First Nations people were the original inhabitants of the area that
would become Brooklin. In the 1820s European pioneers established a small
settlement in the area. The settlement expanded in the 1840s when brothers John
and Robert Campbell established a flour mill on Lynde Creek. Most of the
buildings in the area of the walking tour are single-detached houses. It is a
diverse collection of traditional architectural styles from the mid-nineteenth
to mid-twentieth centuries. These diverse styles complement the landscape as
the spaces between buildings offer glimpses of the creek, small parks, and
treed open spaces.
In 1819, John Scadding, clerk for Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, was awarded a large tract of land now known as Port Whitby. Originally known as Port Windsor, the area encompassed the natural harbor in the south up to Victoria Street in the north. Soon after settlement, the harbor was used to ship local grain, lumber, and farm produce across Canada and the United States. Farmers transported their produce to Port Windsor using a plank toll road, now Brock Street, and the Port Whitby, Port Perry, and Lindsay Railway. From the 1840s to the 1870s, Windsor Harbour prospered, leading to a number of developments that modernized the harbor’s infrastructure and surrounding industry. It was also during this time, in 1847, that Windsor Harbour was officially renamed Whitby Harbour. The bustling community of Port Whitby sprung up around the harbor with a number of houses, hotels, shops, and breweries supporting further development. Port Whitby, including the harbor, was one of three communities that formed the original Town of Whitby in 1855 along with Hamer’s Corners and Perry’s Corners.
44 Baldwin Street – c. 1914 – 2½ storey frame residential building in the Edwardian Classic style, brick cladding, hip gable roof, L-shape with a wing projecting from the main block gable end to the street, a flat-roofed verandah with open porch above56 Baldwin Street – c. 1872 – 2½ storey, gable roof, Gothic Revival influences, decorative brick drip mouldings over windows, decorative brick band courses, foundation and pilasters at corners – Royal Canadian Legion58 Baldwin Street – c. 1881 – 3 storey Dutch gabled brick commercial building with Gothic Revival influences, decorative brick drip moldings on second storey windows, decorative brick sills, decorative brick medallions over first storey signboard3 Cassels Road East – c. 1889 – 2½ storey frame gable roofed Victorian vernacular home was built by Charles Grass and owned by the Grass family until 1950. For many years he operated, but did not own the mill. The main block has the gable end to street, with a 1½ storey wing to the east and a projecting gable roofed bay to the west, clapboard siding, fish scale siding on gable end, decorative cornice and brackets on verandah, stained glass over first storey window.25 Cassels Road East – c. 1848 – The Brooklin Brick Mill was built for John Campbell after the original frame mill (1840) was destroyed by fire. The cedar swamp that originally covered the site was filled so that the foundation could be built on solid ground. The date is still visible on the west side gable. The mill could produce 50 barrels of flour a day and operated as a flour mill for 149 years, ceasing operation in 1991.31 Cassels Road East – Early 21st century 2½ storey frame complex gable roofed residential building with eclectic late 19th century stylistic influences (mansarded central bay, turreted and gabled side bays, projecting bay windows, Palladian windows57 Cassels Road East – c. 1848 – Gothic Revival style, central entrance way within a flat roofed enclosed porch, Gothic-arched window above, decorative barge board and finial1 Princess Street – c. 1857 – 1½ storey brick gable roofed residential building, with a slightly offset central entrance way flanked by two windows, buff brick cornices on windows and door and quoins11 Princess Street – c. 1943 – stone and brick hip gable roofed house – It has a tapestry brickwork pattern with an ashlar stone pattern (square cut building stones) on the street façade. Arthur James Cook, a Township Councillor in 1933/34, built the house after retiring from his business as a butcher shop owner.15 Princess Street – Benjamin Franklin Campbell House – c. 1877 – Gothic Revival style, large gable end block with a recessed block to the south, bay window, 2-over-2 curved top windows, ornamental white brick lintels and quoins, wooden shutters, paneled wood and glass main and secondary doors, decorative barge boarding on the porch and roof gable21 Princess Street – 1895 – Queen Anne style, engaged tower, chevron pattern shingles on west gable and basket weave pattern on the tower, balcony and verandah wooden railings23 Princess Street – 1879 – Gothic Revival style, with a central entrance paneled wooden door with top light contained in a round-headed paneled wooden door surround with decorative brick lintel/drip molding, flanked by two 2/2 elongated windows with similar lintels, under a shed roofed full width porch supported by turned wooden posts on brick plinths, with three similar windows in the second storey above, with the central window centered under a roof gable. It was built as a Methodist parsonage by A.P. Cameron; it cost $1,700 to construct. In 1917, it became one of the first buildings to be wired for electricity in Brooklin.24 Princess Street – c. 1935 – This house was built by Dr. John Moore who came to Brooklin in 1891 and was a doctor here for 46 years. He was Reeve of Whitby Township from 1912-14 and served on the Brooklin School Board. The English cross bond brick pattern is rare to see and would have been expensive to produce. Central entrance way with glazed top and side lights under a slightly projecting bracketed curving wooden lintel, flanked by 6/6 double windows in the first and second storeys, with a 3/3 double window above, three eyebrow dormers with shallow windows.90 Colston Avenue – Stephen Thomas House – c. 1858 – 2½ storey brick gable roofed building with Gothic Revival influences – best surviving mansion and grounds from the early days of the village
