Item - 2021.TE28.10

The Item was withdrawn from the agenda.

This report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the property at 1007 Craven Road under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act and give authority to enter into a Heritage Easement Agreement for the property with the owner. 

The property at 1007 Craven Road contains the internationally renowned and award-winning Craven Road House and Studio (1993-6 and 2004-6, respectively). Shim-Sutcliffe Architects Inc. designed the house and studio owned by Robert G. Hill, Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. The house received a Governor General's Award in 1997 and the studio was recognized with a Governor General's Medal in 2010. 

Robert G. Hill creator of the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 has received national and international recognition for his contribution to architectural scholarship and history and has received numerous awards.

Hill commissioned Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliff to realize the project. Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe are Members of the Order of Canada and RAIC Gold Medalists. The Toronto-based partnership, known as Shim-Sutcliffe Architects Inc. have received fifteen Governor General's Awards and Medals as well as other awards for their work as architects and educators, which has achieved global recognition through publications, exhibitions and a documentary film. Since completion, the house and studio and their landscaped setting have been extensively published in Canada and internationally and are widely acclaimed as proof that architectural excellence through meticulous design standards can be achieved on a tight budget and at a compact scale. 

In May of 2021, Robert G. Hill, the owner of the property, contacted the local ward councillor requesting that his property at 1007 Craven Road be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act and further protected through a Heritage Easement Agreement. Robert G. Hill, Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliff, have generously provided access to the project archival records and journals and have shared their insights and recollections of the property with Heritage Planning staff.

Following city staff's research and evaluation of the property under Ontario Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation, it has been determined that the property at 1007 Craven Road merits designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its design, associative and contextual values.