Ajax residents are demanding answers from the Town after the 1852 Hartrick House at 120 Roberson Drive was demolished in August to make way for 11 new single-family homes.
The house, built in 1852 as the homestead of a 200-acre farm, sat on a 1.7-acre parcel the Town had owned since the 1990s. Ajax declared the property surplus in 2024 and sold it last year, and a developer is now building 11 two-storey homes on the site, according to Daily Durham.
2017 review found heritage potential
At the centre of residents' concerns is a 2017 internal assessment by town staff and the heritage advisory committee, which found the house met the criteria for potential heritage designation. The Town's own heritage inventory lists the property as 'Hartrick Farm / Hartrick House,' built in 1852, with both design and physical value and historical and associative value marked 'Yes.'
A town spokesperson described the 2017 work as a 'routine, high-level review' and said no designation was ever recommended, noting the house was never formally designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Before the demolition, residents brought a petition to council urging a pause and a formal third-party cultural heritage evaluation report. They also privately funded a preliminary heritage evaluation, an exterior-only report that found the house met the Ontario Heritage Act's criteria for cultural heritage value or interest.
The residents' petition, submitted by the Save the Hartrick House Community Group and accompanied by four resident delegations, is listed as item 6.1 on the Town's September 21 council agenda.
Mayor defends town process
At a September council meeting, residents raised concerns about transparency in how the property was assessed and sold.
Mayor Shaun Collier insisted the Town was transparent, telling the meeting that the sale followed the same process used for every other surplus-land property.
"This has never been a heritage building." — Mayor Shaun Collier, at a September Ajax council meeting
Colller's position contrasts with the 2017 internal review and the residents' privately funded evaluation, both of which pointed to heritage value, though neither resulted in formal designation.
One resident at the meeting asked for a public apology over the handling of the property and suggested the site be used for a community garden or public gathering area. The land is now slated for the 11-home development, and the house that stood on it for more than 170 years is gone.
The petition remains on the council agenda, and residents who fought to save the house have said they want a fuller explanation of why the 2017 findings did not lead to designation before the property was declared surplus and sold.
