Inventory Report: 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard

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63: 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard

1. Description of Property Municipal Address 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard Name (if applicable) Legal Description PT LT 1, CON 3 TRAFALGAR, SOUTH OF DUNDAS STREET , AS IN 690139,

OAKVILLE/TRAFALGAR Location of Property The property at 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard is situated on the west side of Winston

Churchill Boulevard, north of Lakeshore Road East and south of Royal Windsor Drive. Ownership Private Access Site visit completed September 9, 2015. (AB, ES, CU) Current Use Residential Existing Designation Listed on Municipal Register (non-designated) General Description The property at 658 Winston Churchill Blvd. is a small parcel with a two-and-a-half-storey

farmhouse, a garage and a small, one-storey barn, linked by a U-shaped lane. It is characterized by the mature tree cover at the site. The Edwardian-style farmhouse likely dates to the early 20th century. The property is a remnant of a former 100-acre farmstead, now located in a semi-industrial area.

Priority Level Medium

Figure 1: 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard, front elevation. (CU, 2015)

Winston Churchill Blvd.

VegetableGarden

Garage

Barn

House

Field

Dundas R

d. E.

Maple

Maple

Apple

Trees

Barn

House

Pond

Floodway

Pond

Winston Churchill Blvd.

VegetableGarden

Garage

Barn

House

Field

LEGEND

568 Winston Churchill Blvd.

Cultural Heritage LandscapeInventory Map

Drawing not to scale

Corporation of theTown of Oakville1225 Trafalgar RdOakville, ONL6H 0H3

Watercourse

Site Structures

Vegetation

Assessment Boundary

Building

CHL Study Area

Heritage District

Heritage Trail

Parkland

Park Trail

Road

Cemetery

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2. Key Recommendations Priority = Medium

Rationale for priority level:

• Potential for development of surrounding landscape; and • All existing built and natural cultural heritage resources may not have been identified or included in current listing.

Recommendations for future action:

• Prepare a full evaluation report to determine the cultural heritage value or interest and heritage attributes of the property;

• Consider designating the property under Part IV of the OHA primarily because of its farmhouse; and • Consider other means to address and protect the treed nature of the site.

3. Documentation and Inventory of Built Form List of Built Features:

• Two-and-a-half-storey house with a hip roof, front gable and stucco exterior. Its design suggests that it is an Edwardian house influenced by the Queen Anne Revival style, likely built c.1900.

• A small, one-storey, wooden barn with a gable roof; • A small, concrete-block driveshed/garage; and • A U-shaped, gravelled drive leading to the barn, driveshed/garage and house.

4. Documentation and Inventory of Natural Form List of Natural Features:

• Closely-spaced, mature Siberian Elm along the property line - likely originally intended to be hedge; • Willows in the southwest corner behind the barn; • Mature Silver Maples near the house; • Mature Spruce row on the north side of the house; • Mature Austrian Pines between the driveshed and the house; • Modified topography between the garage and the driveshed – the remains of a former pool, removed by the current

owner; • Tiger Lily, Periwinkle, Fern, Lily of the Valley that look like older plantings; • New plantings along the driveshed (Hosta, Phlox, Hydrangea, Purple Sandcherry); • A new clump of Birch at the front of the house; and • A mature, dead Ash beside the driveshed.

Inventory Report: 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard

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5. Design (Typology) ‘X’ all that

apply Categories of Cultural Heritage Landscape

Description

Designed Landscape “…clearly defined landscape designed and created intentionally by man.”

X Organically Evolved Landscape

“…results from an initial social, economic, administrative, and/or religious imperative and has developed in its present form in response to its natural environment”

Relict Landscape (Evolved Landscape)

“…in which an evolutionary process came to an end at some time in the past.”

X Continuing Landscape (Evolved Landscape)

“…retains an active social role in contemporary society closely associated with the traditional way of life, and which the evolutionary process is still in progress.”

Associative Cultural Landscape

“…justifiable by virtue of the powerful religious, artistic, or cultural associations of the natural element rather than material cultural evidence, which may be insignificant or even absent.”

6. Historical and Thematic Associations The 1877 map of the south half of Trafalgar Township in the Illustrated historical atlas of the county of Halton, Ont. shows George Lawrence as owner of a 100-acre parcel in the middle of Lot 1, Concession III. The map indicates that the property was owned by George Lawrence, whose home and orchard were located in the same location as the extant farmhouse. At the time, orchards were common in the vicinity, and Mr. Lawrence’s orchard was one of many along Winston Churchill Boulevard, south of the hamlet of Sheridan. Orchards were particularly prevalent along present-day Lakeshore Road, west of Winston Churchill.

No buildings were indicated on the property on Tremaine’s 1858 map of the township.

7. Contextual Associations Winston Churchill Boulevard is the boundary between the regions of Peel and Halton, and between the Town of Oakville and the City of Mississauga. It is a long, north-south roadway and was formerly called the “Town line”. The area is semi-industrial, with what appears to be sand and gravel pits, trucking companies and the railway nearby. The property at 678 Winston Churchill Boulevard with its Edwardian farmhouse and heavy tree cover is one of the few properties in the immediate vicinity to retain a rural flavour.

8. Evaluation (O. Reg 9/06)

O.Reg.9/06 Criteria Criteria

Potentially Met (Y/N)

Potential Justification

1. The property has design value or physical value because it,

i. is a rare, unique, representative or early example of a style, type,

Y The farmhouse is an interesting and well-preserved example of an Edwardian farmhouse, still in a natural setting; it

Inventory Report: 658 Winston Churchill Boulevard

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O.Reg.9/06 Criteria Criteria

Potentially Met (Y/N)

Potential Justification

expression, material, or construction method,

may be representative. The mature trees and open surroundings may contribute to this design value.

ii. displays a high degree of craftsmanship or artistic merit, or

N Not shown.

iii. demonstrates a high degree of technical or scientific achievement.

N Not shown.

2. The property has historical value or associative value because it,

i. has direct associations with a theme, event, belief, person, activity, organization or institution that is significant to a community,

N

The property may be associated with the history of farming and fruit growing in Oakville, but retains little evidence of this.

ii. yields, or has the potential to yield, information that contributes to an understanding of a community or culture, or

Y

Areas of the property which have not undergone recent and extensive disturbances have the potential for previously undiscovered archaeological resources.

iii. demonstrates or reflects the work or ideas of an architect, artist, builder, designer or theorist who is significant to a community.

N Builder/architect unknown

3. The property has contextual value because it,

i. is important in defining, maintaining or supporting the character of an area,

N The area has a semi-industrial character to which this property does not contribute.

ii. is physically, functionally, visually or historically linked to its surroundings, or

N Not shown.

iii. is a landmark. N This property is not a landmark.

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9. Photographic Documentation

Figure 3: 658 Winston Churchill Blvd, south elevation (CU, 2015)

Figure 4: Barn, 658 Winston Churchill Blvd. (CU, 2015)

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Figure 5: The driveshed/garage is made with textured concrete block and has a hipped roof. (CU, 2015)

Figure 6: Siberian Elm along front of property. (CU, 2015)

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10. Analysis & Recommendations Potential Heritage Value:

The property may have cultural heritage value or interest because of its Edwardian house and the rural setting of the house, with a mature tree canopy and lines of trees. It does not appear to have design value as an agricultural landscape, or historical value for associations with the agricultural history of Oakville.

Actions:

The property at 658 Winston Church Blvd. is currently included on the Town’s Register of Properties with Cultural Heritage Value or Interest (not designated) as a property with potential cultural heritage value as a historic farmstead. The resources at the site do not appear to support the characterization as a historic farmstead. However, the Town might consider conducting a full evaluation to determine the cultural heritage value or interest and heritage attributes of the property, with a focus on the Edwardian house and its treed setting. The Town may also want to consider whether there are other means to address and protect the treed character of the site, through the Official Plan, a secondary plan or zoning. The location of the property in a semi-industrial area suggests that there may be some urgency to determining the values of the site.

A ‘medium’ priority level is recommended for the following reasons:

• Potential for development of surrounding landscape; and • All existing built and natural cultural heritage resources may not have been identified or included in current listing.

11. Sources Tremaine, George, Map of the County of Halton, Canada West, Oakville: George C. Tremaine, 1858 accessed online October 2015 at http://images.oakville.halinet.on.ca/.

Pope, J.H., “Map of Trafalgar South,” in Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Halton, Ont.( Toronto: Walker & Miles, 1877).