A Queensborough home damaged during a recent fire has been found to be a poor candidate for rehabilitation.

New Westminster city council had approved a temporary protection order for the 1909 house at 240 Jardine St. that was recently damaged by fire. The order temporarily prevented anyone from altering the building's exterior, making any structural changes or moving it to another location, until its heritage value could be assessed.

A staff report to city council stated that it is the oldest house left in Queensborough. The Dowling residence, which is located at 240 Jardine St., was built by rancher George Dowling in 1909 and was later the home of the Camata family, who ran a dairy farm.

As part of a rezoning application for the site and the neighbouring property, the applicant was to retain, restore the exterior and rehabilitate the interior of the home and convert it into a duplex. The fire occurred before the city could send in an independent assessor to view the house.

Council granted the temporary protection order on May 14; an independent expert visited the site on May 18 to analyze the home's condition.

Mark Wittig, president of Basil Restoration Ltd., concluded that the house isn't a good candidate for a relocation and rehabilitation project. He determined that the house was built with poor-quality lumber that had rotted over time, the original wood windows are no longer intact and would need to be replaced, and elements remaining in the house that may have had heritage value were damaged beyond repair by the fire.

tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com