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HomeMy WebLinkAbout554"Newspaper article in The Original Bay News, June 19, 1996, page 1. Pickering's History Crumbling Glenn Hendry Staff reporter In the story of Humpty Dumpty, at least all the King's horses and all the King's men tried to put the doomed egg back together again. The same can't be said for the members of Pickering Council or Heritage Pickering in the case of the historic Campbell/McPherson house. The 151 year-old house, home to several prominent local citizens of by-gone times and a big piece of Pickering's history, is now just in pieces. The work to tear down the home began last Friday and is expected to be completed this week, leaving only memories and vague promises that the home will be rebuilt on another site in the future. Neglected for 20 years while keeping a lonely vigil in a corner of Lynn Heights Park - its last tenant was the late Jean McPherson, a former deputy reeve of Pickering - the house has been left to deteriorate, especially since the town took over ownership in 1984. When its time came - a backhoe had stood poised in front of the home for days, waiting for the demolition permit like a predator waiting for the right moment to pounce - the evidence of that neglect was only too apparent. Windows were smashed, the front stoop was crumbling, chunks of some of the stonework was missing and the roof was in disrepair. Even the man in charge of the home's destruction was cognizant of history crumbling away. Ray Winterstein, contracted to dismantle the house (while taking care to preserve the corner stones, lintel stones, and as much of the feature stonework as possible) says the job is far from his Continued on page 2 " "Pickering history crumbles as McPherson house falls to wreckers •From cover page favorite. ""I don't like tearing down historical buildings, but we'll try to duplicate as close as possible when we rebuild,"" Winterstein says. ""The wooden beams and the roof are rotten but the stone structure is in good shape. It would have lasted a millennium. ""It's a shame."" Where to lay the blame for the home's demise is difficult to pinpoint, however. Perhaps Pickering planners should have been tougher on Coughlan Homes by insisting that the builder somehow incorporate the house - a Classical Revival stone farm home typical in its era but rare today - in its site plan when they built the neighborhood behind the house 10 years ago; perhaps a more vocal effort by Heritage Pickering - the body responsible for trying to preserve historic homes -might have made a difference. Certainly a show of support from those abutting homeowners (including councillor Sherry Senis, who claims she was not in favour of the house's removal) would have saved the home. But it was the neighbors like Paul Galaski of Sherman Crescent -who got on council's back finally to have the home either moved or demolished. The current lineup of Pickering councillors, and those of previous councils stretching back more than 20 years, have to take the bulk of the finger-pointing. It was their decisions - or lack of same -that led to the dismantling of the home. Enrico Pistritto, council's representative on Heritage Pickering, seemed a lonely figure on Monday nights, fighting for the house's preservation. He is angry with the residents - ""I don't think they bargained in good faith,"" he says. He is also annoyed with staff, noting that there is ""no question"" they wanted the house destroyed. He has now resigned himself to the inevitable. ""I don't agree with council's decision but in fairness, there was plenty of time to come up with answers. But the community didn't come up with solutions,"" he says. ""We could have sold it but we have a group of people who didn't want the house there and we didn't have the political will."" The remains of the house, situated on land ceded to soldier Alex McQueen in 1799, built by Rew James and subsequently lived in by William T. Dunbar (grandson of William J.P. Dunbar, a suspected supporter of the 1837 Mackenzie Rebellion and the founder of Dunbarton), several generations of Campbells and Jean McPherson, will now be trucked to a site in Claremont to await its fate. It is supposed to be rebuilt sometime in the next two years, but Richard Ward, a long-time thorn in the side of council and perennial figure at council meetings, stormed out of last week's meeting, claiming the re-construction will never happen. ""All we'll get is a pile of rubble,"" he predicted. In the meantime, back on Lynn Heights, children will continue to play at the playground, a hundred metres or so from the empty spot that was once a chunk of Pickering's history. "