Second opinion agrees former Pearson home should go

Another engineer has confirmed that a Sandy Hill building once home to Lester B. Pearson should be torn down.

The city asked John G. Cooke and Associates to examine the building at 231 Cobourg St., along with the existing engineering reports on the property, after the built-heritage subcommittee expressed skepticism about a demolition-and-development plan pitched by the Ugandan High Commission. In February, the subcommittee rejected the application and directed staff to order an independent engineering analysis of the property.

The firm supports demolition, concluding that stabilizing the two-storey building is structurally feasible, but would come with significant costs. The soil settlement on the property has created major damage to the building.

City hall heritage planners continue to recommend allowing the demolition and a revised threestorey development plan from the Ugandan High Commission.

The existing building, which isn’t the original structure on the land, dates back to 1945. Pearson lived at 231 Cobourg St. between 1955 and 1958, when he was minister of external affairs. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for proposing a United Nations peacekeeping operation during the Suez Crisis. Pearson became prime minister in 1963. The Ugandan High Commission bought the building in 1985.

The building is considered at the lower end on the scale of heritage importance. It wasn’t until recent years that the city learned it was one of Pearson’s former homes. Pearson’s better-known former home on Augusta Street, also in Sandy Hill, is protected by heritage laws because of his association.

Action Sandy Hill has opposed demolition of the Cobourg Street structure because of building’s historical value to the heritage conservation district.

The built-heritage subcommittee will consider the new demolition and redevelopment plan during a meeting Thursday.