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Located along a country road near Lake Erie in southeastern Ontario, this uninhabited, partially crumbling 19th-century farmhouse cuts an elegant figure against the wide-open sky and surrounding fields of corn, soybeans and wheat.
Over the years, the crumbling house, near Palmyra, Ontario, has been a destination for photographers like Cathie Wright, who visits the property every month and takes hundreds of photos, capturing them covered in snow or cast in gray light. the sky is cloudy.
“It has a dystopian charm,” said Ms. Wright, a retired professional photographer and graphic artist from Ridgetown, Ontario. “I like to get the wide-angle effect of the cornfield back. It adds isolation.”
But now, the house — so beloved by photographers that the Canadian news media called it the “most photographed house” in Canada — may have to be demolished, though the ravages of weather and time have taken a toll.
In a decision issued last month, the property standards committee in the local municipality of Chatham-Kent, told the owner of the house, Peter Anderson, until October 20 to tear down unless he takes steps to preserve or protect or bring. in accordance with local property laws.
The news devastated Canadian photographers who took a look at the old grandeur of rural Ontario when the province’s farmers lived in homes with wood stoves, wells and no running water.
“I feel embarrassed,” said Michael Chase of Amherstburg, Ontario, owner of Windsor Aerial Drone Photography, who happened to drive by the house on his way home from work in February and took a dramatic video of the ramshackle exterior. .
“It should be designated as a historical site and preserved to allow it to deteriorate naturally,” he said. “It’s a tourist attraction.”
But Paul Lacina, chief building officer for Chatham-Kent, said the house, known as the Guyitt House, was “out of repair” and “unsafe”. One side had collapsed and the structure was “collapsing on its own,” he said.
There was evidence that a juvenile had been inside, drinking and lighting a small fire, he said.
“It can fall and, if someone is trespassing, it can fall,” Mr. Lacina said.
Mr. Anderson, whose grandparents, Roy and Ethel Guyitt, bought the property in 1908, said he felt unfairly targeted by the tear-down order, which came in response to an anonymous citizen’s complaint that was sent to local officials last year.
He said repairing the house would be difficult because it was dilapidated, and filing a court challenge would be costly. But he indicated that he was not ready to watch because a piece of his family’s history had been destroyed.
They thought they could put chickens inside and called it a chicken coop.
“All I want is to be left alone,” said Mr. Anderson, 71, a farmer who lives in Muirkirk, Ontario, and has posted a “no trespassing” sign outside his home.
“I can put up a fence,” he said. “But leave me alone.”
He said that while he appreciates the joy the property brings to photographers, he’s frustrated that more haven’t come forward to help him save it.
“I feel like a man on an island begging for someone to rescue him,” Mr Anderson said. “Cruise ships would pass by, and people would have cameras, and they would wave and talk, but no one would come and rescue me.”
The two-story farmhouse, across Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio, and about 95 miles east of Detroit and 160 miles southwest of Toronto, was most likely built around 1840 to 1850, Mr. Anderson said.
The house once had a brick exterior, a chandelier in the living room and a grand piano, he said. The window still has decorative scroll work with hearts, circles and diamonds.
Mr. Anderson visited his grandfather and uncle there in the 1950s and 1960s, when neighbors came to watch “Bonanza” or hockey games on television. He inherited the property in 2003, long after the last tenant moved out in the 1980s.
One of the reasons it is a magnet for photographers is its location, about 200 meters from the Talbot Trail, a state road that follows the shores of Lake Erie and is a popular route for scenic drives.
“You’re driving down the highway and all of a sudden, there’s just this ‘boom’: this creepy-looking house on the road, and it really grabs your attention,” said Dave Conlon of Toronto, who posted the video. from home on his YouTube channel, Freaktography.
“Every time I stop,” Mr. Conlon said, “dozens of people are there, taking pictures because it’s such a unique roadside attraction.”
Mr Anderson said he enjoyed the crowd. Ten or 12 people were photographing the house on Thursday, he said, when he went there to spread fertilizer.
“On Sunday, it’s endless,” Mr. Anderson said. “One comes, one goes. I could spend the whole day with him.
Mrs. Wright, a photographer who has documented the home every month for years, said that if the property were to be torn down, he wanted to be there to capture his last moments as a gift to Mr. Anderson.
“I want to take the last picture,” said Ms. Wright. “It’s going to be a record breaker.”
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