Oak Bay council has applied a 60-day temporary protection order to the house at 2072 Hampshire Rd.
Part of the home dates back to the 1880s, however, details of the original heritage elements are inconsistent, said Lucas Corwin, who remembers growing up in the house in the 1980s. Much of it was altered during extensive 1980s renovations.
Lucas is part of a five-sibling ownership group that inherited the property from their parents. They planned to move the old house off the 32,000 square foot lot and then sell the land, which is currently listed for sale at $3.2 million. The plan for the house is to move it to Metchosin where Lucas’ brother Todd Corwin would live in it.
“When our parents died it became clear that we couldn’t keep the property in the family. It’s too valuable and none of use are in a position to buy it off the others,” Lucas said.
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2072 Hampshire Road. (Oak Bay News Photo)However, they might not get the chance to move the house, or at least have to wait. Council voted unanimously to apply the 60-day order as the house, which is not designated as heritage, is listed in Oak Bay’s Community Heritage. It is said to represent early Oak Bay settlers and was a part of the Tod farm. The house’s heritage value will be reviewed by Oak Bay’s heritage commission.
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“From our view very little of the original house remains,” Lucas said. “The oldest part, the kitchen, was redone. The oil stove was taken out, a wall was removed. There’s a little bit of original wainscotting left, my parents attempted to keep some of the original look. But it’s not the house it was 100 years ago.”
Moving the house, therefore, keeps with Corwin’s parents wishes that it stays in the family.
“They would be overjoyed to know that,” Lucas said.
Lucas said the house won’t be moved until the summer but that this could delay the process regardless. Coun. Hazel Braithwaite said the 60-day temporary protection order is only policy and the actual process to have it reviewed by the heritage commission can be a lot quicker.
Prospective buyers for the land are in place and described as being interested in subdividing it into four lots though there is no subdivision or rezoning application at this time. The house itself is recessed from the junction where Hampshire Road turns into Musgrave Road, at the T-intersection of Cavendish Avenue.
In a similar case in 2020, Oak Bay council placed a 60-day protection order on the house at 785 Island Rd. (which has since been razed). That house was not designated heritage but was 110 years old. For that reason, Oak Bay staff have prepared the current report for consideration. Council did apply a 60-day protection to the Island Road house but in a split vote, did not force heritage registry on the property.
Moving the Hampshire house would require cutting down two trees that Lucas says are listed as at their end of life in an arborist report. Lucas said Nickel Bros. shared a plan on how to move the house down Cavendish, onto a barge, and over to Metchosin.
