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Province could finally be putting century-old Delta home up for sale

You’ve driven by it, and perhaps wondered about its future, if you’ve taken 52 nd Street from Ladner to the Tsawwassen First Nation malls.
rawlins
The historic Rawlins Residence has been boarded up for a few years, slowly falling apart and possibly facing the wrecking ball unless someone steps up to save it.

You’ve driven by it, and perhaps wondered about its future, if you’ve taken 52nd Street from Ladner to the Tsawwassen First Nation malls.

Situated within Delta’s jurisdiction and surrounded by farmland, the historic Rawlins Residence has been boarded up for a few years, slowly falling apart and possibly facing the wrecking ball unless someone steps up to save it.

Located in the Agricultural Land Reserve and owned by the provincial government, the home sits on a two-acre parcel at 2349-52nd St.

It was part of the Roberts Bank back-up lands -- thousands of acres expropriated by the provincial government in the 1960s for industrial development that never occurred - but wasn't sold back to local farmers or given to the TFN in the treaty settlement.

Until about four years ago the property had been leased by Bernice Hoar, who moved there in 1978 and started a popular egg business.

Hoar, who was never able to get a longer term lease from the province, passed away in September 2015 at the age of 83.

Hoar received an award in the early 1980s for restoration of the house, which was built in 1915, but now sits empty and decay has clearly begun.

Delta’s community planning department notes it hasn’t received any updates about the province’s intentions for the property.

In a statement, the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development told the Optimist, “Ministry staff continue to monitor and secure the Rawlins’ residence due to its significance as a heritage property. Staff are currently reviewing the property for a potential sale in the future.”

Delta Coun. Jeannie Kanakos, who chairs the city’s heritage advisory commission, said she will be bringing the property up for discussion at an upcoming commission meeting.

On Delta’s Municipal Heritage Register, it was originally part of Thomas McNeely’s Imperial Farm.

The site was originally part of a much larger parcel when it was Imperial Farm.

After McNeely's death, sections were sold off at auction and Mark Rawlins purchased the property in 1903.

An article in a November 1902 edition of the Delta News noted: “It is rarely that such an extensive and valuable property is offered for sale on such favorable terms. This farm which is one of the best and most profitable properties in Delta was taken up many years ago by the late Wm. Booth, and was selected by him when he could have had his choice of nearly the whole Delta. It was purchased about ten years ago by the late Thomas McNeely, and since then large sums of money have been spent on improvements bringing it up to its present high state of cultivation… Being sub-divided into a number of smaller farms and being offered on such favorable terms, it presents a splendid opportunity for a man with small capital to secure a first class farm in the most fertile part of the province.”

Rawlins lived in a three-bedroom home on the property for a few years.

The First World War brought him prosperity due to wartime food production, allowing him to commission the grand new house in 1915.

Rawlins moved to Westham Island in 1926, at which time his son, Neil Rawlins, took over operation of the farm.