Halton Hills council will consider a by-law on Monday, Nov. 9, designating the Wapshott-Lane House on Georgetown's Maple Avenue as a heritage property. The Town says the house is one of the oldest remaining buildings on the street.
Council approved the recommendation to designate the property on June 22. Monday's by-law is the next step. A heritage designation recognizes a building's historical or architectural value; once it is in place, owners need the Town's permission before changing the features that give the building that value, or tearing it down.
The Town describes the home as a representative example of a Gothic Revival Ontario Cottage in Georgetown. That style, common across the province in the 19th century, is usually a modest storey-and-a-half house with a steep, pointed gable over the front door.
The house carries the names of two families. John and Elizabeth Wapshott bought the property from John Cooke in 1873, and John likely worked at the nearby Barber Paper Mill. In 1908 it passed to Jonathan Lane, a prominent local realtor.
Several other old homes are up for designation at the same meeting. In Georgetown, the George H. Kennedy Family Home on Main Street North is described as a Gothic Revival house with Italianate influences. In Acton, the Cordiner-Johnston House at 13 Wilbur Street North is on the list under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, the provincial law that lets towns protect individual buildings.
Those homes, including one known as the Wilson-Moore House, followed a later track: council approved their recommendations on July 13, a few weeks after the Wapshott-Lane House got its go-ahead in June.
The meeting runs from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the council chambers at Halton Hills Town Hall. It is a hybrid meeting, and the Town encourages residents to watch the live stream through the Municipal Calendar page on its website.
