It鈥檚 the end of an era for The Gables.
The familiar white, green, and blue house won鈥檛 sit at the corner of Bering Road and the Old Okanagan Highway for much longer as it鈥檚 slated for demolition, but Stephen Graham wanted to invite the public in one last time before the home comes down.
Graham鈥檚 family bought the house at 2405 Bering Road, West 麻豆精选 in 1973.
鈥淏etween my father and the three of us boys, we did most of the construction on the house,鈥� Graham said. He grew up in the home, noting that he was about seven and his brothers were nine when his family bought the place.
A small farmhouse built more than 100 years ago initially sat on the property when the Graham鈥檚 purchased it. Now, the old floor boards and joists of the farmhouse still remain, but Graham said the rest is all from renovations.
鈥淲hen we bought it we expanded it out on all four sides, put a roof on top with a second story, jacked the whole thing up, dug out a basement, put concrete blocks in for a foundation, and put the whole thing back down. 鈥�
Eventually a workshop with living space above and an in-ground pool were added to the property.
The Gables is a bit of a mosaic of the Central Okanagan. 鈥淎 lot of materials for the house were actually reclaimed from other structures in the Central Okanagan that we dismantled and brought those materials here to incorporate into this house. Seeing that we didn鈥檛 have a lot of money, that happened a lot.鈥� Graham spoke specifically of the old casement windows which the heritage society is looking to reclaim.
Not only did the place house the Graham family of seven, the property also served as a safe place for hundreds of others to lay their heads after the Graham children grew up. In the 1990s, Graham鈥檚 mother ran a bed and breakfast named The Gables. Then, the house became a rental property with tenants calling the place home up until this past October.
A man who who lived in the house prior to the Graham鈥檚 stopped by to show off photographs of the house prior to the Graham family renovations.
The public was welcomed to tour The Gables on Dec. 16 and 17, with entry being a donation to the Central Okanagan Food Bank.
Graham said that after housing families for more than 100 years, the home has outlived its purpose and the foundation is starting to crack. Now, he and his family are hoping to repurpose the property into affordable townhomes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of an end of an era for this particular house, but my dad, who passed away in 2001, I think he would be pretty happy that one, it survived this long, and two, that so much of it is going to be re-utilized somewhere else. I think also he would be pleased with the idea that this location is going to be ultimately, hopefully the home to many other families.鈥�
The plans for the property are Legacy Townhomes, paying homage to the legacy of his father and his family鈥檚 home as a gathering place.
However, recent changes to the City of West 麻豆精选 zoning bylaws is posing a challenge in bringing Legacy Townhomes to fruition.
Graham said that the new zoning proposed for the area is urban-commercial space, meaning businesses on the bottom and residential on floors above, up to 15 storeys.
Graham said the family is asking to build for the community today and for a diverse housing need that isn鈥檛 being met. If the family can鈥檛 get approval from the city, Graham said they won鈥檛 be able to secure financing on the project and will have to sell the property.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a challenge we expected when we first started out, because we started out by approaching the city first and asking the planning department what they envisioned for this property and then followed their ideas and worked with them closely for the past six years to develop it into the project that it is. They were fully supportive, staff were fully supportive of the current development and most of us were blindsided when city council wasn鈥檛.鈥�
Graham will go before council again on Jan. 9. He鈥檚 asking members of the community to write letters to the city on behalf of his family in support of the Legacy Townhomes project and so that council can get true feedback on what the community wants.
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