It’s easy to see why neighbors at the north end of Bessborough Drive and elsewhere want to leave the historic Thomas G. Elgie home just as it is. The property is currently owned by Renaissance Homes of Toronto and its president Matthew Garnet is trying to make some money from it. What’s left of the Elgie family’s 200-odd acre farm from the mid-1880s is a verdant corner of the community providing a park-like atmosphere for those who live there. Over the years members of the Elgie family, a conservative clan from the United Kingdom, have given much public service to Ontario. Their story is important. The building that sits on the property today is well off the street and consists of mainly two parts. One dates from 1883 and the other from the 1970s. The picture above shows the general size and shape of today’s Elgie House and the inset black and white picture, taken in 1934, shows the piece in which the pioneer family huddled so long ago. Mr. Garnet’s plan is to divide the property in three lots using two of them for new homes. On the third lot, he proposes to relocate the renovated portion of the Elgie home which was built in 1883. The 20th century part would be demolished. That plan has been rejected by City Council and by the Committee of Adjustment. The home is a heritage property — as it should be — and with preservationists and neighbors in agreement, the Renaissance proposals have gone nowhere. In this election year there is no appetite for it at the office of Councillor John Parker (Ward 26). So Mr. Garnet has taken his case to the Ontario Municipal Board. On Monday, May 12 the OMB will weigh the argument that the location of the farmhouse on the property — its “placement, setback and orientation” — are integral to the home’s historical attributes. In other words, it can’t be moved to that third lot Mr. Garnet wants to create. Some may say it is an interesting position for the City to take in a province where every summer weekend sees a historical home being moved to a commercially suitable location.
