The court fight over the fate of West Vancouver's iconic Binning House isn't over yet.
On Thursday, the University of British Columbia filed an appeal of a B.C. Supreme Court decision handed down last month that dismissed the university's claim to the house.
The appeal comes after a court hearing in December that pitted The Land Conservancy - the non-profit organization and owner of the house now in creditor protection- against groups ranging from the Ministry of the Attorney General to the District of West Vancouver.
The 1941 home is considered one of the first examples of West Coast Modernism and was a gathering place for artists and architects inspired by Bertram Binning until the death of Binning's wife Jessie in 2007.
The Land Conservancy acquired the home in 2008. But, facing pressure from its creditors to pay back $7.5 million in debt, the conservancy went to court for approval to sell the Binning House for $1.6 million to a corporation controlled by developer Bruno Wall.
That bid failed when the judge concluded the house was transferred "on trust for the purpose of its preservation into the future for the public" and that the conservancy must demonstrate that it tried to find a new owner who could keep the home with that intent.
The District of West Vancouver has since stepped up offering to take the home and maintain it in partnership with other yet-to-be-named non-profit groups.
But the legal arguments aren't over.
The university joined the court fight this fall, arguing that according to Jessie Binning's will, if the executors didn't want to establish a society to manage the property, it should have been sold with the proceeds going to the university's B.C. Binning Memorial Fellowship Fund.
Lawyer Amy Francis argued the way Jessie Binning's trustees transferred the house to The Land Conservancy - through an intermediary society only set up to satisfy the legal terms of the will - was improper.
The UBC appeal is based on the grounds the judge made errors in law in interpreting Jessie's intentions and ignoring her desire to benefit the fellowship fund, according to court documents.
The Land Conservancy, meanwhile, is not planning to appeal the court decision.
"No, we have another plan in mind that's not an appeal," conservancy manager John Shields said when asked about a potential appeal.
But Shields could "not yet" say what that other plan is.
