A letter writing project is under way to show support for the nomination of 28 Daisy Avenue — the oldest remaining building in Long Branch — as a heritage building.

Here’s a front-page article by Tamara Shephard in The Etobicoke Guardian highlighting the community effort to save this building. (Click on the link in the previous sentence to read the article.)

Here’s a PDF file of the article:

28 Daisy Avenue – Etobicoke Guardian – Sept 27 2012

How can you help?

You can help by sending the following letter to Mary MacDonald at Heritage Preservation Services, City of Toronto, with copies to the individuals indicated. Just add your name and address at the bottom and send it off.

Here’s the text — which you can, of course, modify as you wish:

Mary MacDonald
Heritage Preservation Services
Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, 17^th Floor, East Tower
Toronto ON
M5H 2N2

mmacdon7@toronto.ca

September 28, 2012

Dear Mary MacDonald:

I am writing in support of the nomination, by the Etobicoke Historical Society, of 28 Daisy Avenue for designation as a heritage property under the Ontario Heritage Act.

The property is the oldest remaining farmhouse in the lake front area of South Etobicoke. It is also the area’s remaining link to a pre-Confederation agricultural era; the only remaining example in Etobicoke of stucco-over-stone construction; and the oldest remaining building in Long Branch.

The house at 28 Daisy Avenue was built in the Gothic Revival cottage style popular during the late 1800s. A small central gable over the front door features a small window. The two gable ends of the main roof enclose matching chimneys. The walls are two feet thick. The original owners, Richard and Lucy Newborn, emigrated from Lincolnshire, England between 1835 and 1837. They built the house before the 1852 census, on a 100-acre farm purchased in 1847. Their first-born daughter accompanied them from England. Four more daughters, and then three sons, were born in Canada.

The eldest son, Richard Robinson Newborn, born in 1843, worked the farm with his father. The son married Susannah Copeland in 1869 and the younger and older families lived together at the house. Richard Sr. died in 1879 followed by his wife Lucy in 1886. Richard Jr. operated the farm until his death in 1900. His wife Susannah died in 1911, after which the south 41 acres were sold to Colonel Frederick Burton Robins of the Lake Shore Land Co. Ltd.

Robins, who developed the land as the Lakeshore Gardens subdivision, preserved the house as the centre of the latter subdivision. The house was sold in 1911 to a neighbour, who owned it until his death in 1922. The next owner held the house until 1949. The next owner, in turn, lived in the house until 1977. Since then, the house has had at least seven owners. The home’s heritage features have, for the most part, been retained.

As is the case with members of the Etobicoke Historical Society, and the Long Branch Historical Society, I strongly support the designation of this property under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Sincerely.

[YOUR NAME]

[ADDRESS]
Copies:

Ward 6 Councillor Mark Grimes:                           councillor_grimes@toronto.ca

Denise Harris, Etobicoke Historical Society:             denise.harris@sympatico.ca

Barry Kemp, Long Branch Historical Society:             paulpb_2003@yahoo.com