Ten Oshawa properties named heritage status

Oshawa City Council has directed staff to advance five properties for Ontario Heritage Act designation in 2020, according to a city media release.

Last year Oshawa designated five properties under the Ontario Heritage Act as properties of cultural heritage value or interest.

Four of the properties will be part of the city’s first Heritage Conservation District, the release said.

Ten properties is the highest number ever endorsed by Oshawa City Council for heritage designation in a calendar year.

The five properties designated by Council in 2019 were:

  • 300 Ritson Road South (Ritson Public School);
  • 46 Riverside Drive North;
  • 425 Simcoe Street North;
  • 100 Simcoe Street South (Oshawa Power headquarters); and,
  • 100 Whiting Avenue (Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority headquarters).

The five properties council has directed staff to advance designation for in 2020 are:

  1. 494 King Street East; and,
  2. Airmen’s Park and the following three buildings as part of a Heritage Conservation District for the Oshawa Executive Airport South Field at 1000 Stevenson Road North:
  3. No. 10 Building;
  4. Former Canteen Building; and,
  5. Former Stores Building.

On February 18, City Council directed staff to advance designation for two more properties:

  • Lakeview Park
  • Second Marsh

Slate plaques mounted on the exterior of the heritage buildings identify them as a City of Oshawa designated heritage property.

Ritson Public School, located at 300 Ritson Road South, was built in the 1920s in the Neo-gothic and Modern Classicism styles, and is named after John Ritson, Oshawa’s first school teacher.

Heritage designation is a process established in the Ontario Heritage Act to recognize and protect properties of cultural heritage value or interest. Heritage Oshawa, the City’s local heritage committee, typically nominates candidate properties for heritage designation. Heritage Oshawa maintains an Inventory of City of Oshawa Heritage Properties, which contains over 500 properties with potential for heritage designation.

The Heritage Oshawa Advisory Committee advises council on matters relating to the conservation, education and promotion of Oshawa’s cultural heritage resources.

425 Simcoe Street North, built in 1919, is a highly unusual example of a Georgian Revival with an asymmetrical front entrance with columned portico and preserved original pebbledash exterior.

“City Council’s commitment to supporting Oshawa’s rich heritage was very apparent in 2019,” said Councillor Jane Hurst, Council Representative, Heritage Oshawa. “2020 promises to be just as exciting with five properties already advanced for designation this year, four of which reside in the new Heritage Conservation District for the Oshawa Executive Airport South Field, which celebrates buildings dating back to the original airport complex built in World War II.”

“The City of Oshawa Heritage Oshawa Committee is thrilled that these historic properties have received designation and continue to work towards protecting Oshawa’s historical identity,” said Alicia Bertrand, Chair, Heritage Oshawa.

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One thought on “Ten Oshawa properties named heritage status

  1. Proud to have had the honor of living at 46 Riverside Drive my parents Stan and Marilyn Konrowski made majors renovations to the home including the hand built new cement swimming pool and fountain rock gardens

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