Thousands daily drive by the historic house that still has an unclear future.
It’s the former manager's house on what was the large Burns Ranch, at the northeast corner of Ladner Trunk Road and 72 Street, formerly Heath Road.
The house was part of the 6,000-acre Dominic Burns farm holdings, built in 1908 by James Leonard of Delta.
The Burns family ran a highly successful cattle business and an international chain of butcher stores.
Burns Bog is named after Dominic Burns, who purchased the “Great Delta Bog” in 1906 for $26,000.
Burns and his brother reportedly wanted to clear out the bog to raise cattle and sheep, but the cows were too heavy and got stuck in the bog, eventually forcing Burns to move his operation elsewhere.
Not on Delta’s Heritage Register, the old house is still there, but remains boarded up and hasn’t been in use for a number of years.
Two old barns at the site were demolished in 2011.
In 2015 the historic Kittson House further down Ladner Trunk Road, which was built in 1907, was demolished.
At the time, Delta's heritage commission looked at various ideas to save that house, which had fallen into extreme disrepair, but to no avail. It also wasn't on the heritage register.
A few years earlier, the historic Friesen Residence on the same stretch of Ladner Trunk Road also saw the wrecking ball.
