725 replies to this topic

[aastra]

A lot of people were driving cars after 1945. It wasn't like now, when nobody drives cars anymore.

[Victoria Watcher]

Couple fights to rid Toronto home of heritage status Original owner Stapleton Pitt Caldecott was opposed to immigration, historian says

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ecott-1.7163883

 

A couple in an affluent midtown Toronto neighbourhood is asking the city to remove the heritage designation from their century home because they say the original owner was racist. 

 

The two-and-a-half storey, 9,000-square foot house in the Yonge and St. Clair area, was built in 1906 for Stapleton Pitt Caldecott, a former Toronto Board of Trade president who was opposed to immigration, a University of Toronto historian says.

 

Dr. Arnold Mahesan, a fertility specialist of Sri Lankan descent, and his wife, entrepreneur and former Real Housewives of Toronto actor Roxanne Earle, whose family comes from Pakistan, bought the house in 2022 for $5 million, real estate records show. At the time, they say, they didn't know the home had a heritage designation. 

 

"Stapleton Caldecott would've been appalled by us living in the house he commissioned," Mahesan told the March 28 meeting of the Toronto Preservation Board (TPB).

 

The couple, who identifies as mixed-race, told the board they only discovered their home was a designated heritage property last year, when they began looking into modifying the house's steep stairway from the sidewalk.

 

Because of that heritage designation, they learned, they'd need to get permission from the city before making any major changes to the property. 

 

The couple applied to the board in January to have that designation repealed on the grounds that it was approved by the city in haste in 2018. They say a closer look would have revealed its original owner held views that should have excluded it from preservation.

 

The city doesn't currently have a policy that would bar buildings owned by such individuals from gaining heritage status.

 

In making their allegations about Caldecott at last week's board meeting, the couple cited a report by University of Toronto lecturer Michael Akladios, which points out that Caldecott was anti-immigration, and in favour of newcomers assimilating into mainstream society.

 

The board turned down the couple's request, but Earle and Mahesan have vowed to fight on, according to their lawyer, Michael Campbell. The decision won't be final until it is approved by city council, where it's expected to come up by the end of May.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 April 2024 - 05:04 AM.

[Nparker]

If they had any integrity they would immediately vacate the home and accept the $5 million loss.

[Victoria Watcher]

She was on Real Housewives. Pretty sure there is not much integrity there.

[Nparker]

Good point.

[aastra]

 

...bought the house in 2022 for $5 million, real estate records show. At the time, they say, they didn't know the home had a heritage designation.

 

Entirely believable.