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Mono permits relocation of heritage Anderson Farm cottage

May 7, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

The 19th-century Anderson Cottage in Mono will be taken apart and moved to another part of town.

The 150-year-old structure on Airport Road and Concession Road 6 EHS will be relocated to 874456 5th Line EHS in Mono. Those locations are about 1.5 kilometres apart.

Town of Mono staff received the required Heritage Permit Application from Big Hat Farm Corporation and Four Winds Capital Ltd. for the disassembly, relocation, and reconstruction of the Anderson stone cottage.

An agreement was reached between Big Hat and the owners of the Anderson Cottage. The application included a site plan and building permit-ready architectural and structural drawings for review by Dufferin County officials.

The demolition and building permit applications have been uploaded to the County Building Permit Services portal. Municipal staff are satisfied with the site plan, architectural and structural drawings, and that the intent of the Ontario Land Tribunal Minutes of Settlement is met.

The work has to be done by somebody qualified and approved by the town. The reassembly is to be conducted in a manner that honours and preserves the cottage’s original form, subject to municipal Planning Department approval. It also has to be approved by the county’s Building Department.

The property includes a stone main house, a cottage, a stone milk-house, and a barn complex. It had been occupied by five generations of Andersons starting in 1850.

The pioneer homestead is a surviving example of fieldstone construction. It’s said they comprise a rare historical complex of farm buildings typical of the industrious Irish pioneers who came to Mono in the mid-1800s.

Councillor Ralph Manktelow said the heritage designation indicates that the structure should remain as is, except for changes approved by council. He asked if there were any anticipated changes to the cottage’s exterior envelope.

Tamara Rebanks is one of the owners of the property to which the cottage will be moved. She referred the question to Toronto architect Brian O’Brian, who said the intention is to follow the tenets of provincial heritage legislation as closely as possible.

“We are keeping the building as it exists right now,” O’Brian said. “We are effectively trying to rebuild the building that you see on the property.”

Any new pieces, such as the roof, which is currently nonexistent, will be added in such a way that they would be discernible as new.

“We are not trying to mimic history,” he said.

Rather, he said, they will try to “speak to” the 1850s timeframe.

The cottage has a deep crawlspace where it is currently located. Coun. Elaine Capes asked why it is necessary to add a basement when the cottage is relocated.

O’Brian said there is no determined bottom edge to the building. Its south side includes a “door to nowhere,” and how it would have served is impossible to know. And there is a large opening through the cottage’s crawlspace that has no bottom threshold.

“We are taking some liberty diffing out underneath and trying to retain the character of the building as it is,” O’Brian said.

And then: “If the building had a life, it realizes that it’s being adopted,” he said. “It’s not being allowed to just languish and die.”

Mayor John Creelman said heritage designation applies to the exterior of the cottage and not anything of its interior.

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