The current owners of the property at 1521 Danforth Road in Hillier are looking to protect a piece of County history.
Councillors were asked on Thursday afternoon during Committee of the Whole to give their approval to the Christ Church Parsonage receiving heritage designation.
Christ Church Parsonage is located on the south side of Danforth Road, east of Closson Road and is part of the original 200-acre parcel known as Lot 16 which was granted by the Crown in 1828 to King’s College (later the University of Toronto).
In 2015, the Christ Church Parsonage building was moved by the owner from its original location at the northeast corner of Danforth and Closson Road to the current location as the building was at risk of demolition because it was in the way of farming operations.
The owners, Silvia and Christopher Braney, are seeking heritage designation to provide protection for the property.
The property fits the Provincial Policy Statement 2020 description of a cultural heritage landscape, meaning an area that “involves features such as structures, spaces, archaeological sites or natural elements that are valued together for their interrelationship, meaning or association.”
The Parsonage was built as the home for the priest of Hillier’s Christ Church in the period 1856 to 1863. The Parsonage’s original corner lot was a short distance from Christ Church and Cemetery, on the west side of Closson Road.
The Parsonage has design or physical value because it is a representative example of mid-19th century domestic architecture. Although later modifications of the front façade have disguised some of the original design intent, the Parsonage had unique and unusual features related to its social role within Anglican church life, some of which survive, specifically the high first floor ceiling, wide first floor hall and wide doorways into the principal first floor rooms, and the surviving structural framing for the unique windows that used to flank the front door.
The Parsonage has historical or associative value because it was built as the home for the priest of Christ Church and as a social gathering place for the church community’s activities. It has a direct association with Christ Church and Cemetery and yields information that contributes to an understanding of Hillier’s Anglican community.
With the passing of the proposed designating by-law, the County can protect the property from future unsympathetic changes, such as major alterations or demolition.
Committee of the Whole received the report.
