The house at 602 Newport Ave. will soon be protected under a heritage covenant as Oak Bay council approved the owner’s application on Monday.
Pat Battles application to subdivide the 14,000 sq. ft. lot into two lots was approved. It also includes the heritage revitalization agreement to designate the 1930-built the Georgian Revival style home. The house, called Logie Lea, will remain protected on the 8,156-square-foot lot while a new 1,940-square-foot, 1.5-storey house will go on the 6,243-square-foot lot which fronts onto Linkleas Avenue. It’s in the new house that Battles plans to stay for the long term and “age in place.”
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With this in mind, architect John Keay designed the new house with raised ceilings that bring a bigger feel to a single storey home. He also designed the hallways with the turning radius of a wheelchair in mind.
“We were concerned about keeping the house modest in its scale,” Keay said. “[Battles] wanted it to appear as a modest cottage, it downplays the house, it is not a strong architectual statement.”
Some of the features of the new house are based on the form and character of the heritage house such as the proportions of the vertical windows and the stucco exterior.
Keay believes Battles will get some of the $40,000 heritage down payment back as it is likely more than what the requirements will be for seismic upgrading and other improvements to the existing house.
The application wasn’t without its opponents as several residents from the neighbourhood expressed their concerns about added traffic and widening on Linkleas Avenue.
