Article content
A historic Wortley Village building appears to have dodged a date with a wrecking ball.
Article content
An overnight fire on Nov. 28 caused $2-million damage to a 1880s-era building on Wortley Road, north of Bruce Street, that houses two businesses on the ground floor and three apartments upstairs. Nobody was injured.
Firefighters spent hours battling the stubborn blaze, using two aerial ladders to douse the flames and hot spots, leading to fears in the tight-knit Old South community that the building would have to be demolished like the nearby Black Walnut cafe after it was damaged in an arson in April 2023.
Article content
A building inspector from the city visited the site Tuesday and issued an unsafe order, chief building officer Alan Shaw said.
“The order requires the owner to have an engineer visit the site and provide recommendations for the repair and that the repair be under permit,” Shaw said in an emailed statement.
Restoration workers were on the scene Wednesday.
The Toronto-based owner of the Wortley Road building wasn’t available Wednesday to provide comment, his wife said.
A longtime tenant at the building is facing arson charges and has a bail hearing scheduled for Friday.
Douglas Michael Henderson, 75, who has lived in the upper-floor unit for more than decade, was arrested one day after the fire and charged with arson causing damage to property and arson with disregard for human life.
The owner of an art gallery located next door to the fire-damaged property described racing to the scene shortly before 1 a.m. to see firefighters working to keep the flames from his 138-year-old building.
A short time later, Henderson showed up, saying he’d been out for a walk, Westland Gallery owner Al Steward previously told The Free Press.
Article content
“He stood and watched the fire with us, watched it burn,” Stewart said of Henderson, a man he’d previously hired to do odd jobs around his property.
It remains unclear when the two businesses – Sha Choix, a women’s boutique, and A Village Tail, a pet supply store – will be able to reopen.
More details are expected at a Thursday night town hall meeting hosted by the Old South Community Organization to provide updates from emergency responders, information about how the community can support the affected businesses and answer questions from the public. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at at the Wortley YMCA, 165 Elmwood Ave. E.
Recommended from Editorial
Share this article in your social network
