MEMORANDUM

TO: Chair and Members of the Development Services Committee

FROM: Jim Baird, Commissioner of Development Services

PREPARED

BY: Peter Wokral, Heritage Planner

DATE: November 16, 2010

SUBJECT: Site Plan Control Application (SC 10 111677)

20 Peter St., Markham Village - Exterior Cladding

The owners of 20 Peter St. have requested that the issue of retention of historic exterior cladding be referred to the Development Services Committee/Council for decision. The owners do not wish to implement the recommendation of Heritage Markham (November 10^th meeting) and Heritage Section staff.

Heritage Status of Property

• A picturesque gothic revival house with Queen Anne design influences constructed in 1895.
• Individually designated in 1980 prior to the establishment of the Markham Village Heritage Conservation District.

Current Development Application

• In 2010, the owners entered into a site plan agreement with the Town to construct a major addition, and to retain and restore significant architectural features of the heritage house such as the veranda, historic windows and original siding.
• After removing the later claddings of the house which included both aluminium and insul-brick siding, early wooden vertical tongue and groove siding nailed to the wooden sheathing of the house was found with slightly differing profiles.
• The most prominent street facing façades of the house were clad in tongue and groove siding with a beaded profile while the southern façade and a portion of the western façade were clad in a tongue and grove siding with a simpler V-groove profile.
• The same siding is shown in an archival photograph taken c. 1905.

Issues of Concern

• The owners are unhappy with the discovery of two different claddings.
• They also do not like the look of the 45 degree angle butt joints found within the siding having the beaded profile. In addition, the owner’s contractor was of the opinion that the 45 degree butt joints were not the work of a professional contractor, and could potentially permit water infiltration behind the siding.
• The contractor also felt that the beaded profile was not original because he was informed by others that it was meant only for use on the soffits of roofs.

Inspections

• The siding was inspected by both Heritage Section Staff and the Architectural Review Sub-Committee of Heritage Markham in order to determine if the siding with the beaded profile was original or not.
• After carefully inspecting the siding, it was the unanimous opinion of Heritage Section Staff and the members of Heritage Markham Committee, that the siding with the beaded profile was original to the date of construction, based on physical and photographic evidence. The members of the Committee recommended that both profiles of wooden tongue and groove siding on the house be retained and restored as per the Site Plan Agreement signed by the owner.
• The owner then hired a Registered Home Inspector (Charters Kenny) to provide his opinion as to whether the siding with the beaded profile was original or not. It was the opinion of Mr. Kenny that the siding with the simple V-groove profile was original while the siding with the beaded profile was not original and installed at a later date.

Heritage Markham Recommendation

• On November 10, 2010 the owner of 20 Peter Street and his consultant Mr. Kenny made deputations to the Heritage Markham Committee re-stating their opinions that the siding with the beaded profile was not original.
• The owner also disclosed that after removing certain sections of the drywall from the interior that they found areas of mould, but this could not be verified through pictures, or by the members of Heritage Staff or the Heritage Markham through a site visit.
• Heritage Markham recommended that based on the evidence available, both sidings appeared to be original and should be restored.

Staff Comments on the Exterior Siding

• The tongue and groove siding with the beaded profile revealed under the verandah has the exact pattern present in an archival photograph that dates from the late 19^th or early 20^th century.
• The tongue and groove siding with the beaded profile is attached to the exterior cladding of the house with square cut nails of the type commonly used in the late 19^th century.
• There are a number of houses in both Unionville and Markham Village having tongue and grove vertical siding with a beaded profile that illustrate that this material was historically not only used for soffits. Mr. Kenny in his report indicates that he has never seen a house with this type of siding.
• There are the scars of the original veranda half posts, window sill profiles and cornice trim profiles found on top of the tongue and groove siding with beaded profile which indicates the siding is of the same age as the other original features of the house;
• Removal of small sections of the siding with the tongue and groove beaded profile reveal no additional nail holes in the underlying wooden sheathing boards that would be present if there had been a cladding applied and removed prior to the installation of the existing cladding.
• The issue of differing paint colours between areas of the siding with the V-groove and areas of siding with the beaded groove was raised. The consultant’s report states, that no conclusion as to the original siding can be determined by colour, based on the fact that the paint colours found on both sidings were common colours of the late 19^th century.
• The consultant’s opinion that the siding with the beaded profile might have been installed due to a previous house fire is conjecture, as the consultant himself admitted that he had found no physical evidence of a fire.
• Vertical tongue and groove with a beaded profile is a significant vernacular (regional) design feature only found on the late 19^th century buildings of Markham, Vaughan, and north Scarborough, and the siding found on the Benjamin Sullivan House is a surviving example of a rare profile.
• The potential for future mould can be prevented by caulking the seams of the historical siding, as is done on several other local examples having this type of siding, and installing an interior vapour barrier when the original portions of the house are re-dry walled as part of the planned renovation.
• Permitting the tongue and groove siding with the beaded profile to be removed at 20 Peter Street could set a dangerous precedent for removal and replacement of all types of original historic wood sidings, as there are several architecturally and historically significant buildings in Markham clad in this type of material, and there are no proven health problems related to the use of this type of cladding.

Heritage Section Staff recommends that the both sidings on the house be retained and restored .

Should Council decide to allow the removal of the historic cladding from 20 Peter Street for aesthetic or environmental reasons, it is recommended that the replacement siding be tongue and grove pine with a beaded-edge joint, to differentiate the heritage building from the recent additions.

Q:\Development\Heritage\PROPERTY\PETER\20\Revised Memo to DSC November16 2010.doc