September, 2018:

420 Queen Street East – Ministry of the Attorney General Court House was completed in 1922 in the Beaux Arts Classical style. It shows fine workmanship, good material and attention to details. The imposing, symmetrical, three-storey structure is built of orange-brown stone and brick. It is set back from the street on an elevated site and approached by a circular driveway. Its temple front facade consists of Ionic columns supporting a brick pediment.

3-7 Queen Street East – Built at the turn of the century, the Barnes Block combines a Gothic corner turret with a late Victorian Italianate north façade. A mortar and pestle which rise from the truncated roof are a reminder that the building was originally built as a drug store.

690 Queen Street East/107 East Street – Sault Ste. Marie Museum – The Old Post Office is an imposing three storey red brick and stone building featuring a clock tower. It is prominently located in downtown Sault Ste. Marie at the intersection of Queen Street East and East Street. Built between 1902 and 1906 as a federal building, it was purchased in 1982 by the City for use as the Sault Ste. Marie Museum. It is a fine example of turn of the century Federal architecture in Ontario, combining Victorian classicism with excellent workmanship. Exterior elements include classical pediments, pilasters and cornices, Romanesque stone arches with Italianate detailing and decorative features. Inside there is an oak staircase, an exquisite three-story light well and skylight, and a plated glass floor.

864 Queen Street East – Built in 1888, the Algonquin Hotel is a four-storey brick structure located in close proximity to the north shore of the St. Marys River on the northwest corner of Queen Street East and Pim Street. The Algonquin is the sole survivor of the large hotels built close to the turn of the twentieth century to cater to a rapidly expanding industrial center. These hotels were clustered around Sault Ste. Marie’s docks to serve arriving settlers and workers. The hotel is a good example of Victorian commercial architecture. Key elements that reflect the architectural style are the use of brick masonry, including the masonry arches over the windows, the truncated tent roof which caps the southwest polygonal corner of the hotel, the painted metal cornice on the Queen Street and Pim Street facades, and the chevron molding on the Queen Street and Pim Street cornices.

831 Queen Street East – The Ermatinger Old Stone House is a two-storey stone structure built on the north bank of the St. Mary’s River near the rapids in Sault Ste. Marie. The house provides a link to Sault Ste. Marie’s role in the fur trade and to one of its earliest settlers. Charles Oakes Ermatinger, a member of a prominent Montreal family who joined the Northwest Company and married Charlotte Katawabeda, the daughter of the Paramount Chief of the Ojibway, built the house in 1812-1814 of local red sandstone in a style characteristic of vernacular Georgian architecture but employed Quebec construction techniques. The house quickly became the center of government in the northwest part of the province and of the business and social life of the district. It later served as the first courthouse, a post office and a hotel. The house served as the headquarters of Sir Garnet Wolseley in 1870 when the expedition he commanded stopped at Sault Ste. Marie enroute to quell the Red River Rebellion and to establish Canadian sovereignty over Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.

115 Upton Road – Built in 1902 as a family residence, the asymmetrical composition, turret and the variety and complexity of detail seen in the spindle work, porch supports and gable ends are typical of the Queen Anne style. It is a substantial, gracious and elegant framed dwelling on the west side of Upton Road in the east end of the older residential core. Edward L. Stewart, Manager of the International Lumber Company was the original owner and hired Thomas McKissock to begin construction in 1902. The plan is cruciform shaped with the head forming the main east elevation. The main facade and the wraparound veranda are the most prominent features of the house. The classical style veranda was originally accessed by two sets of identical steps at each end emphasized by a classical pediment. There are cornice brackets on the hexagonal turret below the cone-shaped roof.

Built in 1889, 34-36 Herrick Street is a yellow brick residence located on a quiet dead end street in the east end of the older residential core of Sault Ste. Marie. This house is an early example of Second Empire style architecture. The south elevation of the main house faces the street and was built in a symmetrical fashion. It is heightened by a projecting central frontispiece that continues up into a mansard roof which was originally sheathed with cedar shingles. Around the turn of the century, a demising wall was constructed through the middle of the house and the front porch was rebuilt to accommodate separate front entrances for two semi-detached units.

#948 – Edwardian style with 2½ storey tower-like bay, pediment above verandah

932 3rd Avenue West – Former U.S. Consulate – 1890 – Vernacular example with Italianate influence, tower

948 3rd Avenue West – Billy Bishop Home and Museum – built 1884 – Queen Anne Revival style, asymmetrical proportions, a variety of window shapes and decorative millwork – While not overly extravagant, the Bishop family home is a relatively large estate. The Bishops wished to show their stability while being careful not to flaunt their wealth and thus the lavish details were kept to a minimum. Mrs. Bishop received a sizable inheritance from her family which helped fund the construction of the house, while Mr. Bishop worked from home as a lawyer.

261 9th Street West – Victorian style

Victorian style – dichromatic brickwork, banding

Victorian style – banding, verge board trim on gables, fretwork, dichromatic brickwork

The grain elevators caught in the golden glow of sunset

92 The Square – Hotel Bedford – 1896 – three-storey hotel with thirty-five rooms – Romanesque arches on the ground floor and restrained Italianate decorative elements such as the large cupola and projecting balustrade above the entrance.

Huron County Court House – After the tornado with no trees left

Sifto Salt Mine

52 Montreal Street – Goderich Public Library was opened in 1903 as a Carnegie library. It is in the Romanesque Revival style with the large round tower, the round-headed windows, and the irregular roof.

65 Montreal Street – The “Garrow House” was built around 1850 and was the residence of James Thompson Garrow who later became Supreme Court Judge and local Judge of the Canadian Exchequer Court. It is in the Italianate style with unusual bracketing, a two-storey veranda, large front windows and two end chimneys, a central Palladian window and decorative stone lintels and keystones.

57 West Street – Port of Goderich Municipal Offices in 2007 – It was built in 1890 of stone in the Romanesque style with massive gables. The building was designed by Thomas Fuller, one of Canada’s leading early architects. The rusticated stone coursing and wall capping add to its monumental appearance.

20 Wellington Street South – The “Strachan House” was built by Adam McVicar, builder of the lighthouse, in 1880. A schooner brought 40,000 bricks to Goderich to construct this mansion for Donald Strachan, a prominent businessman. The Second Empire house features a mansard roof of patterned slate, and a tower crowned with iron cresting, and intricately molded window headings.

1 Beach Street – Canadian Pacific Railway station – The station is built of red brick with limestone foundation. It has a hipped roof over the central portion with a cross-gable and lunette trackside. Restored slate tiles top the conical roof of the round waiting room. The station house was opened for service in 1907. Passenger service ended in 1956, and mixed train service in 1961. One of the last CPR trains stopped on the bridge on August 3, 1988 and blew its whistle for a final time.

5 Cobourg Street (the MacDonald House) was the office of the Bank of Upper Canada from 1859-63 and the home of its manager “Stout Mac”. It was built in 1858 in the Georgian style with balanced façade; transom and sidelights are around the front entrance

85 Essex Street – “The Judges House” is a white brick High Victorian structure with a Gothic Revival flavor with Tudor Revival or Italianate features built in 1877. It derives its elegance from the symmetry of the three-bay façade. The symmetry is further emphasized by the square bay windows on the first floor as well as the central porch under the central dormer. The delicacy of the wooden barge boards and rails over the bay windows add pleasing touches.

135 Essex Street Рc. 1880 Рlakefront cottage in the Picturesque style Рdistinguishing features include the prominent pyramidal roof, which extends over the main fa̤ade verandah and the glazed sun-chamfered wood columns with decorative brackets.

56 Wellesley Street – Gothic Revival, bay window

82 Wellesley Street – erected in 1888, the Tom House is an Italianate structure built for Mr. John Elgin Tom, a public school inspector for West Huron. The most notable features include iron cresting on the roof peak, decorative brackets and fascia boards under the soffits, decorative fretwork around the center gable, metal roofing tiles, brick chimneys, and the square bay on the west side.

203 Lighthouse Street – The Wellesley or Wilson House was built by William Bennett Rich, a former Grenadier Guard who later served on Town Council. The house was built around 1845 and combines Georgian and Neo-classical influences. Mr. Rich had several outstanding homes built in town as wedding presents for his many daughters. It has a hipped roof, shutters on the windows, and a verandah with open railing

126 North Street, the Baechler House, was built in 1882 for druggist James Wilson, but it was in the Baechler family for 60 years. The tower with curved glass windows and the deep verandah wrapping around the building are typical of the Queen Anne style.

53 North Street was built in the Queen Anne style by George Acheson about 1905. Features include the pleasing proportions of the three-storey tower, frontispiece with gable, deep veranda with Doric pillars, and pediment with decorated tympanum

38 St. Vincent Street, the Johnson House, was built in 1863 for Hugh Johnston who married one of the six daughters of William Bennett Rich. It is vernacular Georgian in its massing and proportions but with Regency influences in the French doors, a Classical verandah and windows, and Italianate cornice brackets.

Widow’s walk on rooftop, 2½-storey frontispiece with semi-circular window in gable, one-storey wing with flat roof

92 St. George’s Crescent, McDermott’s Castle, begun in 1862 in an attempt to replicate the owner’s Irish castle, sat empty until 1904. A new owner added the third floor and finished the roof and tower which contained an elevator run by water from a cistern on its roof. Tower to the right has corbels on the corners and a parapet.

103 St. George’s Crescent, the Donnelly House, was built about 1880 for Horace Horton, a local businessman, mayor and MP. Second Empire style has both convex and concave mansard roof lines with round-topped dormers, elaborate keystones, a 3½-storey tower, corner quoins, and a second floor semi-circular balcony.

150 St. George’s Crescent was built for Joseph Williams, importer of fine timber which was much used in this home. Italianate – hipped roof, chipped gable with verge board trim, second floor balconies above entrance and side bay windows, corner quoins, prominent keystones above windows

28 Nelson Street West – built around 1870 – The bracketed trim beneath the eaves and the disposition and shape of the windows are Italianate in style. It has a hipped roof, frontispiece, keystones and drip molds.

80 Hamilton Street – “Thyme on 21” is a restaurant in a Victorian heritage house built in the late 1870s with iron cresting on the porch and roof peak; scroll work on the bay window and the porch is unique to this community.

#181 – Italianate – hipped roof, 2½-storey tower-like bay with verge board trim on gable with diamond-shaped window; paired cornice brackets, fretwork, decorative veranda entrance with stenciling