November 9, 2020 City Council Meeting - Item 8.14 Additional Information submitted by Allan Djordjevic (Windsor Star article Feb 6, 2018)

Wrecker's ball looms after council refuses heritage protection for home

A motion to historically designate the former home of one of Windsor's most prominent 20th-century figures was defeated by the majority of councillors Monday, paving the way for its demolition by the University of Windsor.

Author of the article:
Brian Cross
Publishing date:
Feb 06, 2018 • Last Updated 2 years ago • 2 minute read

A motion to historically designate the former home of one of Windsor’s most prominent 20th-century figures was defeated by the majority of councillors Monday, paving the way for its demolition by the University of Windsor.

“It’s a house, it’s not the person,” Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott said, referring to the deteriorating stucco house on Sunset Avenue that was once the home of Judge Bruce J.S. Macdonald, but is now known as Iona College. The university took possession of the 1924 home in 2016 with plans to tear it down and turn the property into a parkette.

Elliott expressed concern that if the university couldn’t go ahead with its plan, it would sell it to an absentee landlord who would fill it up with students and contribute to the current urban blight in the west end. “It’s a mess,” he sai

A staff report concluded that the building is worthy of heritage designation, and the city’s heritage committee recommended in November that it should be protected with a heritage designation. But the university hired a consultant who stated it isn’t.

While the house was the home of Judge Macdonald from 1951 to 1969, Macdonald lived in three other houses in the city, university vice-president Sandra Aversa said. She said it would take $3 million to renovate the house to bring it up to university-grade standards.

“We would not be investing that type of money for that house,” she said.