Erin council is moving forward with the process to designate the Stanley Park gates as culturally and historically important.
On April 18, council voted unanimously to state its intent to designate the structure, located at the corner of Main Street and Overland Drive in the village of Erin, as having cultural heritage value under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The designation allows municipalities to have long-term protection for future generations, states a report from Wellington County planners Elizabeth Martelluzzi and Sarah Wilhelm.
“It also provides a process to ensure that changes to a heritage property are appropriately managed and that they respect the heritage value of the property,” the report adds.
The gates and archway “demonstrate a high degree of craftsmanship and are a representative of early 20th century design and construction methods,” states a heritage assessment from the University of Guelph.
After council agreed to the heritage designation, Martelluzzi said staff will provide notice of the decision and then prepare a designation bylaw if no objections are received after 30 days.
“To be clear this is not a designation for the Stanley Park lands, this is just for the arch and the gateway, which are owned by the town of Erin,” said councillor Jeff Duncan, who sits on the heritage committee.
“The reason for the designation is to [show] the public … the town (recognizes) … those things are of importance,” he said.
“The gates and arch basically represent all the things that have gone on in Stanley Park and its relationship with the town.”
The Stanley Park gates were constructed as an entrance to Stanley Park, which opened in the early 1900s. The park was a popular picnic and sporting event location for tourists from Toronto when the Credit Valley Railway opened, the heritage assessment notes.
The gates and archway were built after the First World War to greet visitors arriving by car. Harry Sanders and Charles Smith, two stone and concrete masons from the area, built the structure.
