A 3,000-square-foot coach house that has stood at the corner of Isabella and Jarvis streets for 125 years is being given away for free.
There is just one catch.
You’ll have to swing by and pick it up before its date with the wrecking ball towards the end of the summer.
The home belongs to the HIV/AIDS treatment centre Casey House and is officially listed as a heritage property. However, in order to facilitate a $10 million expansion of the facility, city council has granted an exception that will allow the home to be demolished.
Before history is lost, though, Casey House and Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam are offering the home up to anyone who can remove it from its current site.
“We want to find someone with the resources and the wherewithal to relocate it and certainly they will need some advice, but we have seen entire bridges moved,” Wong-Tam told CP24.com Tuesday afternoon. “This can be done and what the new owner would have is a heritage structure of significant tangible and intangible value. This house would instantly transform the look and feel of any street, any field or any farm.”
The planned 50,000-square-foot glass and brick treatment facility was originally designed to allow for the inclusion of both the coach house and another heritage home at 571 Jarvis St., but the cost of saving the coach house was ultimately determined to be too high by developers.
Now, with all approvals granted and a likely demolition date sometime before Labour Day, Wong-Tam is hoping to find a taker for the house, which has provided office space for Casey House in recent years.
“This is our last ditch attempt,” she told CP24.com, shortly after issuing a plea to her followers on Twitter. “I know it is not going to be cheap but with this house has a lot of character. For someone with a real passion for property restoration this could be the project of a lifetime.”
Wong-Tam said she hopes to organize a walk-through of the home for any interested parties in the next few weeks. But buyers beware - this house doesn’t have a kitchen and the closing costs may be significant.
“If anyone wants to live in it they would probably have to put in a kitchen and modify the layout, but you can also find reclaimed wood and reclaimed beams,” Wong-Tam said. “There is a lot of affection for this beautiful old house.”
@chrisfoxnews is on Twitter. Remember for instant breaking news follow @cp24 on Twitter.
