Aintree Manor added to heritage list

Aintree Manor added to heritage list
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published June 25, 2003


The historic Aintree manor, which was nearly destroyed in a fire in late April, was one of 10 properties recently added to the City of Burnaby's community heritage registry.

The home, which is on GVRD property in Burnaby Lake regional park, joins the Mortimer-Lamb house on Glencarin Drive, the Glen- Lyon manor at the former New Haven correctional institution and the St. John the Divine Anglican Church as the newest non-city-owned properties on the list.

City-owned properties that were added to the list include the England House at 7276 Griffiths Ave., plus five homes around Deer Lake Park - including the Eagles estate, which will become home to the Land Conservancy of B.C. in a formal ceremony on Canada Day.

Inclusion on the list means that city hall recognizes the properties as important, but it does not give any special protection to the buildings.

However, city council does give notice that it intends to offer special protection to both the Walker House, at 5255 Sperling Ave., and Eagles estate, at 5655 Sperling Ave., later this year.

Coun. Celeste Redman, chair of the community heritage community, said the list was updated so the properties can now be including on a new national online registry of heritage sites.

"There is a new initiative from the federal government to list online in a recognized way all the buildings and structures that have heritage value," Redman said recently. "This does not give heritage preservation, because that still needs another process, but it does list everything that is declared heritage."

Meanwhile, Ilone Winters, one of the organizers of a campaign to rebuild the Aintree manor and have it turned into the headquarters for the regional park, said he is now trying to convince GVRD directors about the importance of the home.

"I think it's still up in the air what they are going to do with this," said Winters, who once lived in the home, which was built in 1927 by John Picken, the original dam keeper on the Brunette River and the operator of the Aintree Kennels, the first in the province to breed Irish setters.

Winters said he currently organizing a campaign to have supporters of heritage preservation write to the GVRD board of directors urging the restoration and protection of the building.