Report
to/Rapport au :
Ottawa Built Heritage
Advisory Committee
Comité consultatif sur le patrimoine bâti
d’Ottawa
and / et
Planning
Committee
Comité
de l'urbanisme
and Council / et au Conseil
15 March 2012 / le 15 mars 2012
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City
Manager, Directrice municipale adjointe / Planning
and Infrastructure/Urbanisme et
Infrastructure
Contact Person/Personne-ressource : John Smit,
Manager/Gestionnaire
Development Review-Urban
Services/Examen des projets d'aménagement-Services urbains, Planning
and Growth Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance
(613) 580-2424, 13866 John.Smit@ottawa.ca
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Ottawa Built Heritage Advisory
Committee recommend that Planning Committee recommend that Council:
1.
Approve the
application to alter 535 Fairview Avenue, as per drawings submitted by Nicholas
Caragianis Architect Inc. on March 6, 2012 included as Documents 3 and 4;
2.
Delegate
authority for minor design changes to the General Manager, Planning and Growth
Management Department; and
3.
Issue the
heritage permit with a two-year expiry date from the date of issuance.
(Note: The statutory 90-day
timeline for consideration of this application under the Ontario Heritage Act will expire on June 4, 2012)
(Note: Approval to Alter this property under the Ontario Heritage Act must not be construed to meet the requirements
for the issuance of a building permit.)
RECOMMANDATIONS DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité consultatif sur le patrimoine bâti d’Ottawa recommande au
Comité de l’urbanisme de recommander à son tour au Conseil :
1.
D’approuver la demande de
modification de l’immeuble situé au 535, avenue Fairview, conformément aux
dessins soumis par le cabinet Nicholas Caragianis Architect Inc., qui ont été reçus le 6 mars 2012 et qui font
l’objet des documents 3 et 4;
2.
De déléguer au directeur général du
Service de l’urbanisme et de la gestion de la croissance le pouvoir d’approuver
des modifications mineures à la conception.
3.
De délivrer le permis en matière de patrimoine,
qui expirera deux ans après sa date de délivrance.
(Nota : Le délai
réglementaire de 90 jours d’examen de cette demande, exigé en vertu de la Loi sur le patrimoine de l’Ontario,
prendra fin le 4 juin 2012.)
Nota : L’approbation
de la demande de modification aux termes de la Loi sur le patrimoine de l’Ontario ne signifie pas pour autant
qu’elle satisfait aux conditions de délivrance d’un permis de construire.)
BACKGROUND
535 Fairview Avenue is a one-storey house constructed with an irregular plan and an angular gabled roof. Fairview Avenue is a small street featuring an eclectic mix of housing styles dating from the 1920s to the 1970s. This house was constructed in 1960 to the designs of architect René Richard. The building is a very good example of a mid-century Modern house in the Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District.
This report has been prepared because alterations to buildings designated under the Ontario Heritage Act require City Council approval.
DISCUSSION
The Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District was designated for its cultural heritage value as an early planned residential community first laid out by Thomas Keefer in 1864. The district is also important for its historical associations with Keefer and his father-in-law, Thomas MacKay, the founder of New Edinburgh and the original owner of Rideau Hall. The picturesque nature of the village also contributes significantly to the cultural heritage value. The Statement of Heritage Character (Document 5) notes that today the “Village of Rockcliffe Park is a distinctive community of private homes and related institutional properties within a park setting.”
The Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District Study contains guidelines for the management of development in the district. The guidelines related to buildings and landscape applicable to this proposal are as follows:
Section iv) Buildings
4.
Any application to construct a new building or
addition should be reviewed with consideration of its potential to enhance the
heritage character of the Village. New construction should be recommended for
approval only where the siting, form, materials and detailing are sympathetic
to the surrounding natural and cultural environment.
5.
New buildings and additions should be of their
own time, but should also harmonize with the existing cultural landscape. They
should be sited and designed so as to retain the existing topography. The use
of natural materials should be encouraged.
Section v) Soft
and Hard Landscape
1.
The dominance of soft landscape over hard
landscape should be recognized as an essential feature of the past history and
present character of the Village.
2.
New buildings, fences and other landscape
features or alterations and additions to existing buildings and features, should
be designed and sited so as to protect and enhance significant qualities of the
existing landscape.
The complete Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District Study was
previously distributed to all Ottawa Built Heritage Advisory Committee (OBHAC)
members and is on file with the OBHAC Co-ordinator (Document 6).
The proposed alterations to 535 Fairview Avenue include the demolition of the existing one‑storey, single-car garage and the construction of a new, double garage with living space above (Document 4). The new addition is located in the same general area as the existing garage but is oriented perpendicular to the house instead of at an angle (Document 3). The new addition will be visible from some places along Fairview Avenue, but has been designed to blend well with the existing building through its use of materials, and is set well back from the street. The proposed materials will match the existing materials, including stone and stucco. The south elevation features significant glazing on the second storey which is sympathetic to the character of the existing house. The existing landscape will be retained.
The proposed addition to 535 Fairview Avenue is sympathetic to the character of the existing house and the streetscape of Fairview Avenue. The proposed addition meets the guidelines of the Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District. For these reasons the Department supports the application to alter.
Recommendation
2:
Occasionally, minor changes
to a building emerge during the working drawing phase. This recommendation is included to allow the
Planning and Growth Management Department to approve these changes.
Recommendation 3:
The Ontario Heritage Act does not provide any timelines for the expiry of heritage permits. A two-year expiry date is recommended to ensure that projects are completed in a timely fashion and according to the approved heritage permit.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no rural implications associated with this report
CONSULTATION
The application was circulated to the Development Review Subcommittee of the Rockcliffe Park Residents’ Association.
Heritage Ottawa is aware of the application.
Neighbours within 30m of the property were notified by letter and offered the opportunity to comment on the application.
COMMENTS BY THE WARD COUNCILLOR
Councillor Clark is aware of the application.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no legal implications
associated with the recommendations in this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There are no risk management implications associated with this report.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial implications in this report.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPACT
There are no accessibility impacts associated with this report.
TECHNOLOGY IMPLICATIONS
There are no direct technical implications associated with this report.
CITY STRATEGIC PLAN
The following sections of the City of Ottawa Strategy Map are applicable to this application:
HC4 Improve Arts and Heritage
GP3 Make sustainable choices
Permitting appropriate alterations to designated heritage buildings encourages retention and enhancement of the City’s built heritage. The retention of existing heritage buildings is a sustainable choice.
APPLICATION PROCESS TIMELINE STATUS
This application was completed
within the 90-day time period prescribed by the Ontario Heritage Act.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 Location Map
Document 2 Current Conditions
Document 3 Site Plan
Document 4 Elevations
Document 5 Statement of Heritage Character
Document 6 Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District Study (on file with OBHAC coordinator)
DISPOSITION
City Clerk and Solicitor Department, Legislative
Services to notify the property owner and the Ontario Heritage Trust
(10 Adelaide Street East, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1J3)
of Council’s decision.
i) Description
The Village of Rockcliffe Park is a planned residential community first laid out in 1864 by Thomas Keefer. It was created as a partial subdivision of the large estate belonging to his father-in-law, Thomas McKay. Development occurred slowly, but in 1908 a Police Village was created, and by 1926 the Village of Rockcliffe Park had been incorporated. The boundaries established in 1908 have remained intact, and the present Village of Rockcliffe Park is a distinctive community of private homes and related institutional properties within a park setting, still true to the spirit of Keefer’s original vision.
ii.) Reasons for Designation:
The Village of Rockcliffe Park is proposed for designation as a heritage district because of:
- The significance of its original design intentions;
- The continuity in its evolution;
- The richness of its current urban condition;
- Its relationship with its wide setting, and
- The importance of its historical associations.
iii.) Original Design Intentions
The Village of Rockcliffe Park is a rare and significant approach to estate layout and landscape design adapted in Canada from 18th Century English precedents. McKay had adopted this approach in his initial development of the estate, and the original McKay villa and grounds survive as Rideau Hall, the estate of the Governor General of Canada, on the western boundary of the village. When, in 1864, Keefer advertised his Park and Villa lots for private residences, he focused on the picturesque qualities of the scenery, and the importance of curving roads, extensive plantings, and naturalistic settings as key features in any future development. Lots were sold as components of the larger Estate, implying a cohesive landscape approach- purchasers were enjoined from erected anything that would be “inconsistent with the maintenance of the Estate as a park for private residences.” Tree planning on road fronts was an immediate requirement on purchase, and commercial and industrial uses were explicitly banned. This type of ‘suburban’ or borderland development is also a reflection of a particularly North American response to rapid industrialization and urbanization in the 19th Century, with its emphasis on healthy living in a rural or country setting.
iv.) Continuity in Evolution
The Village of Rockcliffe Park today is a remarkably consistent reflection of the ideas set out by Keefer. Although development of the residential lots has taken place very gradually, the ideas of Estate management, of smaller lots as part of a larger whole, of picturesque design, of residential focus, have survived as controlling aspects of the Village’s form and character. This has been in part somewhat fortuitous and unconscious- the cumulative effect of precedent and example. The early estates such as the MacKay villa and Rockcliffe were followed quickly by Birkenfels and Crichton Lodge, which in turn inspired smaller estates on Buena Vista, Mariposa, and Acacia and later Crescent Road. These types of properties continue to establish a Rockcliffe image, which is continually translated by architects and designers into individual variations on the theme. The strong landscape setting is able to embrace a rich diversity of lot and building sizes and configurations.
However, the continuity has also been provided by an active effort by overseers and residents. In the early years, Thomas Keefer and his associates developed special arrangements to control public and private initiatives as Trustees of the MacKay Estate. Later this effort fell to the overseers of the Police Village and then the councillors of the incorporated Village. Considerable energy has been spent by every successive generation to manage development and change, through formal and informal reviews and by a variety of by-laws, planning directives, and special designations. In most communities such initiatives have focused on economic development and minimum property standards; in Rockcliffe there is an extraordinary effort to maintain the scenic qualities, the park setting, the natural features and plantings, the careful informality of streets and services. This continuity of vision is very rare in a community where development has occurred on such a relatively large scale over such a long time period.
v) Current urban condition:
The Village of Rockcliffe Park has combined public and private initiatives to create an unusually rich urban landscape. The deliberately curved roads, without curbs or sidewalks, and the careful planting of the public spaces and corridors, together with the careful siting and strong landscaping of the individual properties, create the apparently casual and informal style so integral to the picturesque tradition. The preservation and enhancement of topographical features including the lake and pond, the dramatic Ottawa River shoreline, the internal ridges and slopes, and the various outcroppings, has reinforced the design intentions. The architectural design of the residences and associated institutional facilities is similarly deliberate and careful, but in the casual elegance and asymmetry of the various English country revival styles which predominate throughout the Village. The generosity of space around the homes, and the flowing of this space from one property to the next by continuous planting rather than hard fence lines, has maintained the estate qualities and park setting envisioned by Keefer. This informal elegance has been a consistent theme throughout the long process of development from the mid-19th Century to the present. There are relatively few examples of the strict neo-classicism that would suggest a more geometric ordering of the landscape.
There is also a set of community practices, intangible rituals that are both public and private, which continue to make sense of this environment- individual and collective outdoor activities, pedestrian and vehicular movement, areas of congregation and encounter, areas of dispersal and isolation. The urban landscape is also sustained by a variety of ongoing planning regulations, reflected most particularly in the current Official Plan and related zoning by-law.
vi.) Relationship with its wider setting:
The Village of Rockcliffe Park has an important and integral association with its larger setting, as a result of patterns of historical development. With the Rideau Hall estate there is a symbiosis that dates back to Keefer’s original vision of the village set within the larger grounds of this original villa. With Rockcliffe Park, there is a deliberate relationship again defined by Keefer, who saw the park as a natural extension and highlighting of the village’s picturesque setting. This relationship was further strengthened with the expansion of the park to the east, and with the addition of the Rockeries. Beechwood Cemetery has also served as a compatible landscape boundary to the southeast from the earliest period of settlement through to the present. These various border areas create important gateways to the village, and help establish its particular character. The views to and from the Ottawa River, the Beechwood escarpment, and the other park areas are integral to the picturesque quality of the Village. These extensions also form an integral part of the Village’s environmental ecosystem. It is unusual to have the internal character of a neighbourhood so strongly reinforced by adjacent land uses; it once again reflects the foresight of the original planners.
vii.) Historical Associations
The most important historical associations of the village as a whole are with the MacKay/Keefer family, major players in the economic, social, cultural and political development of Ottawa. The village today is a testament to the ideas and initiatives of various key members of this extended family, and their influence in shaping this key piece of Canadian landscape. Additional associations have occurred more randomly throughout the history of the village, as people of regional, national, and international significance have resided here and made this community their home base. Such associations are in some ways more private than public, and are an aspect of the village that is preserved more in the intangible continuities and oral traditions of village life than in the stones and mortar of monuments and plaques.
There are also specific
associations with individuals who, whatever their prominence elsewhere, have
made special contributions within the Village at a public and private level.
These people have been part of an unusual form of self-governance, which has blurred
the lines between formal and informal participation in the affairs of the
Village.