THE
CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF BURLINGTON
BY-LAW
NUMBER 120-2008
A
By-law to designate 6103 Guelph Line, in the City of Burlington, in the
Regional Municipality of Halton, to be of cultural heritage value or interest
pursuant to the provisions of the Ontario
Heritage Act (R.S.O. 1990, chapter O.18, as amended).
WHEREAS Section 29 of the Ontario
Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter O. 18 (as amended) authorizes the
Council of a municipality to enact by-laws to designate real property, including
all the buildings and structures thereon, to be of cultural heritage value or
interest; and
WHEREAS
the municipal heritage committee (Heritage Burlington) supports the designation
of the property described herein (s. 29(2)); and
WHEREAS a Notice of Intention to Designate
has been published in the Burlington Post on October 24, 2008 and served, by
registered mail, in accordance with the Act (s. 29(3)); and
WHEREAS no Notice of Objection
has been served on the City Clerk of the City of Burlington;
NOW THEREFORE THE
COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF BURLINGTON HEREBY ENACTS AS FOLLOWS:
4.
THAT this by-law shall take effect on the date of its passing
ENACTED AND PASSED
THIS 1st of December, 2008
MAYOR:
_____________________________________
CITY CLERK:
_________________________________
SCHEDULE “A”
Statement of Cultural
Heritage Value or Interest:
Pickett Octagonal
House
The Pickett Octagonal House is
recommended for designation pursuant to Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act as
a property of cultural heritage value or interest, as described in the
following Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest.
Legal Description:
PIN 07214-0204 being Part Lot 6
Concession 4 NS designated as Parts 1 to 4, inclusive, Plan 20R16283, City of
Burlington, Regional Municipality of Halton
Description of Historic Place:
The property is located on the
east side of Guelph Line, north of Britannia Road and is within the Lowville
Settlement Area. The landscape is rural
and has sweeping views of Rattlesnake Point and Lowville Park. The property supports a one-storey,
stucco-clad rubble stone farmhouse built in the shape of an octagon in
accordance with the principles of O.S. Fowler’s “Home for All: or Gravel Wall
and Octagonal Mode of Building – A New, Cheap, Convenient and Superior Mode of
Building ” (published 1849). The house
was built for the Pickett family in 1860.
A 1970’s-era addition to the octagonal dwelling was removed in 2007/08
restoring the dwelling to its original footprint. Many significant design elements remain.
Statement of Cultural Heritage
Value or Interest:
The building is significant based
on its association with the Pickett family.
Built by John Pickett for his father Thomas E. Pickett in 1860, the
Village of Lowville was developed at the corner of the Pickett farm. Descendants operated the Village store
(extant), the post office and a cheese factory.
Sited atop the crest of the
Lowville Hill, the property is rural and is visually connected to the open
space of Lowville Park, Bronte Creek, and Rattlesnake Point. The original land holding included
present-day Lowville Park. In more
recent years, the associated farm uses (e.g. fields and barn) have been severed
from the original farm holding. The
barn, however, remains and has been converted to a residence. The octagonal house is among the few
remaining original houses of the Lowville Settlement area. The Thomas Pickett Octagonal house is the
only octagonal house in Burlington.
Design Value:
Built in 1860, the Thomas Pickett
octagonal house is among the very few remaining octagonal structures in Canada
and indeed in North America. The
popularity of the octagonal building style in North American (1830 – 1900) has
been attributed to an American, Orson Squire Fowler. Fowler is best known for his work in
phrenology – the study of analysing a person’s character traits by studying the
configuration of the skull. In 1849,
Fowler published “A Home For All” or “A New, Cheap,
Convenient and Superior Mode of Building”.
Fowler is attributed with being the first to record mathematic
calculations that illustrate that an octagonal house provides 1/5 more room
than a comparably sized square house.
Fowler claimed that the octagonal style of building embodied and
promoted the virtues of healthy lifestyles and economy of design. Fowler advocated function, access,
cleanliness, organization, and economy.
He advocated the importance of a “good building site” and a “beautiful
landscape” with “good and convenient water”.
The Thomas Pickett octagonal
house was most certainly built in accordance with Fowler’s principles. Firstly, the property is located on the
Niagara Escarpment and the house is sited at the crest of the Lowville Hill
with sweeping views of Rattlesnake Point and close proximity to Bronte Creek
(site, landscape, water). The house
itself is of rubble stone and gravel wall (poured concrete) construction
(strength and economy) and has been finished with white-painted stucco. The one-storey building is crowned with a
central cupola – a design element that enables both air and natural light to
permeate the building. The cupola has
been glassed in since at least 1900 and was perhaps always this way. The original central winding staircase to the
attic has been changed or perhaps replaced.
An original chimney has been removed.
One large pine tree, felled on the Pickett property and sawn at
Pickett’s Lowville Mill, is said to have provided the lumber for all of the
flooring and doors within the dwelling.
Architectural historians in the
U.S. have suggested that approximately 1000 octagonal dwellings were built in
accordance with Fowler’s principles around the world. It is estimated that several hundred remain
in North American: a handful of which remain in Canada.
Heritage Attributes Important to
the Preservation of the Thomas Pickett octagonal structure include: