Clash over historical mansion’s name
Mississauga ‘selling out for peanuts’ by naming estate for restoration partner, says councillor
The subject of a growing controversy in Mississauga — a once-grand estate returned to its former glory after decades of neglect — rises up majestically from the shores of Lake Ontario, evoking a Gatsby-like aura of swank pre-war life.
The cream-coloured mansion and its sprawling public grounds are the site of lavish costume parties and elegant weddings.
Some are now aghast that this little-known jewel — which is owned and was restored by the city with the help of a neighbouring cement com- pany, Holcim — might soon be named after its new sponsor, CRH (Cement Roadstone Holdings), an Irish concrete company that bought the Mississauga operation.
“We’ll be known as the city that sold our soul for 35 pieces of silver,” firebrand Councillor Carolyn Parrish said during a council meeting Jan. 20. “We’ll be known as the only city in North America, for sure, that’s allowed to name its heritage building after some sponsor.”
She exhorted council to make sure the Holcim Waterfront Estate, formerly the Bell Gairdner Estate, won’t in future be named after Cement Roadstone Holdings Incorporated.
“We’re not selling out for millions, we’re selling out for peanuts.”
But the ward’s councillor, Karen Ras, is supporting residents who don’t want to alienate CRH after all the work its new Mississauga operation had done to help restore the estate.
“In terms of the sponsorship and the contractual agreement, it will be the CRH Waterfront Estate,” she said at the meeting.
Meanwhile, CRH’s Mississauga plant manager, Kevin Hughes, told the Star his company is more than happy to work with council to find a solution.
“We are honoured to have the opportunity to be associated and to contribute to . . . the waterfront estate. At CRH Canada, we are respectful of the council’s recommendation to honour the history and heritage of this site, and we remain open to dialogue about the renaming of this site.”
The city wouldn’t publicly state the amount CRH pays for the sponsorship. During the recent meeting, councillors described it as a figure in the “thousands” annually.
Mississauga taxpayers paid more than $9 million for the purchase and restoration of the site, which was opened to the public in 2014. Prior to that, it was falling apart, overgrown with weeds and called an embarrassment to the city.
Now, the heritage-designated site, built in 1937, before the city even existed, is a deep point of pride in Mississauga.
The property — with its verdant lawn rolling out to the water’s edge framed by forest on both sides, and a modern-classical mansion featuring an oak library, main hall and sweeping front spiral staircase — can be rented by companies or individuals for corporate events, parties, fundraisers or weddings. During the debate over the future name of the estate, some supported CRH.
Four residents told council they did not want to forget the company that, under the owners of the entity it subsumed, helped restore the property after it had become a rodent-infested, derelict building, practically abandoned by its previous owner.
“If it wasn’t for CRH there wouldn’t be a waterfront estate, it would still be a crumbling building,” said resident Sue Shanly, representing her local ratepayers’ association.
Others say it’s one thing for the estate to be named after Holcim, which is pronounced “wholesome,” but that the corporate acronym, CRH, is not suitable.
Council agreed to defer any decision on the new name, and the city will now approach CRH to see if it will agree to another name for the historic estate.
Meanwhile, the controversy has provided exposure to a little-known architectural jewel on the western edge of Mississauga’s waterfront.