City Planner: Windsor’s heritage in state of neglect

By Kacie Cooper

The City of Windsor is rich with history and culture, especially in its old buildings, but unfortunately they are becoming more and more neglected, according to the Heritage Planner with The City of Windsor.

John Calhoun said he believes keeping heritage homes and buildings in good condition should be the responsibility of the owners.

According to recent city council minutes, Windsor has around 750 vacant buildings, some of which are heritage buildings. Most of the vacant buildings are unkempt and in disrepair.

“What we want to encourage is changes that make the house, or commercial building, industrial building, school or church more useable for current and future uses,” said Calhoun. “Most buildings can be recovered.”

There are three types of heritage buildings, including: ones listed on the register, individually designated buildings and Heritage Conservation District designated buildings.

Riverside Brewery is listed on the register as a heritage building but has been neglected for years. Calhoun explained it was determined the building was too unsafe to work on to try and restore it. He said although the building looks strong from the outside, it is completely lacking its inner structure.

“We’d like to be able to get to those buildings long before that kind of dreadful condition comes to pass, but can’t unless we know about it,” said Calhoun.

Bruce Rutter is the owner of a registered heritage house in Walkerville. He has lived in his home for the last 12 years and said he has definitely noticed some of the obstacles in owning an old and unique home.

“There are some particular kinds of challenges with owning a heritage house,” said Rutter.

He said it can be hard to keep up with an old home, especially when dealing with restorations and not enough people know how to do the work.

“It’s something I think is important,” said Rutter. “Even dealing with hardwood floors. They don’t want to do that kind of work anymore, they want to come in and put in some laminate. Those skill sets need to be preserved and taught.”

Although Heritage Conservation District designated buildings cannot be altered, buildings listed on the register can be with approval from city council.

“We need our government and educational institutes to encourage people to renovate as opposed to bulldozing,” said Rutter.

Rutter said he would like to see St. Clair College start a program for trades students to learn specifically about renovations and restorations of old homes.