- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

On one side of the “wrought iron” fence, city staff use two-stroke gas leaf blowers, hand pickers and The Glutton to clean up the sidewalk and gutter in front of the historic Seldon House.

On the other side of the fence, where the plastic coating is peeling off the white metal, the dumpster overflows and the garbage blows to where the city workers pick it up.

This seems like the perfect metaphor for the confusing relationship we have with the building itself.

The Seldon House, familiarly known as the Coach Inn, is listed on the city’s register of properties of cultural heritage value or interest. Its exterior facade, lobby and main staircase were designated under the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Owen Sound in 1984.

“Built in 1887 as a hotel with 44 rooms, three parlours, a bar, dining room and commercial sample rooms. From 1904 to 1937 it was operated by daughters of Mrs. R.J. Doyle - a founder of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and did not serve alcohol” according to the city's historical walking tour brochure. 

The Seldon House has had three owners in the past four years. It was last listed as an “investment property” and sold early last year.

A promotional video for BG Wealth, now the owner of the Seldon House, the McKay building and other downtown Owen Sound properties, encourages outside investors to take advantage of our relatively low property values and “acquire a piece of North American history”. A senior City of Owen Sound staffer appears in the video, promoting the City's “robust Community Improvement Program” that provides grants to building owners for their facades, landscaping and leasehold improvements.

The company's website features an image of Seldon House with an overlay of blue-prints and the text “The city has a deficiency of hotel space, especially in the area of high-end and boutique accommodations. There is also a shortage of accommodations for executives, consultants, teachers and doctors.”

Denis Langlois, at that time a reporter for the Sun Times, wrote a thorough investigative piece when the Seldon House sold in 2021. He interviewed Joan Chamney, program co-ordinator with YMCA Housing, which uses some main-floor rooms as emergency/transitional accommodations and also “ refers people who are struggling to find affordable housing to rent the upstairs rooms”. She said it would be a “huge loss” to their work, a part of Grey County's homelessness strategy, if that housing were not available.

Langlois also spoke to Jakob Harvey, director of acquisitions and business growth for BG Wealth, who said that “in the near future, we do not have plans to substantially increase the rents” in the 44 units.

In the longer term? That “will come down to what the city requires as it goes through its revitalization of the downtown.” Any decisions, he said, “will be made in consultation with city officials and the community.”

We are not clear on which city officials will be consulted, nor how the community will be engaged in that process.

In Owen Sound's recent Citizen Satisfaction Survey, almost 3 in 10 residents (29%) mentioned affordable housing, cost of living, and homelessness as the most important issue facing Owen Sound today – the #1 issiue by a considerable margin. Boutique hotels and accommodations for consultants were not mentioned.

The next highest ranking concern was drugs, crime and public safety. Fewer than half of respondents were satisfied with By-Law services in the City. By-law is enforced, by City policy, on a complaint-only basis.  Here is the link to report a concern.

The overflowing garbage and mismatched sheets in the windows of the Seldon House are more than unsightly.  They indicate a lack of respect for the property and its residents.  Your tax dollars are picking up where the property owner's contractors quit, and paying for some of the poorest people in our community to live without even the privacy of a blind.

The flag currently flying upside down over the Seldon House is likely not an intentional political statement or signal of distress. It is however a powerful symbol of the building owner's lack of attention and care for the building, and the City's apparent unwillingness to hold investors or developers accountable for their impact on the community.