Italianate, 1850-1900 – A two story rectangular building with a mild hip roof, a projecting frontispiece, and generous eaves with ornate cornice brackets was the basis of the style; often there are large sash windows, quoins, ornate detailing on the windows, belvederes and wraparound verandahs. Italianate commercial buildings often have cast iron cresting and elegant window surrounds.
Acton – 39 Willow Street – Knox Manse established 1889 – Italianate with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, pediment above pillared porch, fretwork and verge board on gableAjax – 497 Kingston Road West, Historic Pickering Village – 1870 – purchased in 1882 by Dr. Field for his daughter. Dr. Field was a practicing physician in Pickering Village and later built his own home directly east of this property. In 1929, Emerson & Henrietta Bertrand purchased the home and raised Allan Irwin. The family gave up the homestead in 1934, only to have it reclaimed in 1977 by their grandson, B. B. Bertrand (son of Allan). The building is a 2½ story brick structure in Italianate architecture.Ancaster – 311 Wilson Street East – Italianate, belvedere, paired cornice bracketsAylmer – 375 Talbot Street West – Italianate, cornice brackets, two-story tower-like bays, balcony on second floorCaledonia – 201 Argyle Street – Italianate, hipped roof, dormer in attic, corner quoins, keystones and voussoirs, dichromatic brickwork, dentil molding under cornice, paired bracketsCheltenham – 14396 Creditview Road – Henry’s Hotel – circa 1887 – William Henry’s pre-1859 Inn was destroyed in the 1887 fire. He rebuilt, replacing the Inn with this two-story Georgian style frame building with hip roof and brick veneer. He named it ‘Henry’s Hotel’ operating it until his death in 1904. Thomas and Nathaniel Browne took it over as ‘Browne’s Hotel’. It was later a butcher shop with home above. In 1958 it was adapted to commercial/apartment use.Cobourg Book 3 – 110 Ontario Street – 1878 – “Illahee Lodge†– Italianate – built by John Jeffrey, hardware merchant – bay windows, front porch crowned with intricate wrought iron railingCollingwood – 199 Third Street – Built in the Italianate tradition for the Toner family, early coal and lumber merchants, this home has retained its elegance with minor alterations since 1882. The interior of the home features a circular staircase, marble fireplaces, plaster medallions and a built-in buffet. The exterior brick work laid in the common bond tradition is highlighted by protruding quoins and plinth in lighter contrasting brick. Decorative brick work adorns the original chimney as well as highlighting the window openings. Brick arch work and keystones decorate the window surrounds in a unique three-tiered stepped arch design. The main front facade contains unique, French doors with recessed mullion and molded panels. The home has a heavily bracketed low hip roof with an east side gable featuring a combination of corniced boxed brackets.Dundas Book 1 – King Street – Italianate architectureElora – 120 Mill Street East – Drew House – Italianate style – dormers in attic, single cornice brackets, wraparound verandah with bric-a-bracErin – 213 Main Street – Italianate – built A.D. 1891 – hipped roof, paired cornice brackets, iron cresting above bay window, dichromatic brickworkFergus – 150 Union Street – Robert Phillips, Druggist c. 1883 – Italianate, hipped roof, corner quoins, two-story tower-like bayFisherville Book – Selkirk – 15 Erie Street North – Italianate, hipped roof, cornice brackets, quoins, bandingFort Erie – 348 Ridge Road NorthGoderich – 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-story veranda, large front windows and two end chimneys, a central Palladian window and decorative stone lintels and keystones.Grafton Bolton Book – Bolton – 31 Nancy Street – *George Smith House – circa 1877 – This Italianate style home was built by George Watson for Margaret and George Smith. The red and yellow bricks were locally made and its exterior architectural features and beautiful enclosed porches are original. Smith, a sign painter and letterer, sat on the first village Council and was noted for his very realistic interior faux-wood graining. Erie Smith Schaefer inherited the house in 1933, living here with her husband Alex of ‘Smith & Schaefer’ Hardware. This dichromatic brick house is in the Italianate style. The orientation of the ‘L’ plan with the enclosed verandah along the south is distinctive. The bracketed eaves, segmentally arched windows and low medium pitch hipped roof are all typical of the Italianate.Grimsby – 390 Main Street West – names for the house are Smith-Geddes House, Thornfield Hall, The Stone House – The two-and-a-half-story stone building was constructed between 1876 and 1878. The Smith-Geddes House was built on a flat area of land amidst orchards of peach and cherry trees. The rural location, close to Lake Ontario to the northeast and the Niagara escarpment to the southwest, creates a unique natural setting. This house is an important example of a high-Victorian country house in the Italianate architectural style rendered in a vernacular form. The stone house has a five-bay facade with a projecting frontispiece, containing the main entrance of wood paneled doors, a transom of colored glass and the etched initials of John Henry Smith. Paired round-headed windows above the center door and a smaller pair on the third floor are under a projecting gable, with a carved-wood verge board. The hip, patterned-slate roof has corniced edges of wood brackets, supporting the soffit. Four chimneys of quarry-faced stone, laid in random ashlar, project from each corner of the house and are decorated with pediment moldings along the stacks. The two flanking bays of the main facade have pairs of square-headed windows on the first floor and segmented arches on the second. The stone work is quarry-faced ashlar with projecting rusticated quoins and window surrounds. A projecting wing on the west side is capped with a gable. A wide bay window with a gable roof projects from the east side. The interior is laid out in a center-hall plan with an ornate wood staircase. The interior woodwork is walnut and oak, with carved mantels in both the east parlor and the dining room. The hallway and stairs are paneled in cherry. The wood windows have louvered shutters that fold into reveals matching the paneling of the windows and detailed baseboards are found throughout. The hall, east parlor and dining room have plaster moldings and plaster ceiling medallions. Elaborate cast-iron grills surround the radiators in each of the rooms. The original porch has been removed and a number of small additions have been made to the rear of the house, including a fire escape.Ingersoll Book 1 – 291-293 Oxford Street – This home was built around 1880 and illustrates the typical broad bracketed eaves of the Italianate style. Fred J. Stone was one of the earliest occupants of this yellow brick house. He joined Wm. Stones Sons Ltd. in 1907 as manager of the Ingersoll branch. The operation started as a hide and wool business but soon developed into a fertilizer plant, later expanding to make livestock feed concentrates. In the 1920s, it passed into the possession of W.A.C. Forman, a family relative. At this time the house was divided to accommodate two units. His father owned the “FAIR”, a store at 126 Thames St. South which sold dry goods and household furnishings and utensils. It has a hipped roof, paired cornice brackets, and corner quoins.Kingsville Book 1 – 86 Division Street South – 2-story brick house built in 1882 in the Italianate style, hipped roof, paired cornice brackets, dormer, cut field stone foundation, three large brick chimneysListowel – 185 Binning Street West – Italianate with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, paired cornice brackets, balcony on second floor, cornice return on gable, built in 1872London – Italianate style with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, pediment above verandahLucknow Book – Mitchell – Italianate, cornice brackets, fretwork, decorative pillars on porch and pediment, 2½ story tower-like bayNew Hamburg Book 1 – 145 Peel Street – Italianate with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, wraparound verandah, decorative window voussoirs and keystones, single cornice bracketsNorth Bay – 374 Fraser Street – Angus Block – 1914 – This building is noted for its parapet at the roof line and for its highly distinctive white stone window surrounds consisting of stepped lintels, quoined jambs and flat sills. Other notable features include the toothed heading of the in-stepped brick facing and bracketed canopy over the third-floor paired openings. The date stone indicates that H.W. Angus, an early architect in North Bay, was responsible for its design and erection.Orangeville Book 1 – 11 Little York Street – Italianate – buff-colored brick banding and keystones and voussoirs, paired cornice bracketsOttawa Book 2 – 44-50 Sparks Street at corner of Elgin – Scottish Ontario Chambers – Italianate design – four-story brick building with a high ground floor, balanced facade, decorative multi-colored masonry, radiated voussoirs of multicolored brick, fenestration (the arrangement, design and proportioning of windows and doors), roof line with heavy bracketing and decorated cornicePetrolia – 416 Warren Avenue – Italianate, hipped roof, cornice brackets, bric-a-brac on verandahPort Colborne Book 1 – 322 King Street – Ingleside – It was built in 1867 for Charles H. Carter and occupied by the Carter family for 118 years, including Port Colborne’s first mayor, Dewitt Carter. The two-story structure has projecting eaves supported by paired cornice brackets and corner quoins in dichromatic brick characteristic of Italianate architecture. Its rectangular plan with projecting frontispiece and hipped roof indicate it is a version of a house plan popularized by the magazine “The Canada Farmer†in 1865. The grounds are surrounded by a locally produced cast iron fence.Shelburne Administration, Grace Tipling Hall, Police Station – corner of Main Street East and Victoria Street – Italianate style, paired cornice brackets, dichromatic brickwork, three-story tower with cap and cupolaSimcoe – 94 Norfolk Street – Italianate style with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay topped with a cupola with iron cresting on top; decorative voussoirs and keystonesWelland Book 1 – 221 Division Street – McCollum-Harcourt House – late 1870s – 2½ story stuccoed house, Italianate style – open verandah supported by wooden columns, double eave brackets, lacy verge board under central peak above a double semi-circular windowWest Flamborough – Concession 2 – cornice brackets, corner quoinsWindsor Book 3 – 3203 Peter Street – cornice brackets, decorative window hoods, ornate porch, dormerWoodstock Book 2 – 40 Wellington Street South – c. 1874 – Italianate – L shape, two-story, buff brick with decorative quoins, trunked hip roof, large verandah with pediment above steps, Doric columns are supported on wood pedestals and turned balusters
Second Empire, 1860-1880 – The mansard roof is the most noteworthy feature of this style and is evidence of the French origins. Projecting central towers and one or two-story bays can also be present.
Aylmer Book 1 – 445 Talbot Street West – mansard roof, iron cresting, window hoods on dormersBelleville Book 3 – 257 Bridge Street East, The Phillips-Burrows-Faulknor House – Glanmore National Historic Site – Harriet Phillips inherited this property from George Bleecker, her grandfather. Glanmore reflects the tastes of the well-to-do in late nineteenth century Canada. The grand house, built by local architect Thomas Hanley, was built in 1882-1883 for wealthy banker John Philpot Curran Phillips and his wife Harriet Ann Dougall, the daughter of Belleville’s Judge Benjamin Dougall. It is in the Second Empire style with mansard roof with elaborate cornices and brackets, dormer windows, iron cresting, a built-in gutter system, and multi-colored slate. The 9,000 square foot home cost $7,000 to build in 1883. The impressive suspended walnut staircase cost $62.50.Brockville – 181 King Street East – Gill House – 1878 additions of roof and wings – mansard roof, dormers, window hoods with keystones, iron cresting around rooftop balcony, central tower, bay windowsGoderich – 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.Guelph Book 1 – Second Empire style – mansard roof, trichromatic tile work, window hoods on dormers, cornice bracketsFisherville, Nanticoke, Selkirk Book – 27 Erie Street South, Selkirk – James Cooper built this house in 1870. In 1878 he sold it to George Hoover. The frame house has irregular massing and is in the Second Empire style. It has an over-sized horseshoe dormer with barge board and finial, elaborate window molds with pediments. The three-story tower has four dormers in the mansard roof. The Fess family purchased it in 1947.Cornwall – 36 Fourth Street West – St. Columban’s Rectory – Second Empire domestic architecture with mansard roof and detailing; window hood, trim on gable, bay window, cornice brackets; open railing on porch and wraparound verandahEden Mills Book – Grand Central Hotel, Hillsburgh – 1880s – originally it was a carriage works, transformed into a hotel, served as a bank since the early 1900s – Second Empire – mansard roof with dormers, corner quoins, paired cornice bracketsHamilton Book 1 – 163 Jackson Street West was built for pharmacist/entrepreneur Tristram Bickle c. 1850 – Second Empire style, mansard roof, dichromatic tile work; ionic capitals on pillars, cornice brackets, corner quoins. Bishop T.B. Fuller moved here in 1884. From 1892 to 1932, Southam newspapers owner William Southam lived here. In 1954, Ken Soble launched CHCH TV here.Hamilton Book 3 – Mansard-roofed three-story tower – Frederick William Fearman was the son of a shoemaker who emigrated from England in 1833 with his parents at the age of eight. He started his business with a store selling smoked and salted meats on Hughson Street between King and King William, moved to a MacNab Street North location near the farmers’ market, and eventually expanded to become W. Fearman Packing Company Limited, with a large factory at Rebecca Street and Ferguson Avenue on the Grand Trunk Railway line. The company slaughtered, hung, salted, smoked and canned pork, beef, veal and lamb for shipment around the world. Fearman built his mansion, “Ivey Lodgeâ€, at 90 Stinson Street in 1863. It is three-story, limestone block with a Mansard-roofed tower as its front entrance; it has bay and arched windows, dormers, verge board trim, and a green metal roof.Jarvis – 45 Talbot Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, dormers in roof, single cornice brackets, cornice return on small gables on window dormersKingston Book 1 – 85 King Street East – 1877 – three story Victorian Second Empire style stone mansion – mansard roof, dormers, verandah, bay windowsKingston Book 5 – 116 Bagot Street – Second Empire, Mansard roof with dormers and window hoods, second floor balcony, bay windows, cornice brackets, dentil molding, pillared entranceKingsville Book 1 – 76 Main Street East – Annabelle’s Tea House and Restaurant – Built in 1859 – Second Empire style – dormers with window hoods in mansard roof, paired cornice brackets. Anna Belle Miriah Brien Evans was Susanne’s grandmother, for whom tea was an essential part of her day. Tea time for her grandma was an institution. At 4 o’clock on a regular basis, she would proceed to the kitchen as if reminded by an internal clock. Susanne would get the small china tea set and set the table by the window in the dining room. There, as the sunlight streamed in, they would sip tea, have a biscuit, or two, and talk about the day. These are childhood memories that Susanne cherishes. In her honor, she created a place for people to spend time together and perhaps create lovely memories of their own. Tea time has a way of making an ordinary day an occasion.Listowel – 469 Main Street West – Second Empire style, Mansard roof, dormers with window hoods, built of Wallace brick – was once on edge of town and operated as the Last Chance Hotel – last chance for a drink before leaving townMidland Book 1 – 213-219 King Street – Second Empire – mansard roof, dormers, dichromatic brickworkMorrisburg – 31 Lakeshore Drive – Second Empire style – projecting central tower, concave mansard roof, dormers; has eighteen stained glass windows, each with a different color schemeNiagara-on-the-Lake Book 1 – 6 Picton Street – The Prince of Wales Hotel established 1864 – Second Empire style, mansard roof, dormers, window hoods, dichromatic brickwork, cornice brackets, second floor balconyOrangeville Book 1 – 16-18 Wellington Street – King House c. 1888 – Second Empire style – large brick house, mansard roof, ornamental ironworkOrillia – #84 – E.J. McCrohan, Harness Maker c. 1880 – Second Empire style, mansard roof, iron cresting around roof, finials on dormers, second floor balcony, corner quoinsOttawa Book 1 – Wellington Street – Langevin Block – is an office building facing Parliament Hill. As the home of the Privy Council Office and Office of the Prime Minister, it is the working headquarters of the executive branch of the Canadian government. The building is named after a Father of Confederation and cabinet minister Hector Langevin. Built of sandstone from a New Brunswick quarry between 1884 and 1889 – Second Empire style – Mansard roof, dormers, grotesque sculptures (fantastic or mythical figures used for decorative purposes)Paris Book 3 – 87 Willow Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, tall windows, dormersPerth – 26 Drummond Street West – Second Empire – mansard roof, dormers with window hoods, tower, voussoirs and keystones, turned veranda roof supports with decorative capitalsPort Perry – Corner of Water and Queen Streets – In 1840 Peter Perry purchased forty acres in downtown Port Perry and in 1844 he built a frame building which house a store, trading post, and a home for his agent, Chester Draper. Immediately after Perry’s death is 1851, the property was bought by Mason and Phillips who turned it into a hotel. Henry Charles purchased it in 1867. The present yellow building was built after the fire of 1884. The hotel had thirty rooms including a dining room and at the street level were two stores including a sample room where salesmen could display their wares. They named it the St. Charles Hotel after Henry Charles.Simcoe – 217 Colborne Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, dichromatic tile workSt. Catharines Book 5 – 15 Welland Avenue – Second Empire – mansard roof with dormers with window hoods, three-story tower, pediment, cornice brackets, voussoirs and keystonesSt. Marys Book 1 – 236 Jones Street East – Ercildoune was originally built as a wedding gift to George Carter’s daughter Charlotte when she married Henry Lincoln Rice in 1880. The home is built in the Second Empire style, a very rare style of home in St. Marys.Stouffville Book 1 – Main Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, dormers with window hoodsWaterdown – 299 Dundas Street – Second Empire style, mansard roof, dormers in roof, cornice brackets, two-story tower-like baysWingham – Town Hall A.D. 1890 – Mansard roof, dormers, cornice bracketsWoodstock Book 1 – 126 Graham Street – c. 1860 – Second Empire – symmetrical three-story white brick, mansard roof, dentils, decorative cornice with large brackets, two-story bay windows flank entrance, decorated cut stone lintels, rough faced stone lintels second floor, dormers have decorative wooden frames, large front door is flanked by transom and side lights, an open portico protects the entrance – now Park Place Retirement CentrePeterborough Book 1 – 359 Downie Street – Second Empire style, mansard roof, window hoods, 2 story bay windows
Queen Anne, 1885-1900 – This style is distinguished by an irregular outline featuring a combination of an offset tower, broad gables, projecting two-story bays, verandahs, multi-sloped roofs, and tall, decorative chimneys. A mixture of brick and wood is common. Windows often have one large single-paned bottom sash and small panes in the upper sash.
Amherstburg Book 1 – 199 Dalhousie Street – Bondy House Bed and Breakfast – Century old Victorian Queen Anne home, turret called “Widow’s Walk†for a great view, trichromatic sidingBrockville – 12 Victoria Avenue – tower, iron cresting; stone keystones and banding; verge board trim, finials; bay windows; veranda with Doric columnsGrafton and Bolton Book – 6012 King Road, Nobleton – Hambly House – c. 1884 – It was originally built of logs but was rebuilt after a fire at the corner of Highway 27 and King Road.Niagara Falls Book 1 – 5982 Culp Street – Francis Sherriff and Thomas Bright started the Niagara Falls Wine Company (Brights Wines) in Toronto in 1874. They moved to Niagara Falls in 1890 to be closer to their major source of grapes. This house was built for Francis Sherriff in 1894 for a cost of $4000.00. It is in the Queen Anne Revival style with an asymmetrical form, deep porch, and an irregular roof line which includes gables, dormers and a turret. The house exterior is brick with decorative cedar shingles on the turret and in the gables. The three-part window in the front gable is an adaptation of the Palladian style; the central section has a round headed window. The large wraparound porch has Tuscan style columns that rest on a brick base topped with a square stone cap.Tillsonburg – 38 Ridout Street West – Casa di Luca Restaurant – This two and a half story house was built in 1870 as the manse for the adjacent United Church. The front facade has gingerbread in the gable, small dentil trim under the eaves, and rough stone window surrounds; two-story turret with a cone-shaped roof.Cambridge – Galt Book 1 – 22 Lansdowne Road North – verge board trim on gable, dichromatic brickwork, cornice brackets on bay windowEden Mills Book – Eramosa – turretFort Erie Book – Ridgeway – 348 Ridge Road NorthHamilton Book 5 – 252 James Street South – turretKemptville – 220-222 Prescott Street – de Pencier House – 1897- brick – tower, turret, iron crestingKingston Book 1 – 95 King Street East – Hendry House – 1886 – high Victorian house in Queen Anne style – asymmetrical design, variety of roof heights and construction materials; terracotta (hard kiln-fired clay) panels; third floor sleeping porch, turret; dichromatic tile workNiagara on Lake Book 2 – 177 King Street – The Romance Collection Gallery featuring the exclusive works of Trisha Romance and Tanya Jean PetersonOakville – 43 Dunn Street – towers, bay windows, balcony on second floor, cornice brackets – Cecil Marlatt’s estateOttawa Book 2 – 252 Metcalfe Street – Queen Anne Revival – built by lumber baron John R. Booth 1906-1909 – elaborately shaped gables, ornate stone molding, intersecting ridges of the roofPenetanguishene – 83 Fox Street – 1885 – home of Charles Beck and Amelia Dalms who had nine children (6 boys, 3 girls) – fretwork, turret, dormer, second-floor balcony, string courses wrap around the house; unique shape of window in gablePetrolia – 411 Greenfield Street – Town of Petrolia Municipal Offices – rose windowsPort Colborne Book 1 – 326 Catharine Street – The Harvie House built in 1900, it is a typical Queen Anne Revival style home and has a wraparound verandah with offset circular tower, two types of siding and a pyramidal roof. The house takes its name from the Harvie family who owned it from 1911 to 1951.Sarnia Book 1 – 127 Christina Street South – Lawrence Family mansion – Mr. Lawrence was a lumberman – 1892Simcoe – 364 Colborne Street – old castle – four-story tower with iron cresting on top; iron cresting above ground floor bay window, elaborate cornice bracketsSt. Marys Book 1 – 163 Church Street South – turret, dentil molding, dichromatic tile work, wraparound verandahSt. Thomas – 1 Wellington Street, St. Thomas – built 1878 (McLachlin House) – turrets, scroll work, bracketing, dormersTown of Lincoln Book – 5600 King Street West, Beamsville – The property was a Crown Grant of 52 acres to a loyalist from New Jersey named William W. Kitchen around 1790. He married Alice Beam and they had nine children. William and Alice’s youngest son, Jacob married Jane Dennis. Their only son, William Dennis Kitchen married Margaret Henry and built the house in 1885 on the bench of the escarpment, just west of the Thirty Mile Creek. The house was built with red bricks. The turret has square and rounded cedar shingles, topped with a finial. There are two tall corbeled chimneys, and a hipped roof with a flat belvedere. The gables have carved fretwork brackets and barge board. The tall bay windows are topped with segmental arches and decorative keystones. The front porch has an overhead balcony, and like the side porches, features turned posts, balustrades, spandrels and brackets. From 1999 to 2009, the house was owned and restored by Norman and Sherry Beal, who transformed the property into an estate winery. In 2009 Wendy Midgley and her husband Chef Ross Midgley purchased the Kitchen House and the Coach House from the Beals.Waterdown – 289 Dundas StreetWaterford – 3½ story towerWelland Book 1 – 24 Burgar Street – The Glasgow-Fortner House – 1859 – now Rinderlins Dining RoomsWhitby Book 1 – 404 Dunlop Street West – c. 1888-89 – Queen Anne Revival style – asymmetrical design – built for George Ross – Mrs. Ross was president of Whitby Women’s Institute and founder of the Victorian Order of Nurses in Ontario County.Windsor Book 2 – 694 Victoria Avenue – Queen Anne Revival style with Romanesque influence, 1890-95; cone-capped turret, cyclopean stone detail (stone construction marked by the use of large irregular blocks without mortar), ornamental terracotta insetWingham – turret, fretwork, voussoirs, keystonesWoodstock Book 2 – 36 Wellington Street North – c. 1854 -Queen Anne – full two-story with attic, red brick, gable roof, two hip roofs with dormers, two-story bay window with gable roof, verge board with pendant posts and large brackets, porch and balcony have turned posts, spindles, lattice and bric-a-brac, string course is patterned brickwork, six-sided two-story tower with steep hip roof topped with finial, paired post support gable roof side porchSt. Catharines Book 4 – 1 Montebello Place – varied roof line, turret, wraparound veranda on two levels, Palladian windows in gables, dormers
Victoria’s most distinct neighborhood geographically is James Bay, a peninsula with Beacon Hill Park on the east, the Inner Harbour on the north, Outer Harbour on the west and Strait of Juan de Fuca on the south. Compared with other neighborhoods in Victoria, James Bay is relatively flat, but undulates gently. The soil is predominantly deep loam except for a few outcrops of bedrock on the shoreline. Its only prominent watercourse was Providence Pond (near the corner of Oswego Street and Superior Street), a swampy lake emptied by a stream that flowed into Major Bay (where Fisherman’s Wharf Park is now).
British Columbia stands at the edge of a continent. Facing the world’s largest ocean, it is a province in continual transformation. The landscape has a natural diversity. British Columbia has deserts, alpine meadows, and coastal rain forests. It is the most biologically diverse province in Canada. Change is the only constant in B.C.’s natural history: A rain forest where a glacier once stood, a grassland that used to be a jungle.
North Park is one of Victoria’s oldest residential neighborhoods, and maintains its historical character of a diverse mixed-use community, bounded by Bay, Blanshard, Cook, and Pandora Streets. This is Victoria’s second smallest neighborhood, after Harris Green, at one square kilometer or about eighteen blocks. It is primarily a residential community, grounded by businesses, recreational facilities, and religious landmarks.
1002 Wharf Street 1874 – The Malahat Building/Old Victoria Custom House was designated a national historic site in 1987 because: it is closely associated with Victoria when the city was the preeminent commercial center on Canada’s Pacific Coast; and it is a rare surviving example of a 19th-century Second Empire style federal building. As the customs house for Victoria from 1875 to 1899, the Malahat Building served the city’s import and export trade during a time when Victoria was the busiest center on the West coast. Mining licenses for the Klondike gold rush were administered here. Key elements which relate to the heritage value of the Malahat Building include its simple, centralized, block plan on a high basement; its three-story elevation, with a roof-top viewing deck; its three-bay facade with central entry; its Second Empire style, evident in the mansard roof, classicized decorative treatment, and hooded dormers; its restrained detailing, including a bracketed wood cornice, stone corner quoins, string courses, and cut-stone window and door trim with keystones; its solid brick construction on a stone basement; its broad view of the harbor.1107-1125 Wharf Street – The Rithet Building is a three-story brick commercial building located on the east side of Wharf Street, facing the Inner Harbour. Built in four stages between 1861 and 1889, the Rithet Building embodies the early evolution of the city, and illustrates how new technology supported the growth of Victoria from fur-trading post to thriving commercial center. Its most notable feature is the decorative cast iron columns at street level, and pedimented window hoods on the second story. The columns were made in San Francisco on the earliest portion of this building, and this reflects the burgeoning trade links with the United States along the west coast of North America. The caduceus symbol located above each cast iron column on the storefront is another notable feature.601 Toronto Street – William and Margaret Garnham built 601, 603 and 609 Toronto Street in 1891-92 as revenue property. This is a one-story, cross-gabled Queen Anne cottage with a hipped roof on the rear behind the two side-gabled box bays. There are sandwich brackets in the eaves around the house, under the flat roof of the angled bay under the front gable, and in the frieze of the front porch. The porch has a flat-topped, hipped roof and two chamfered, bracketed square posts. The round-arched barge boards in the gables, connected by gable posts with drop finials, have triangular appliques with circular cut outs. The porch roof and the three gables have fish-scale shingles, the house is clad in drop siding.609 Toronto Street Mansard House built 1891 – This house is a modest example of the Second Empire-style, distinguished by its mansard roof. There are three round-arched dormers in the mansard, two on the front and one towards the rear on the right side of the house. The mansard is shingled with a contrasting-colored band of fish scale shingles. There is a small iron balustrade on the flat-topped, hip-roofed, box bay window on the front facade. The front porch to the left side was enclosed in the 1970s. The roof of the bay and the porch also have fish scale shingles. The house was raised in 1932 to accommodate the full garage below; instead of the garage, there is now a basement-level suite. The mansard roof is now unique in James Bay, and one of only about four such residences in Victoria. Margaret Priscilla (Reed, b. Quebec City 1840-1918) and William Garnham (b. Suffolk, England 1830-1908) bought this piece of Beckley Farm in 1890. William and second wife, Margaret, came to BC in the mid-1890s, and farmed in the Colquitz area of Saanich.627-629 Toronto Street613 Avalon Street 1890 Rose Thorp is a 1½-story Queen Anne Cottage with a widow’s walk on its steeply hipped roof. It has a fretwork panel in the pedimented gabled dormer on the front; there are shingled, gabled dormers on the other three sides. A cutaway angled bay on the left front is crowned by a pedimented gable. Fish scale and diamond shingles in the gable frame a Moorish-arched, 22-paned window with pilastered casings. A box bay on the left side has a shallow hipped roof sitting on the main roof. A bracketed frieze below the eaves surrounds the house. Queen Anne stained glass borders many upper panes of the double-hung windows; the lower sashes are single-paned, the upper sashes have horns. The shallow, bell-cast, hip-roofed Eastlake entry porch on the right front has turned posts, ornate carved arches, and an unusual balustrade. The house is clad in drop siding and has two corbelled brick chimneys.619 Avalon Street 1891 – This is a two-story, hip-roofed, cubical Italianate house with a two-story angled bay window on the right front and a one-story entry porch on the left with chamfered square supports and a decked hipped roof. There is a more recent one-story square bay window with a hipped roof on the right side, and a small gabled wing at the rear. It has closed eaves with a frieze board on the sides and vertical and diagonal board panels in front, and elaborate carved brackets all around. Most windows are one-over-one sashes with horns. It is clad in drop siding. The quietly imposing home conveys the material success of Frederick Jackson, co-owner of a drugstore, and his stature in the community as a celebrated athlete in baseball and rowing.624 Avalon Street 1904 – This Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts house was designed by Samuel Maclure. It is a characteristic 1½ story, steeply-pitched front-gabled house with a symmetrical upper story over an asymmetrical main floor. The front gable is separated from the main floor by a denticulated belt course. The main floor consists of a cutaway angled bay to the right of a recessed entry porch. The porch has three square chamfered posts and a closed balustrade. The house has a gabled full-height wing on the right side with a cutaway angled bay on the main floor; on the left side is a through-the-roof wall dormer with offset windows. Most of the windows on the house are six-over-one double-hung sashes with horns. The gables are shingled and the main floor is clad in beveled siding. There are two corbelled brick chimneys. Maclure designed this house to have only one finial in the front gable.634 Avalon Street 1890 Old Park Cottage was originally a one-story, hip-roofed Queen Anne Cottage; a large hip-roofed dormer was added on the left side in the 1980s. The house has a hip-roofed, angled, cutaway bay on the right front, and an original angled bay under the new dormer on the left side. The front door with stained-glass lights and transom window is sheltered by a small gable on brackets with a round-headed arch; the gable sits on the hip-roofed porch. The frieze is unusual in being coved and having a decorative metal trim along its lower border around the house. The house has one-over-one, double-hung windows, is clad in drop siding, and has a corbelled brick chimney. This house was built by carpenter/joiner John Nichols.146 Clarence Street 1883, 1896 – This two-story Italianate house has a low-pitched, multi-hipped roof which culminates in a square flat roof. Its wide eaves supported by sandwich brackets surround the house. The cornice and frieze are metal, as is the flared pent roof between the upper and lower angled bays on the front left wing of the house. Using metal instead of decorative wooden shingles on an 1880s Italianate is unusual. There is an angled bay towards the rear of the main floor on the left side. To the right of the front wing is a wide entry porch with bracketed, turned posts and a pilaster, under a shallow hipped roof. The right side of the porch formed the original extent of the house. The two-story 1896 addition to the right of the porch has wide, shallow, square bays on the main floor of the front and the right side of the house. There is a chunky, cantilevered second floor bay on the rear. The three main floor bays all have hipped roofs.132 South Turner Street 1890 This house is unique in a streetscape of largely intact turn-of-the-century homes running though James Bay, a peninsula on the southern edge of downtown Victoria. This one-and-a-half-story wood frame house is particularly notable for its ornate Queen Anne elements. The character-defining elements include: complex roof lines, with steep pitch and side-facing gables; steep front-facing gabled dormer containing balcony with turned supports matching verandah below; decorative verge-board ends with segmental arch, and gable top filled with curved extension of barge boards and half-timbering; Palladian window with rectangular central panel on front dormer balcony, with two sash windows; full-width front verandah wrapping around one side, with slim, turned supports; decorative brackets with triangular cut outs on porch columns, echoing applied blocks on top window and barge boards; large octagonal bay on south side, within verandah; tiny shed roof with fish-scale shingles over north window; corbelled brick chimneys with chamfered corners and stepped bases; drop siding, and decorative shingles; front garden and fence.570-572 Niagara Street 1908 – This is a two-story, bell cast-hip-roofed Edwardian Arts & Crafts house with widely spaced modillions in the eaves. The symmetrical upper front facade has a shallow, bracketed box bay with four double-hung windows; the lower is asymmetrical with a hip-roofed, cantilevered, angled bay on the left and side-facing steps leading to an inset open porch on the right with three chamfered square posts. The solid stepped balustrade of the stairs and the porch balustrade are covered in double-beveled siding. There are shallow box bays above cantilevered angled bay windows on each side of the house. The windows are all six-over-one with two diamond panes in the center of each upper sash; the muntins are wooden. The claddings are shingle on the upper floor and basement, with double-beveled siding on the main floor. There are two corbelled brick chimneys. The house is now duplexed.649 Superior Street Robert Porter House Bed and Breakfast – 1897 – This symmetrical, 1½-story, gable-on-hip-roofed house has bell cast, hip-roofed extensions on either side towards the rear. The gables have turned finials. On either side of the centrally-located open porch are wide, shallow box bays, each with a bell cast, hipped roof. The shallow-hip-roofed porch has three chamfered square posts on each corner which are connected by heavy brackets supporting wide, flat arches below the frieze. The front gable has half-timbering on cedar shingles, the body of the house and the porch balustrade are clad in drop siding, the stair balustrade has vertical V-joint Tongue and Groove.626 Blanshard Street 1876 – The Church of Our Lord is a Carpenter Gothic style wooden church with a separate annex called the Cridge Memorial Hall, located on the corner of Humbolt and Blanshard Streets. It is the oldest church in Victoria. Designed by architect John Teague, its simplistic vertical lines, steep gable roof, and board-and-batten siding distinguish it from the elaborate masonry churches nearby. The wood form of the Carpenter Gothic style is an excellent example of the adaptation of the classic Gothic style to suit local building materials. The Carpenter Gothic style elements which act as distinguishing features include the board-and-batten siding, vertical buttress piers, bell tower, rose window, and steep gable roof.1600-1602 Quadra Street built 1913 – This symmetrical, three-story, Classical Revival brick and concrete block edifice is dominated by its portico which is comprised of a modillioned, denticulated pediment above four cast concrete Ionic columns. The whole structure is raised a full story off the ground, and accessed by concrete block side-facing staircases on either side of a balustraded terrace. Three upper-floor, round-arched windows in the portico sit over pedimented entrances on the terrace. Slightly recessed, heavy corner blocks on either side of the portico continue around both sides of the building. All the windows on the upper floor are matching round-arched windows.1611 Quadra Street 1912 – This brick and stone church is a fine example of the Gothic Revival. Its picturesque asymmetry, steep copper spire, and window surrounds are details reminiscent of British architects of the Victorian era. It has a steeply-pitched, cross-gabled roof with parapeted gables; paired buttresses topped with tiers of stepped stone lead up to the front parapeted gable which sits high off the roof line. A small, five-sided bay with a conical roof is centrally located on the main gable below its windows. The eye is drawn to the slim, octagonal spire by tiers of paired, stepped, brick and stone buttresses on the square bell tower. The tower has two rows of large dentils above the vents for the bells. There are a multitude of Perpendicular Gothic arched windows with stone, quoined casings around the building. The southwest entrance has a steeply gabled roof; the north and south aisles have deep, shallower-pitched, shed roofs.612 David Street 1885, 1891 – This picturesque brick church sits on the prominent intersection of Gorge Rd and David St. The style is varied with both Gothic and Romanesque elements, reflecting the two stages of design and construction. The gable to the right of the square tower is the original 1885 building, with its date stone in the gable above three Gothic windows which echo the lower ones. The main roof on the later 1891 building has an octagonal lantern with a row of arched windows to light the interior. The square tower has a denticulated cornice and elaborate parapet with an obelisk at each corner. The main entrance on Gorge Road, with its triple arches in heavily rusticated sandstone, is Romanesque; a low curved tower with conical roof is located to the left and a higher square tower to the right. There are many arched windows, often in groups of three, some two stories high. The gables of the main facade have geometric decoration in the upper areas.Hatley Castle is on the grounds of Hatley Park and Royal Roads University in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia at 2005 Sooke Road. James Dunsmuir commissioned Samuel Maclure, a Victorian architect, to design the Hatley House Castle, and Messrs. Brett and Hall, landscape artists of Boston, Massachusetts, to plan the gardens and surroundings. Local stone, trimmed by Valdez and Saturna Island sandstone was used in the building’s construction. Its impressive exterior is matched only by the lavishness of the interior appointments; oak and rosewood paneled rooms, baronial fireplace, teak floors, and specially made lighting fixtures. The building is 200 feet long and 86 feet wide; the turret is 82 feet high. The wall surrounding the estate was also built of local stone and cost over $75,000; the Conservatory, costing a like amount, was at one time filled with white orchids imported from India; a large banana tree grew in the center under the dome. The rooms of the house were filled with flowers from the Conservatory throughout the year. Ten kilometers of road interlaced the estate, and a hundred men were employed in the gardens. There were a number of other buildings on the estate to provide for the needs of the large household, but many of these have now been demolished. The Castle was completed in 1908, and the Dunsmuir family took up residence in that year.St. Ann’s Academy is a testament to the dedication of the Sisters of St. Ann who were integral to the beginnings of education and healthcare in British Columbia. Built between 1871 and 1910, as a school and convent. Now a national historic site owned by the Ministry Citizens’ Services, St. Ann’s remains one of Victoria’s premier landmarks surrounded by heritage gardens and greenspace to provide an oasis in the center of the Capital city. Once Victoria’s first Roman Catholic Cathedral, it was built in 1858 and moved and added to the school in 1886. Like the many rural French-Canadian churches, it is modeled after, it has ornate altar and ceiling carvings, gold-leaf detailing, original oil paintings, stained glass windows and a 1913 Casavant pipe organ. The resplendent Novitiate garden at the side entrance to the Chapel has a geometric herb bed, perennials and a recreated 1925 summerhouse. The 1910 formal garden at the north-west corner of the property contains rare trees and the remains of a unique fountain. The Public Works Department of the BC government purchased the building from the Sisters of St. Ann in 1974. A portion of the building (the Interpretive Centre) was restored to a 1920’s appearance while the majority of the building was converted into modern office space. The Ministry of Advanced Education leases the office space while the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services operates the Interpretive Center, celebrating the history of this important landmark. The restored 1910 auditorium has also been restored and, along with 6 acres of grounds, is also available for public use.867 Humboldt Street – 1893 – Humboldt House is one of Victoria’s Historic Inns, has themed rooms — from “Edward’s Roomâ€, to the “Gazebo Roomâ€, and the “Oriental Roomâ€. Antique furnishings, wood-burning fireplaces, framed jade art pieces, and wooden shutters set a very Victorian tone while the Jacuzzi tub, king sized bed and free Wi-Fi provide some modern elements.
