Wrecking ball claims ‘eclectic’ heritage house
Century-old Cope House demolished just days before devastating Sales fire
A century-old house in the Upper Mount Royal neighbourhood is no longer, after being torn down in late January.
Cope House, described as an “eclectic” structure built in 1912 on Hillcrest Avenue S.W., was knocked down just five days before the 115-year-old Enoch Sales House was destroyed by a fire.
It struck another blow to the city’s dwindling crop of heritage buildings, which continue to have their fate sealed due to a lack of protection, according to Josh Traptow, executive director of the Calgary Heritage Authority.
Although included on the city’s Inventory of Historic Resources, Cope House was never protected through municipal or provincial designation.
“The legislation has always basically made it so that the owner had to seek legal protection to municipally designate a house,” said Traptow, adding that the Historic Resources Act requires municipalities to pay compensation if they designate a property against the owner’s wishes.
“Of the 700 or so properties on the inventory, less than 100 of them are municipally designated, so at any time, those non-designated properties could be demolished.”
He said that until that legislation changes, there’s not much to incentivize homeowners to preserve a historic building when a developer comes knocking.
“We’re basically stuck with the same legislation that hasn’t been updated for almost 20 years,” said Traptow. “We can’t really fault the city for not designating. It would be financially impossible for them to designate every property and compensate the owner.”
The lot where Cope House stood was originally purchased from Canadian Pacific Railway by real estate agent W.D. Fraser, before it was sold to Daniel V. Cope, a businessman who had moved from Toronto in 1903. The brick and stucco house was built by R.F. Baxter with an initial estimated value of $4,000.
It had 10 rooms and two bathrooms, along with a built-in vacuum cleaning system. By 1939, its value was assessed at $13,850.
With Tudor half timbering on the front gable dormers and tapered craftsman columns on the open veranda, the house showed design influences of popular styles, according to the City of Calgary. It was considered unique in the city thanks to its patterned brick masonry.
Following Cope’s death in 1937, his wife, Mary, along with their son and daughter-in-law, continued to live in the house until 1951.
“It was significant just for the fact that it was on the inventory but it wasn’t legally protected, so the owners were able to demolish it as they wished and unfortunately there was nothing that the city could do to prevent them,” Traptow said.
He warned that as heritage properties tend to be demolished more often when the economy and real estate market are flourishing, due to more lucrative offers from developers, the city is at risk of losing much of its history in the coming years.
“With the upcoming provincial election, heritage groups and Calgarians really need to be asking the political parties and the candidates ‘what are you going to do for heritage?’” said Traptow, pointing to Toronto as a city that Calgary should emulate when it comes to heritage protection.
“They have great legislation that allows for heritage districts in municipalities,” he said.
“The City of Toronto has a great tax rebate program for heritage buildings, so I think the city and the province really need to come to the table and start saying, ‘yes, we need to preserve our heritage,’ because, unfortunately, we’re just going to keep seeing inventory houses like the Cope House demolished.”