The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.
TIMMINS – Those worried about one of the finest and most accurate links to the city’s past needn’t worry. The last remaining original Hollinger house will survive the sale of the property it sits on.
More than 300 of the historic homes were built after 1913, when Noah Timmins founded the mythical Hollinger Mine. Most of the homes were located between Algonquin Boulevard and Vimy Avenue and were instantly memorable because of their bright alternating green and red tar-paper patterns.
The house overlooking downtown Timmins at the top of Shania Twain Drive is of the green variety. Mayor Tom Laughren said that while he doesn’t know where yet, the old Hollinger house behind the Shania Twain Centre and the Underground Gold Mine Tour will be moved to a new location.
Earlier this month, Timmins council declared its intention to sell the property, on which the attractions currently sit, to the Goldcorp mining company. Plans are in the works to demolish the Shania Twain Centre and absorb the mine tour site into a proposed open pit. But the mayor said that the Hollinger house means too much to the city to let go.
“I think when we were talking land and buildings, it’s more related to the Shania Twain Centre, as well as the buildings that are kind of attached to the Gold Mine Tour,” said Laughren about the property sale. “There were always plans to move (the Hollinger house) elsewhere as part of this deal.
“There’s a couple of facility buildings, and the Hollinger house is included, that are part of the discussions. That’ll be finalized when the agreement in finalized, which hopefully will be this coming Monday (Jan. 21).”
Timmins’ resident historian, Karen Bachmann, said she was delighted to hear the Hollinger house will live to see another day.
“I think the Hollinger houses are one of those iconic pieces that belong to the history of Timmins,” said Bachmann, who is curator at the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre. “I mean, when you see one, you know it’s part of our heritage.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Timmins Daily Press website: http://www.timminspress.com/2013/01/16/hollinger-house-to-be-saved