A 101-year-old house in Winnipeg's Osborne Village is another step closer to being removed from the city's list of historic buildings.

The executive policy committee, also known as the mayor's cabinet, voted on Wednesday to remove Dennistoun House, located on 166 Roslyn Rd., from the city's historic building list. The building is currently divided into rental suites, but the owner plans on tearing it down and replacing it with a condominium development.

'I certainly don't believe that one day, 150 years from now, that my home should be considered a historical building because I was the mayor and I lived there.'—Mayor Sam Katz

The cabinet made its decision based on the recommendation of the city's property and development committee, which voted last week to strip the heritage status and forward that reasoning to cabinet.

The final decision on the fate of the building will be made by city council at a meeting later this month. But council votes typically mirror that of EPC.

Although the direction being taken by the committee and cabinet has received some opposition by local residents, Mayor Sam Katz said if heritage groups really cared about Dennistoun House they would have spoken up to defend it, but they didn't.

"Heritage appears for every single building practically and they have their comments," he said. "I think what people are looking at is trying to define what the significance of buildings are. I certainly don't believe that one day, 150 years from now, that my home should be considered a historical building because I was the mayor and I lived there.

"To me, it's important to hear what the organizations have to say, and them not coming forward implies that they support [the decision]."

Heritage Winnipeg disappointed

Cindy Tugwell, executive director at Heritage Winnipeg, said no one from the group was at the meeting of the property and development committee because they didn't know it was happening. And no one went to the EPC meeting because, by then, it's too late to do anything, she said.

'Once you designate [property with heritage status], you are saying that this should be protected in perpetuity unless something major happens.'—Cindy Tugwell, Heritage Winnipeg

"The property and development is the pivotal committee that we should have been speaking at and once those recommendations have been made it's very, very difficult to change any kind of vote," she said, adding the heritage group strongly disagrees with the decision.

"It's a beautiful, architecturally and historically significant home that has not changed. Once you designate [property with heritage status], you are saying that this should be protected in perpetuity unless something major happens.

"But [they] are clearly taking this home down because of this condo development."

In 1984, when the city put the building on its heritage list, it was called Dennistown House — after Justice Robert Dennistoun, who used to live there.

This week it was discovered the judge's name was actually Dennistoun and the building has had the wrong name for decades. Katz said that's further proof that the building is not historically significant.