly released book entitled Canadian architectural styles field guide. It's it's well worth a read.

34:30Mine's already getting a bit dog ear.

34:34And don't work. Can we find that online to purchase?

34:37Well, I checked the other day and there were well you can get it online from Amazon pretty instantly. And there are were the other night.

34:46Jack and I checked and there were about 13 copies. There might be some gone from the bookshelf. So, and then to go has them but not as readily as Amazon.

34:59Okay.

35:00Awesome. Thank you so much.

35:02And thanks Stephen for sharing that everyone.

35:07Okay. Are there any other announcements from staff today?

35:11Not today.

35:12Not today. Okay. So I'll move on to a German of today's meeting. So my please have a member move in second to German.

35:23Thanks Kelly. And I see Don's hand a seconder and then all in favor.

35:31Okay, so that meeting is adjourned. And the next heritage advisory committee meeting will be held on January 15th, 2026 and happy holidays everyone. Thanks so much.

35:46Thank you.