We are the Save the Hartrick House Community Group, a group of Ajax residents working to protect Hartrick House and ensure its heritage significance is properly and independently evaluated.

Hartrick House is a pre-Confederation home dating to the mid-1800s. For decades, this Town-owned property served the community through public programs, summer camps, municipal elections, weddings and other gatherings. It is now at risk of demolition as part of a proposed residential development.

Despite the property’s age and potential heritage significance, the Town did not commission a formal, independent Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report before approving the redevelopment process.

Town staff have advised our group that an informal heritage assessment completed in 2017 but has not been made public. However, the 2017 assessment was not a formal, independent Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report.

We believe the community deserves a complete professional evaluation before any irreversible decision is made.

How the money will be used

The primary purpose of this fundraiser is to retain a qualified heritage professional to evaluate Hartrick House, including its cultural heritage value or interest under Ontario Regulation 9/06.

The completed report will provide credible, independent evidence that can be presented to the Town, elected officials, the media and the public.

Funds will be used in the following order of priority:

The professional heritage evaluation is our first and primary spending priority. Advocacy expenses will not take priority over obtaining the report.

We will maintain records of the money received and expenses paid. We will also provide donors with updates about the evaluation, the use of funds and any significant change in circumstances.

This is a non-partisan community initiative supporting the Save the Hartrick House Community Group. Funds will not be contributed to, transferred to or used by any municipal election candidate, campaign or registered third-party advertiser.

If circumstances prevent the evaluation from proceeding, or if funds remain after the objectives described above have been completed, the group will publicly explain the amount remaining and its proposed use before spending it.

Once Hartrick House is demolished, that part of Ajax’s history cannot be recovered. Please help us obtain a complete, independent professional evaluation before that possibility becomes a reality.

Every donation and every share will help protect Ajax’s history and ensure this decision receives the careful public scrutiny it deserves.

Thank you for standing with the Save the Hartrick House Community Group.