An empty Cambridge heritage building was ravaged by a fire for the second time in a little more than two years.
Cambridge Fire Department and Waterloo Regional Police were called to 44-46 Parkhill Rd. E. early Sunday morning, at about 1:45 a.m., after receiving reports of heavy smoke coming from the building.
When fire crews arrived, the building was “fully involved” in fire, said Eric Yates, chief fire prevention officer.
Firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control and no injuries were reported, Yates said.
Once the fire was out, gaping holes could be seen in the roof, and most of the boarded-up doorways and windows ripped away.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Yates said, and a damage estimate has not been determined.
Power had been previously disconnected to the building and there were no reports of anyone entering or leaving.
The last fire at the building came in March 2024, the same day Cambridge city council was to decide whether to uphold the city’s municipal heritage advisory committee decision on their intention to designate the property in December 2023.
That fire caused an estimated damage of $20,000.
The building has had quite the storied history, with the heritage committee not realizing the building itself was in any danger until a Cambridge Times story noted the city received a site plan application for the property.
Developers proposed a three-storey, mixed-use residential building with 10 units and about 273.3 square metres of commercial/retail on the ground floor. The existing building would be demolished, but a demolition order had not been issued.
With the city requiring the issue of a demolition permit 10 days after paperwork is completed, the heritage committee held an emergency meeting on Nov. 27, 2023, and voted unanimously to send the intention to designate to council.
The property could not be demolished in the interim.
During the meeting, heritage members said they knew little about the site as a heritage impact assessment was not done, despite a request for one almost a year prior by heritage planning staff.
At the heritage meeting, Jeremy Parsons, the city’s senior heritage planner, said staff didn’t recommend a designation for the property despite it meeting four of the nine criteria for designation.
The building, he said at the time, contains little that dates back to the early period, “except maybe the interior window frames and that sort of thing.”
The property was part of land owned by Robert Dickson, son of Galt founder William Dickson, and goes back to 1850.
The land was sold in 1869 to George Dando, a bricklayer who built the first home on the property between 1867 and 1875.
Dando was known as one of the town builders who erected a number of blocks in different parts of Galt, the report said. The most prominent building he worked on was 17-35 Ainslie St. N.
Committee member Michelle Goodridge said while the building wasn’t a stunning piece of architecture, it was a worker’s cottage and labourers were “the founding blood of that part of our city.”
Council placed a Part IV heritage designation on the property, despite the objections of the developer.
After council’s decision, the property owners filed three appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal in April 2024 over council’s refusal to demolish the existing building on the property, permit the site plan on the development, and to remove the heritage designation from the land.
Another appeal was filed three months later involving developers asking for a reduction in the number of required parking spaces, but the city’s committee of adjustment decided to defer an application for those variances for up to two years.
All four appeals were dropped Oct. 4, 2025, without explanation, a week before a tribunal hearing.
During the appeal process, the dormant property started to see garbage piled at the back of the building and on the front porch. The front porch was enclosed to stop access.