A notice to vacate the historic Taylor House has the Yukon Heritage Resources Board looking for a new home for the first time in about 14 years.

The board received the notice Monday from the Yukon government, which owns the Main Street building, chair Anne Leckie said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Under the notice, they must be out by Aug. 31.

The government will then begin work to get it ready for the territory’s commissioner to move in.

While the government offered up space in the T.C. Richards Building, Leckie said it is smaller, and isn’t accessible for those with limited mobility.

That’s left the board pounding the pavement looking for an appropriate space.

The board, which was formed out of the Umbrella Final Agreement, operates in an advisory role on heritage issues to the territorial and First Nation governments as well as adjudicating on heritage issues.

It’s been based out of the Taylor House for more than a decade under a number of lease agreements over the years that have essentially seen it pay for the upkeep on the building rather than rent. Those costs, said Leckie, work out to an average of about $1,300 each month.

Since April, when the last lease expired, the agreement has been on a month-to-month basis.

While the situation leaves the board looking for a new space, Leckie emphasized the government is within its rights to ask it to leave.

“It is their asset,” she said, noting the board has had a good relationship with the government from a landlord/tenant perspective for years.

Still, having just 31 days to find a new location “was a bit disconcerting,” Leckie said.

While she’s confident the board will be able to find space in a new location for the approximate costs it was paying on the upkeep of the Taylor House, she said it’s clear the board will not have the space it does now.

“We’re disappointed about that,” she said.

Recognizing the significance of Taylor House to the entire community as a heritage property, Leckie said the board provided space in the building for other heritage groups to meet and host events, citing meetings of the territory’s heritage fair committee among other sessions.

“We’ve tried to make it accessible (to others in the community),” she said.

While the group was given just one month to leave the building, the notice didn’t come as a complete surprise, Leckie acknowledged, noting the possibility has been “in the wind” for a while.

Commissioner Doug Phillips said this morning it was a little more than a year-and-a-half ago when he began investigating the possible move to the Taylor House.

The current location for the commissioner’s office on Front Street in Closeleigh Manor was supposed to be a temporary location when it moved there years ago.

At that time, the office moved from a rented retail property downtown when the owners made other plans for the building.

In recent years, Phillips said, the Yukon Housing Corp. has indicated it’s looking to use the space at Closeleigh Manor for other purposes.

That set Phillips on a course to find a permanent location for the office of the commissioner shortly after he was appointed in 2010. The search, he emphasized, was something he initiated.

As he noted, the current location also presents its own challenges in terms of parking for dignitaries who want to visit the office.

The commissioner’s role has evolved over the years to the head of state, similar to lieutenant-governors in the provinces.

“Building something new is out of the question,” Phillips said of possible office relocations, pointing to the high cost of construction.

As he started looking around for space, Taylor House fit the office’s needs in a number of ways, both practical and in terms of raising the profile of both the commissioner and the historical significance of the 1937-era log building.

“It fits the space the commissioner could use,” Phillips said.

He pointed to both the building itself and the yard as a space to host public events such as teas, youth performances and so on.

Having the commissioner’s office in a heritage building, he pointed out, will increase the prominence of both and give the commissioner’s office a permanent home.

“We will tell the story of the Taylor House,” he said, envisioning a larger display for the property about the house.

The house was built for Bill and Aline Taylor, it’s noted on the historicplaces.ca website.

The Taylors contributed to the territory’s early economic growth through the Taylor and Drury Company, which owned 19 stores around the Yukon between the early 1900s and the 1960s.

“This relatively large log home and spacious landscaped lots, by Whitehorse standards, reflects the success of the family-owned business and the upper class of Whitehorse of the period,” it’s noted on the website.

After looking at the building, Phillips said the Yukon government had to do an assessment on it to look at whether it could be used.

That assessment came back earlier this month. It was only about 10 days ago Phillips said he learned that it had been done and the office would be moved.

While there are a number of renovations which need to be done, Phillips noted about 75 per cent of that work would be required regardless: fixing the leak in the basement, changing the oil tank and making washrooms wheelchair-accessible, for example.

The major changes put forth by the commissioner’s office will be adding a front counter to the space and putting in a door for his office.

“We’re not looking at changing a lot,” he said. He pointed out he’s insisting any changes conform to the building’s heritage value and go through the processes required for changes to heritage buildings.

While Phillips stressed the historical significance of the Taylor House in his comments, it was during his time as an opposition Yukon Party MLA years ago that he voted against saving the house.

This morning, he noted the vote happened at a time when there were numerous issues around heritage in the territory.

The building’s value has become more prominent for him over the years, and he noted the commissioner’s office will share the story of the Taylor House for years to come.

Phillips went on to cite his time as the minister of Tourism and Culture for the territory, noting he emphasized then the importance of highlighting the territory’s history in many decisions.

He is hoping to meet with the heritage resources board today to discuss the matter and said he has little doubt the board will find a new home and continue to carry out its work.

While others noted their confidence in the board’s work, they argue the move makes things difficult for the board as well as other heritage organizations in the territory.

As Nancy Oakley, executive director of the Yukon Historical and Museums Association, said, the building served as a meeting place for many, with a focus on history and heritage.

“It was one of those hubs for the heritage community,” she said recalling the many meetings she attended there.

She also pointed out the benefits of having the heritage resource board care-taking for a heritage house.

What better group to look after a heritage building than a heritage group, she questioned.

And while the government may have met its requirements in terms of giving the group notice, Oakley was quick to argue that one month is not a lot of time, especially in the summer season, when many people are away.

She emphasized her hope the heritage values of the building will be kept intact and the proper processes followed when the government goes to make any changes.

NDP tourism critic Kevin Barr argued today the government’s notice will initially put the board “in a scramble mode,” leaving it searching for space rather than being able to focus on heritage issues.

The board, he said, should have been consulted. He also questioned “the rush” to move the commissioner’s office.

Barr would have liked to see the board consulted before any decision was made.

“Maybe there’s an alternative for the commissioner,” Barr said.

Contacted this morning, cabinet spokesman Dan MacDonald said Phillips is addressing media inquiries about the decision.

Information on the cost of renovations and when the work would be done for the commissioner’s office to move was not available from the government today.