With every passing week, more and more homes are vacated, as the government expropriates home owner's land with plans to destroy these family homes and farms to make way for the new 407 highway extension.
After exploring The Beauty & The Beast, which opened this 407 series, Dallas and I continued on our mission of documenting these expropriated homes. Our next stop was the Beautiful Batty Baldwin House.
The rustic feel of the property and the red brick exterior and green shutters of the large farmhouse told a story to me. Inside this beautiful home on Baldwin Street in Whitby, Ontario, that story continued. It was a story about the Batty family. It was a story about family values and hard work. A story about lineage and pride in one's home. A story steeped in history. It was a story that doesn't seem fitting of such a recklessly bad ending.
On this day, with the former residents but a memory, the house is in magnificent condition, clean and tidy. The family showed this home the respect it deserved right up until the moment they left. It has been swept and vacuumed and scrubbed clean. There are no broken windows, or peeling paint. No childish tags or splotches of mould. There is no decay, but for some minor roof damage and a leak in the attic. This is a warm and remarkably clean house that appears ready for another loving family to move into and call home.
But no, the government has other plans. Apparently they see no issues with tearing down our history, and paving over it.
Only a few of the Batty family's personal possessions remain, most of them in the attic, or the surrounding outbuildings. One such item was a newspaper: a Whitby This Week dated Wednesday, February 15, 2012. The article on the front page couldn't be more fitting: it is about a local dentist's fight to save one of these 407 heritage buildings from demolition.
With no futher adieu, come on in and look around, before its too late.
Home is where the love is
Home cooked meals
Home is where the heart is
Home is where you hang your hat
Shades of grey
Home is what you make it
Springfield Weather Forecaster
Read all about it
Bring on the boats
Ouija bored
Earn your stripes
Walk out of the light
The lights are on but no ones home
Attack of the attic
4TH
Borax
Roll deep
Flight cancellation
YYZ
The Concise English Dictionary
Cost of production
Minor damage
The sludge of time
Untitled. Because I said so, thats why.
Well oiled
Hit the bottle
Sulphuric Acid
Whitby This Week - Wednesday February 15, 2012
Unlocked
Globe file
Horn of the beast
Over a barrel
Spin the bottles
Dumb looks & blank stares
Now if you'll excuse me, it is time to pack up for yet another camping trip. We are off to Killarney Provincial Park for some fun in the sun, and some exploring around Sudbury.
Up next in the 407 series is the Magner-Robson Heritage House.
*** EDIT ***
Demolished in early May of 2013.
click here to check out all of jerm & ninja IX's ABANDONMENT ISSUES
No comments:
Post a Comment