Throwing away old gems

Re: Uncovering a jewel, Aug. 24.

A big thank you to Anita Murray for this column, which describes how interior designer Ulya Jensen and renovator Noel McGinnity revamped a heritage house in Sandy Hill. “We talked about what we should preserve, what is popular now and what’s going to show some of the history and the age of the actual building,” Jensen said. One photo shows a contemporary kitchen with the home’s original oak pocket doors.

It was a pleasure to read that people have recognized the value in one of Ottawa’s older homes. Years from now, this city will wake up and realize that we have thrown away so many of these gems — houses with unique features, with character and charm. In many neighbourhoods, these older homes are being replaced with boring, boxlike structures. These doubles are cheap to erect and bring the city twice the taxes so, in the name of intensification, the older gems are being dumped into landfill. If Jensen and McGinnity are looking for projects, please run right over to my Kitchissippi neighbourhood.

On the day this column was published, I attended an estate sale in a lovely home that will be demolished this week. For a home that was built in the 1920s, it has many outstanding features. Besides the loss of these houses I am concerned with the environmental sin of dumping perfectly good materials into landfill. Why should we bother to sort our plastic, paper, and compost if developers are allowed to deposit priceless wood trim and doors, glass, brick etc. into the dump?