The Marshall brothers had three homes built between 1884 and 1896 on a massive piece of farmland and quickly became some of the biggest agricultural producers in the area. This was the second home built in 1889.
All three were built in a Gothic Victorian style which was popular in this area at the time. By the 1930s the brothers had either passed away or retired and moved on. This house and a chunk of the land was purchased by a man who ran a dump truck company. He ran the company on the land until he retired in the 1980s, his son then took over the business. The family lived in the home until 2011, when a development company purchased not only this property. But all of the brothers properties and several other homes. With the plan of developing a huge industrial zone.
With all development applications approved by several levels of government, the plan started to move forward and the people moved out. Only for the government to then hit the developers with new requirements. Environmental assessments and more, that take years to complete. After four years the developer handed in the assessments to the city and had hoped to get started. Unfortunately for the developer the Provincial government then added the land to the green belt, a massive zone of protected lands that development is forbidden on. Leaving the homes to sit and decay with very frustrated developers stuck owning them.
Natural decay, vandals and squatters have had their was with the home in the nearly 15 years of abandonment. But there was a brief chance for the developers in 2022. The provincial government remove the land from the green belt zone and the developers quickly got to work! Equipment was brought in, new dirt roads created, and on one of the properties they cut down trees that had grown over a 1km long drive way. The city government did not like that those trees had been removed without their approval and slapped the developer with a 170,000 fine. Also putting an immediate work stoppage order on the plan. By the time this was settled with the city government and the stop work order was lifted, the provincial government reversed it's decision and added the land back into the greenbelt. Leaving the home to once again sit abandoned without a plan.
The basement is an interesting point in the home, it looks like people had been trying to remove a big kerosene tank through what was a staircase. Then the weed grow rooms.
When it comes to old Victorian homes being demolished and replaced, I will very very rarely feel bad for the developers. But this is one of those rare cases! The land is right by the airport and all the land around it has been developed with amazon warehouses and more. In fact there are plans for industrial development in several kilometers east and west of the area. Meanwhile these developers have been totally screwed by governments. Given the okay when purchased, making them pay for very costly assessments, blocking development, only to flip flop on that several times. All costing the company massive amounts of money with no ability to recoup the losses.
All the while leaving the historic houses to rot in the process, the government is not doing this to save that history or another good reason like that. I have a feeling it's simply greed, the developers did not grease the right palms or something of that nature. All around it's a mess that will see the end of these homes, one way or another.