The City of Cambridge and the owners of the Forbes Estate are close to approving an agreement to conserve the Hespeler heritage home as a subdivision goes up around it.
The city's Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee gave its support to the plan last week and now council is expected to give its approval to a heritage conservation easement.
The easement outlines the owner's responsibilities to restore and maintain the 1912 home that was once owned by the Forbes family, operators of the largest mill in Hespeler. The home's most notable tenant was George Forbes, the first mayor of the Town of Hespeler.
In 2022, the city moved to designate the property under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, relocate a stone tower to Jacob's Landing park, permit the demolition of secondary buildings, and permit the development of the original lands.
The proposed heritage conservation easement goes further than the designation because it's a binding legal agreement between the property owner and municipality that protects heritage features and stipulates conditions for alterations.
Easements are registered on property titles and apply in perpetuity to any future owners.
Easements are stronger and more comprehensive than Part IV designations, ensuring that heritage properties are adequately maintained and insured.
Heritage planning staff told the committee last week that implementing an easement agreement for the Forbes Estate House will ensure it is appropriately maintained and conserved long-term. The property owner, Polocorp Inc., is in full support.
The easement protects the home's exterior heritage attributes as well as landscape features such as the winding driveway, front lawn vegetation, and the stone rubble wall which formed part of the estate boundary along Guelph Avenue.
The Ontario Land Tribunal approved a plan of subdivision for the former estate that divided the land into 16 blocks that would be registered in two phases.
The Forbes Estate house lot comprised Phase 1 of the subdivision and was formally registered as its own residential lot in March of 2024.
The balance of the former estate, known as Phase 2, is set to be registered at a later date.
All recommendations provided within the easement and the conservation plan are intended to improve the existing conditions of the dwelling and reduce the rate of deterioration for identified heritage attributes.
It prevents the owner from altering, demolishing, repairing, performing construction, remodelling, doing any restoration, relocation or any other thing that would materially affect the heritage features of the Forbes Estate House.
The agreement also ensures the owner keeps the home insured against all perils including fire, in an amount equal to no less than the replacement cost of the Forbes Estate House.
Any damage or destruction to the Forbes Estate House must also be communicated to the city within five days of such damage or destruction being discovered.
The Forbes House was designed by Taylor and Taylor, a Brantford based architecture firm that designed several important buildings in Brantford including the Market Building, Temple Building, Masonic Hall, and Brantford City Hall.
The firm also designed buildings in Ingersoll, Woodstock, London, along with the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Hespeler.
Among the protected heritage features of the Forbes Estate are the materials including buff brick and stone plinths, lintels, sills, ornamentation, and wood detailing; the front facade including the entrance with its stone lintel, wooden doors, and sidelights; and the Beaux-Arts details like the ornate ionic columns, wooden railings, porch, and balcony.
