Town council will have to shell out at least $61,000 if it wants to save one of its oldest homes from the wrecking ball.
Murray Knight of the Morinville Historical and Cultural Society spoke to council at committee of the whole last week about the cost of moving Heppler House.
Heppler House is the two-and-one-half storey wood-framed brick house at 10002-100 Ave. in Morinville across from the Sobeys.
Built sometime in the 1920s, the house was originally owned by a Blanche Desantel, who ran it as a boarding house until fire ravaged its attic, Knight said in an interview. Signs of the fire are still visible in the house today. Joseph Heppler, a notary public, bought the house soon after and added brick to it. The bricks are thought to have been produced in an area factory.
“For the last 95-plus years, it’s been sitting on that corner,” Knight said, and Merlin Rosser, heritage sites manager for the Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert believes it has some historic value (such as its method of construction and its century-old coal chute).
But it’s set to be demolished to make way for a new 15,000 square-foot commercial building unless it gets moved.
Knight told council that the historical society’s research suggests that moving the building to the 77-acre rec-centre lands east of town would cost at least $61,290 – $30,000 to move it and $31,290 to dig it a proper basement.
The bill would likely be bigger as there were many undetermined costs, council heard. Crews would have to remove, number, and reinstall the bricks as they would fall off during the move; possibly move some traffic lights and power lines so the house could fit under them; hire a structural engineer to properly assess and brace the building; and put in servicing. They might also have to test for and remove asbestos.
“We have to decide if you’re going to move it,” Knight told council.
Rick Dozois, owner of the property and proponent of the proposed Morinville Marketplace and Professional Centre, said in an interview that he thought moving the home was a great idea, and that he would likely donate it to the historical society if it happened.
“It was one of the first houses that was erected in Morinville,” he said, which gives it historic value.
If the house does have to come down, Dozois said he would have the society salvage whatever they wanted from its interior and would try to incorporate some of its bricks into the new building.
Morinville is growing and has a number of historic buildings that may have to be moved for development, Knight said in an interview. By moving these and Heppler House to the rec-centre lands, the town could make them part of a proposed 10,000 square-foot outdoor museum. Those lands are already home to a 1940s-era barn and a 1926 home owned by the town’s first engineer.
Mayor Lisa Holmes asked which buildings the town should preserve given its limited funds.
“Is this the one you want?”
Knight said he didn’t know, as there were a lot of historic buildings in Morinville in various states. He suggested an update to the town’s historic and cultural policy to figure out which ones to save.
Council may discuss moving Heppler House at a future meeting.
