Editor:
Like many Delta residents, I was unaware the large, derelict, yellow farm house on Ladner Trunk Road actually had a name, let alone a cause in its name. That Kittson House should be a topic of restoration brings to mind marine historical causes in the past, where 10 feet of keel and three broken ribs found in the mud of the last Sealing Barque to sail on the West Coast is the basis for the restoration of a 200-foot sailing vessel. This stuff is the vapour of dreamers.
If the outside is any reflection of the inside condition of this house, I doubt there is a single level floor, a wall square or a window frame that is not rotted around the single pane glass. Like the derelict it is, Kittson House should be demolished.
But before that day arrives, the place could be architecturally surveyed and photographed so that if there is a will, and financing, a replica could be built; possibly including some significant artifacts from the original such as a mantle, or door, or flooring, or kitchen sink.
This new Kittson House would rebuilt to current building codes on a solid foundation, and as an agricultural interpretive centre, would include the 21st century audio video aids that could attract, and keep, the interest of 21st century citizens.
This is more cost effective than a restoration that will need to strip the place to the bones and rebuild. Be it seismic upgrade, disability access, wiring, plumbing or making it green, any change required would cost less new than renovated.
The dream of rebuilding Kittson House is more akin to a resurrection than a renovation. Going back to the earlier marine reference, the restoration of Kittson House would be like the hole in the water boaters throw money into, but in this case the location is on land so it's called a money pit.
John Makowichuk
