Alphabet House demolished by city

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This article was published 06/10/2010 (5549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The owner of the Alphabet House who wanted so much to beat city hall he tried to run for mayor, lost his home, studio and campaign headquarters Tuesday when 89 Gertie St. was demolished.

“I will rebuild,” Ed Ackerman said near tears, as the backhoe scooped the exterior letters, new and old stonework from the foundation and streamers of movie film into a dump truck.

The artist, animator and attempted mayoral candidate said he’s taking the city to court to rebuild his 1891 home that was decked out with letters as part of a stop-motion animation set.

To prove the house was not abandoned or uninhabitable, Ackerman spent last winter in the house, even after the services were cut off.

He slept under 13 blankets on the coldest nights, said photographer and filmmaker John Paskievich, who’s been observing Ackerman for the last few years.

“I thought I might make a nice film on Ed the animator, then things started happening with the house,” said Paskievich.

“When it was -30, he spent the winter in an unheated house without electricity and water… I would check up on him at night when it was -30.” He said Ackerman, who’s well-known in the Winnipeg film community and has worked for the National Film Board, cooked on an open fire in the yard.

“He’s too interesting,” said Paskievich.

Ackerman appealed an October 2009 city order to make extensive repairs to the home or fence it off and have it demolished. He said he spent $60,000 on masonry work after the city ordered an engineering report that said structural repairs were required.

Ackerman said he didn’t do the work the way the city wanted it done and the demolition order was made. Ackerman went to court to try and block the demolition last week. On Tuesday, the home wreckers went to work while Ackerman and his relatives, friends and several neighbours watched.

“I didn’t like it being torn down,” said Jim Spence who’s lived in a tidy, normal-looking abode for 28 years across the street from Ackerman and his “Alphabet House”.

“He’s a good-hearted guy,” Spence said. Several people who know and like Ackerman have encouraged him to sell his two other area properties and fix up 89 Gertie to make the authorities happy. But, Spence said, Ackerman has his own way of doing things.

Some say you can’t beat city hall, so Ackerman challenged it by running for mayor, for instance.

His nomination papers were rejected because the city’s electoral officer said he had too few registered voters. “He feels he has enough signatures but the city will not take the time to verify what he has,” said Paskievich who signed his nomination papers.

Ackerman went to court to challenge his rejected nomination but his case was put over to Oct. 18.

Ackerman said he won’t give up, even though the municipal election happens nine days later.

“Ed is a combination of a fish swimming upstream and Sisyphus, who kept rolling the boulder up the hill and it kept rolling back down,” said Paskievich. “He’s a guy with a very good sense of humour but he’s as obstinate as the Canadian Shield.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca