Historic Bellevue House damaged during tree removal

A historic home in Amherstburg, Ont., that is on the Heritage Canada Foundation's 2009 Top Ten Most Endangered Places List has suffered its first significant structural damage, CBC News has learned.

Pillars at the driveway of Bellevue House, as well as iron- and brickwork, were recently knocked down whena man using heavy equipment to remove trees accidentally bumped into them, according to Jackie Hubbs, the manager of development services for the Town of Amherstburg.

Though the damage happened "without any malice or intent," Hubbs said, it is one more sore for a house that the HCF on July 7 called a "scandalous case of demolition by neglect."

"It makes us feel very concerned for the future of this building," John McDonald, the chairman of the Amherstburg Heritage Committee and member of Friends of Bellevue, a watchdog group dedicated to preserving the 193-year-old home.

A significant past

Built between 1816 and 1819 by Robert Reynolds, a former commissary of the War of 1812, Bellevue is "one of the few remaining examples of Georgian architecture in Ontario," HCF wrote in its endangered places list.

It was also home to Reynolds' sister Catherine, a landscape painter whose works "provide an invaluable record of early19th-century life in Upper Canada," according to the HCF website, and a hospital and Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Bellevue House was declared a National Historic Site in 1959.

In 2001, a Windsor-based numbered Ontario corporation bought the ailing building with plans to convert it to a bed and breakfast and build condominiums on the land behind it.

Yet "the building has been without heat since then, leaving it, the outbuildings and the grounds in a growing state of deterioration" and those plans have fallen through, according to the HCF.

On Monday, the accountant representing Bellevue's owners told CBC News the 3.4-hectare property does have potential buyers.

'We can't celebrate 2012 if this building isn't with us.' John McDonald, Friends of Bellevue

"The value of the property is greatly diminished by the house, unfortunately," said Doug Sanborn, who added he was unaware of the recent damage.

Bellevue's defenders say the damage intensifies the need to "shift this property into more responsible hands," McDonald said.

The Town of Amherstburg has no legal authority to force Bellevue's owners to repair the house, Hubbs conceded.

"We do have the ability, however, when they take out a building permit, or any permit in the future, we do have the ability to authorize them to do the repairs to the structure," she said.

McDonald hopes something, anything, will be done soon to "make sure this building has a future," he said.

"We can't celebrate 2012 if this building isn't with us," he said. "Or if it's in worse shape than it's in now."