‘Landmark’ home deserves heritage designation: report
A “landmark” midcentury modern home designed by prolific local architect John Lingwood deserves a heritage designation, a report finds.
The home — built circa 1968-69 for Keith and Winnifred Shantz — commands a hillside location near the corner of Ottawa Street South and Trussler Road.
It’s part of a 13.3-hectare (33-acre) parcel of land that could become home to between 240 and 409 units in a mix of single-detached, townhouse and multiple-unit dwellings if a subdivision is approved by the city.
The development proposal calls for the Shantz home — most recently used as an office — to be integrated into the subdivision, but a specific future use hasn’t been determined.
While the house is included in the city’s Inventory of Historic Buildings, it is not listed on Kitchener’s Municipal Heritage Register nor designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
A report prepared for the developer says the building is worthy of designation, which would provide it the protections offered by the heritage act.
Calling it “a significant heritage resource,” Owen Scott of CHC Limited said the Shantz house “is a notable, locally rare example of a mid-century modern residential dwelling in the ‘Prairie’ style.”
Famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is most closely associated with this style.
Scott’s report was presented at a Heritage Kitchener meeting this week; city staff sought the committee’s feedback as they continue to review the development application. Architectural Conservancy Ontario has also submitted a letter supporting designation. Heritage Kitchener and council would vote on designation at a future date.
Heritage planner Deeksha Choudhry said the home’s designation would be listed as a condition for the subdivision’s approval.
“In my opinion, this is one of our most outstanding mid-century modern properties, from a resident’s point of view,” said committee member Jean Haalboom.
Along with features such as the home’s scale and irregular massing, stained wood board and batten siding, and unique reinforced concrete-filled polystyrene block foundation, Scott identified the views to and from Trussler Road as a heritage attribute.
Those views can also be protected if they’re outlined in the designation, Scott said.
The views “are significant and need to be maintained,” Haalboom said. “For me, it always signified that here is where the rural township meets the urban, the city.”
“This is a real gem,” committee member Ilona Bodendorfer said of the Shantz house.
“I’m so glad that it’s going to be preserved as part of this landscape, as part of this subdivision.”
Lingwood’s work includes Kitchener’s Carmel New Church, the former provincial courthouse on Frederick Street, and the former downtown transit terminal.
His work also includes the John Aird Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University, and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cambridge.