An era is coming to an end as one of Thorold's oldest buildings is being torn down.
On Wednesday, crews had begun demolishing the old stone building on 405 St. Davids Rd, also known as the 'John Brown house,' to make way for a townhouse development by local businessman Anthony DiFruscia, who previously spoke to Thoroldnews.com about his plans to construct 15 bungalow block townhouse units.
The project has been in the works since 2018, but it was last summer that things began moving along on the property as a public notice went up on the lands.
A group of concerned neighbours have been speaking out against the plans to city council, fearing that the old building holds too much of a historic value to be demolished, as well as it being on a list of potential heritage properties. They received support in a report from the town's heritage committee, in which local historian Sarah King Head concluded that the 1800s-era property has enough historical ties to be considered heritage.
Late last year, city council sided with DiFruscia after it found that he had previously been asked, and declined, to designate the site, and that a retroactive designation would quash his far-along plans for the development. The property has also, according to several stakeholders, deteriorated and been modified to a point that a lot of its historical aspects have gone lost.
It is not clear how long the demolition will take. Simultaneously, some residents and regular users of St Davids Rd. might want to pick an alternate route this week too, as city crews are doing roadwork right after Parkdale Ave., causing traffic constraints in the area.
