1. Description of Property - business/17-Ray...Inventory Report: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park 17-1 17: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park 1. Description of Property Municipal

Inventory Report: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park

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17: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park

1. Description of Property Municipal Address 148 Morrison Road Name (if applicable) Ray Lawson Park Legal Description PT LT 9, CON 3 TRAFALGAR, SOUTH OF DUNDAS STREET , AS IN 202446, EXCEPT 210537 ;

OAKVILLE AMENDED MAY 5, 98 J. MENAR Location of Property Located on the east side of Morrison Road, north of Lakeshore Road East. Ownership Public- Town of Oakville Access Access granted by the Town. Site inspection completed on August 13th, 2015. (AB, CU, ES).

NOTE: The property was under construction at the time of the site inspection. The driveway, parking lot and the southern half of the property, and the barn interiors, were not accessible.

Current Use Public Park Existing Designation Listed on the Register of Properties of Cultural Heritage Value of Interest (NOT Designated).

Description: “Ray Lawson Park- This property has potential cultural heritage value for Morrison's Barn built c. 1912 and the cultural heritage landscape associated with the historic farmstead.”

General Description Ray Lawson Park is a two-hectare (five-acre) public park created in 1969 on land donated by Ray Lawson, former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. At the centre of the park is a large bank barn built between 1916 and 1921 as a stable. Other features of the park include children’s play equipment, metal fencing, tennis courts, commemorative plaques, and a series of trees dating as far back as 1969. The park land was formerly part of Ballymena Estate, a private estate built by Lieutenant Colonel William Fletcher Eaton 1916-21 and occupied by Lawson and his family beginning in 1947.

Priority Level Low

Figure 1: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park (CU, 2015)

HistoricBarn

MemorialOak

EntranceGardenFeature

TennisCourts

Playground

Morrison Rd.

Dianne Ave.

Parking Lot

MemorialOak

LargeSpruce

HistoricBarn

MemorialOak

EntranceGardenFeature

TennisCourts

Playground

Morrison Rd.

Dianne Ave.

Parking Lot

MemorialOak

LargeSpruce

LEGEND

Ray Lawson ParkCultural Heritage LandscapeInventory Map

Drawing not to scale

Corporation of theTown of Oakville1225 Trafalgar RdOakville, ONL6H 0H3

Watercourse

Site Structures

Vegetation

Assessment Boundary

Building

CHL Study Area

Heritage District

Heritage Trail

Parkland

Park Trail

Road


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2. Key Recommendations Priority = Low

Rationale for priority level:

• No known vulnerabilities; and • Current listed status on Heritage Register provides sufficient protection.

Recommendations for future action:

• Proceed as soon as possible with a full evaluation of the barn/stable, but not as part of the cultural heritage landscape strategy implementation;

• Continue to keep this property Listed on the Register of Properties of Cultural Heritage Value of Interest (NOT Designated);

• Consider providing commemorative plaquing and interpretation of the history of the site.

3. Documentation and Inventory of Built Form List of Built Features:

• A large, two-storey bank barn, with a gambrel roof, concrete foundation and corrugated metal exterior. The foundation is exposed and whitewashed on the north and south elevations,;

• A one-and–a-half-storey building made of fine rubble stone stucco, with a concrete foundation and a brick chimney on the east elevation;

• Children’s play equipment; • Metal baseball fencing in north west corner; • Wooden “Town of Oakville” Sign; • Two Canada Post mail boxes; • Tennis Courts at the southwest corner; and • Two small plaques honouring Oak trees planted at the ceremonial Park Opening in 1969.

4. Documentation and Inventory of Natural Form List of Natural Features:

• Sandy soil; • A designed space at the south end of the park, created in 1969. It includes: an old exposed aggregate and flagstone

pathway; newer poured sidewalks; manicured beds of Euonymus Boxwood, Nest Spruce and Ironwood; and round, painted, steel planters. Most of the trees south of the main driveway seem to date to the 1969 creation of the park, and include White Oak, Dawn Redwood, Scotch Pine, Silver Maple, London Plane Tree and White Fir;

• A White Oak planted by "the honourable Ray Lawson in memory of James Steed Sr.", with a plaque stating this; • A Red Oak planted by "the honourable Ray Lawson in memory of Richard Dando", with a plaque stating this. This oak

is set in a newer planting of Burning Bush, Eupatorium, Astilbe, Stephanandra and Ninebark; • Two, mature Burning Bush located directly south of the plaque trees; • Layered planting along the east side of the tennis courts, including some newer plantings of Beautybush,

Stephanandra, False Spiraea, Crabapple, Birch, Burning Bush, Juniper and Serviceberry; and

• An open field, north of the barn, with a baseball fence in the corner. Plantings north of the barn include: Spruce, Crabapple, Ash, shrubs, Austrian Pine and Cedar.


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5. Design (Typology) ‘X’ all that

apply Categories of Cultural Heritage Landscape

Description

X Designed Landscape “…clearly defined landscape designed and created intentionally by man.”

Organically Evolved Landscape

“…results from an initial social, economic, administrative, and/or religious imperative and has developed in its present form in response to its natural environment”

Relict Landscape (Evolved Landscape)

“…in which an evolutionary process came to an end at some time in the past.”

Continuing Landscape (Evolved Landscape)

“…retains an active social role in contemporary society closely associated with the traditional way of life, and which the evolutionary process is still in progress.”

Associative Cultural Landscape

“…justifiable by virtue of the powerful religious, artistic, or cultural associations of the natural element rather than material cultural evidence, which may be insignificant or even absent.”

6. Historical and Thematic Associations Ray Lawson Park is a two-hectare (five-acre) public park created in 1969 on land donated to the Town by Ray Lawson, former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. At the centre of the park is a large barn, built as a stable between 1916 and 1921.

The park land was formerly part of Ballymena Estate, a large, private estate built by Lieutenant Colonel William Fletcher Eaton between 1916 and 1921 at 1198-1208 Lakeshore Road East.1 Eaton’s property included a stone mansion, manicured lawns, tennis courts, a lakefront patio, a gatehouse and the large stable. The only elements of the estate to survive are the cast-iron gates and stone pillars at 1198-1208 Lakeshore Road East and the former stable at Ray Lawson Park. Eaton was the son of retail entrepreneur Timothy Eaton. The estate was named after his father Timothy’s birthplace in Ireland. 2

Ray Lawson and his wife Helen purchased the Ballymena Estate in 1947. The area now occupied by the park was used by the Lawsons as stables, a market garden, and a cottage for the custodian. In 1969, Lawson severed off this portion of the estate and donated it to the Oakville Parks Board to create Ray Lawson Park. The Lawson family retained the large stone mansion “Ballymena” and surrounding land, continuing to live there after Ray Lawson’s death in 1980. In 1998 the house was demolished and replaced.3

Frank ‘Ray’ Lawson (1886-1980) was born in London, Ontario to Frank Edgar Lawson and Lorena Hodgins. Ray’s father was a successful businessman and Ray worked for his father as a salesman in his early career. In 1909 he married Helen Newton. With the death of his father in 1911 he moved back to London, Ontario to take over the family business. The business flourished into the 1930-1940’s. During the Second World War, Lawson worked as the president of Federal Aviation, a Crown corporation which manufactured aircraft. He served as senior executive or director of 20 Canadian companies and received honorary degrees from eight universities. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1946 to 1952, as Chancellor of University of King’s College in Halifax from 1948 to 1956 and as Canadian Consul-General in New York from

1 Ashe & Burnell, pg. 6-7; By-law 1998-58. 2 By-law 1998-58 3 Ashe & Burnell, pg. 6-7


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1953 to 1955. In 1956 he established the Lawson Foundation, a charitable organization that with a large endowment that continues to support community development.4

7. Contextual Associations 148 Morrison Road is a public park, located on the east side of Morrison Road, just north of Lakeshore Rd East. It is comprised of a rectangular parcel of land surrounded by a residential neighbourhood to the east, south, and west, and the Shaarei Beth-El Synagogue to the north (186 Morrison Rd.). Road paving and parking lot expansion is currently underway. A tree in the centre has been preserved and is protected by a curbed island.

8. Evaluation (O. Reg 9/06)

O.Reg.9/06 Criteria Criteria

Potentially Met (Y/N)

Potential Justification

1. The property has design value or physical value because it,

i. is a rare, unique, representative or early example of a style, type, expression, material, or construction method,

Y The barn/stable may be a rare example of a barn building within the urban core of the Town.

ii. displays a high degree of craftsmanship or artistic merit, or

N Not shown.

iii. demonstrates a high degree of technical or scientific achievement.

N Not shown.

2. The property has historical value or associative value because it,

i. has direct associations with a theme, event, belief, person, activity, organization or institution that is significant to a community,

Y

The barn/stable may be directly associated with Colonel William Fletcher Eaton. The park may be associated with former Lt. Gov. Frank (Ray) Lawson.

ii. yields, or has the potential to yield, information that contributes to an understanding of a community or culture, or

N Not known.

iii. demonstrates or reflects the work or ideas of an architect, artist, builder, designer or theorist who is significant to a community.

N Not shown.

3. The property has contextual value because it,

i. is important in defining, maintaining or supporting the character of an area,

N Not shown.

4 The Lawson Foundation. History of the Organization © 2011. Accessed online, October 2015, from http://lawson.ca/organization.


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O.Reg.9/06 Criteria Criteria

Potentially Met (Y/N)

Potential Justification

ii. is physically, functionally, visually or historically linked to its surroundings, or

N Not shown.

iii. is a landmark. N Not shown.

9. Photographic Documentation

Figure 3: View of bank barn and playground, facing south (AB, 2015).


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Figure 4: Open field on the north end, with baseball gate in corner (CU, 2015).

Figure 5: Foot path entrance from western side (CU, 2015).


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Figure 6: View of bank barn from western elevation (left) and eastern elevation (right). (CU, 2015)

Figure 7: Manicured plantings and pathway (left) and plaque from ceremonial opening (right) located on the south portion of the park (CU, 2015)


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10. Analysis & Recommendations Potential Heritage Value:

The barn/stable may have heritage value under Ontario Regulation 9/06 as a rare or representative example of a barn building within the urban core of the Town. Although it may be associated with Col. Eaton, he does not appear to be a significant figure to the community. However, while the property may have heritage value because of the barn/stable, it does not appear to be a strong candidate for designation as part of a cultural heritage landscape strategy. The barn/stable appears to be the only surviving feature of the pre-1970 landscape of Ballymena Estate within the park. The surrounding landscape is a result of the creation of the park in 1969 through the donation from Ray Lawson. Although Mr. Lawson was a significant figure locally and provincially, his additions to the landscape appear to be restricted to a small number of memorial trees and plaques.

The property might be a good candidate for a plaquing and interpretation program commemorating Mr. Lawson and/or the Ballymena Estate, as well as an ongoing maintenance program as part of its parks program.

Chris Mark, Director of Parks and Open Space, Town of Oakville, supports the conclusion that the barn/stable, but not the landscape, has potential heritage value. He notes that the barn/stable “is one of the few remaining within the Town”. He advises that Parks and Open Space and Facilities Construction Management departments are planning to undertake an engineering assessment of the barn/stable to determine what repairs are required. He notes:

A number of years ago, Parks and Open Space recommended removal of the barn from the landscape, and this was met with considerable negative feedback from the local community…there has been significant value attached to the barn/stable by the local community.

Mr. Marks advises that “The Town has indicated an interest in investing in the barn since it is an important feature of the landscape.” Even if the barn/stable does not have heritage value, Town staff believes that “the community value of the barn is significant”. Parks and Open Space fully support the suggestion for interpretive plaques giving the historical context of the site and land dedication from Mr. Ray Lawson.

Actions:

Proceed as soon as possible with a full evaluation of the barn/stable, but not as part of the cultural heritage landscape strategy implementation.

Consider the opportunity to provide commemorative plaquing and interpretation of the history of the site.

A ‘low priority level is recommended for the following reasons:

• No known vulnerabilities; and • Current listed status on Heritage Register provides sufficient protection.


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11. Sources Ashe, David and Burnell, Joyce. "Oakville Street Names and Landmarks," (London, ON: Burnell Creighton Publishing, 2007).

Shea, Edmund. New Southeast Oakville Park Opened. Daily Journal Record. Monday, June 30th, 1969, pg. 29.

The Lawson Foundation. History of the Organization © 2011. Accessed online, October 2015, from http://lawson.ca/organization.

Town of Oakville By-Law # 1999-058. Accessed online at http://www.buildingstories.co/getDocument.php?D=bheritagesup&F=1514782577_527d1f61608474.00980782

Town of Oakville Heritage Register: Section F. Last updated: October 24th, 2014. Found online at http://www.oakville.ca/assets/2011%20planning/hrtg-SectionF-2015.pdf

Documents

1. Description of Property - business/17-Ray...Inventory Report: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park 17-1 17: 148 Morrison Road, Ray Lawson Park 1. Description of Property Municipal