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Drumbo and Blandford Blenheim Township, Ontario in Colour Photos – My Top 18 Picks

Drumbo and Blandford Blenheim Township

Drumbo acquired its name in 1852; the community was named after Drumbo, Ireland. It is located in Blandford-Blenheim Township, Oxford County at the crossroads of County Road #3 (Wilmot Street) and County Road #29 (Oxford Street); this is south of the 401 Highway and 24 kilometers northeast of Woodstock.

Princeton is located in Oxford County on Country Road #3, twenty-two kilometers east of Woodstock. Etonia, east of Princeton, and Gobles, west of Princeton, are both located on County Road 2. Richwood is located on Blenheim Road and Township Road 5, north of Etonia.

The village of Wolverton is named after its founder, Enos Wolverton (1810-1893), who built up a successful milling enterprise on the Nith River. Enos came to Upper Canada with his parents from Cayuga County, New York state in 1826. He married Harriet Towl in 1834 and had two daughters, Roseltha (Rose) and Melissa (Lissa), and five sons, Alfred, Daniel, Alonzo, Jasper and Newton. Enos’ brother, Asa Wolverton, became a successful businessman in nearby Paris, Ontario. The Crimean War (1854-1856) brought on an agricultural boom in Upper Canada and increased the Wolvertons’ fortunes.

Washington is on County Road 3 (Washington Road) and Regional Road 8, east of Plattsville and north of Drumbo.

Plattsville is located on Township Road 13 & 42 (Albert Street) and Regional Road 8. It is located north of Highway 401, and 32 kilometers northeast of Woodstock. The community was named for its founder, Edward Platt, who settled in 1811 and built a flour mill.

Bright is located where County Roads 22 and 8 cross. Windfall is located on Oxford Road 29, north of Highway 401, west of Drumbo, south of Bright.

Ratho is located on Blandford Road and Township Road 13, northwest of Bright.

Architectural Photos, Drumbo, Ontario
Drumbo – Yellow brick, Ionic pillars supporting an upper balcony, decorative trim on gable, dentil molding
Architectural Photos, Drumbo, Ontario
Drumbo – Italianate – cornice brackets, two-storey veranda
Architectural Photos, Drumbo, Ontario
Drumbo – #15 – Italianate – verge board trim on gable, pediment
Architectural Photos, Drumbo, Ontario
Drumbo – 23 Oxford Street – Prominent brackets on the cornice (roof overhang), triangular pediment above with a Palladian type triple window in the tympanum with the center window flanked by two lower windows
Architectural Photos, Drumbo, Ontario
Drumbo – c. 1880 – wraparound two-story veranda, cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Princeton, Ontario
Princeton – Neo-Classical style – hip roof, cornice brackets, semi-circular balcony above front door with sidelights and transom
Architectural Photos, Princeton, Ontario
Princeton – #30 – Italianate – hip roof, paired cornice brackets, bric-a-brac on veranda
Architectural Photos, Princeton, Ontario
Princeton – Gothic Revival style with gingerbread verge board and finial
Architectural Photos, Princeton, Ontario
Princeton – #12 – Italianate, cornice brackets, corner quoins
Architectural Photos, Princeton, Ontario
Princeton – #48 – Gothic Revival Regency Cottage
Architectural Photos, Wolverton, Ontario
Wolverton – Gothic, verge board trim on gable
Architectural Photos, Wolverton, Ontario
Wolverton – About 1855, Enos Wolverton built an impressive new three storey family home with a cupola which came to be known as Wolverton Hall – Regency style
Architectural Photos, Washington, Ontario
Washington – Gothic Revival stone cottage
Architectural Photos, Plattsville, Ontario
Plattsville – #32 – Gothic Revival – verge board trim on gable, second floor balcony
Architectural Photos, Plattsville, Ontario
Plattsville – #4 – Italianate, cornice brackets, two-story bay window
Architectural Photos, Plattsville, Ontario
Plattsville – 66 Albert Street – 3-story, Second Empire style with dormers
Architectural Photos, Ratho, Ontario
Ratho – Gothic
Architectural Photos, Ratho, Ontario
Ratho – wraparound veranda

Strathroy, Ontario in Colour Photos – My Top 10 Picks

Strathroy, Ontario

Strathroy-Caradoc is located west of the City of London.

After the War of 1812, the British government encouraged thousands of people from Britain to come to Southwestern Ontario. There were three main reasons for this:
1. The British were afraid that Americans would invade through the Sydenham River area again as they had at Baldoon. If there were settlements in the area, the settlers could warn the British and fight against the Americans.
2. In England, the end of the war meant that many soldiers were out of work. They were starving and homeless. In Ireland, landlords had mismanaged the lands, which led to the Potato Famine. Since potatoes were the main source of income and food, thousands of Irish were starving. In Scotland, landlords chose to graze sheep in the Highlands, and they forced the Scottish Highlanders to leave. In an effort to help these people, the British government began to give away land in Upper Canada.

3. Soldiers of the War of 1812 and the war with France expected land rewards from the King of England; there was no land left in Britain to give them. Land in Upper Canada was given away instead.

Land along the Sydenham River was sparsely settled, the land was fertile and flat which made it easier to clear. The river gave settlers fresh water, and power for their water mills. It could also be used as a highway to move goods to Detroit, where they could be sold. A new road had been built between London and Goderich, which made it easier to get to the Sydenham River by land.

When the government gave away land, there were often conditions the new owner had to live up to, including building roads, mills, and armies, but often, it meant inviting immigrants from Britain to live on their land. For example, a settler might receive 20 000 acres of land, but would be forced to give away 5,000 to other settlers. They would be expected to organize how the immigrants would get to the new settlement, what they would do when they arrived (such as raise sheep, beef or cotton), and help them settle in by building churches and schools. This is how settlements and villages were created along the Sydenham river.

In 1830 James Buchanan, the British Consul at New York City, acquired a tract of 1,200 acres of unsettled land in Adelaide Township. His son, John Stewart, settled there and built a sawmill and gristmill on the Sydenham River. These pioneer industries formed the nucleus of a settlement which was named Strathroy means “Red Valley” in Gaelic, and is named after James Buchanan’s birthplace in County Tyrone, Ireland. The construction of a branch line of the Great Western Railway through Strathroy in 1856 stimulated the growth of the community. The line was eventually connected to Michigan at Windsor, providing the farmers of Strathroy with an extra market for their produce.

Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
7 Kittridge Avenue West – Queen Anne – turret
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
418 Victoria Street – Italianate – paired cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
52 Frank Street – Town Hall – 1928 – reminiscent of a New England style of architecture combining beauty and utility
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
51 Front Street West – Founded by William McMaster just before the Confederation of Canada in 1867, the Canadian Bank of Commerce quickly became the dominant financial institution in the country. In 1883, this building on the corner of Frank and Front Streets, was constructed. It features a Doric inspired front with vertical pillars in the Classical Greek style.
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
97-99 Front Street – uneven roof line, second-floor balconies
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
145 Front Street – Gothic – corner quoins, shutters
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
153 Front Street – Italianate, 2½-story frontispiece, paired cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
189 Front Street – decorative verge board on center gable, paired cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
230 Albert Street – two-story tower-like bay windows, paired cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Strathroy, Ontario
144 Albert Street – Queen Anne style – turret

Cheltenham and Terra Cotta, Ontario in Colour Photos – My Top 12 Picks

Cheltenham and Terra Cotta, Ontario

Cheltenham – In 1816 Charles and Martha Haines and three children left England for New York; the following year they arrived in York, Upper Canada, where Charles, a millwright, built mills. In 1819, the Chinguacousy Township survey was completed and Haines purchased 100 acres along the Credit River with a mill site west of Creditview Road. The Haines family settled in what he named ‘Cheltenham’ after his birthplace. It is located north-west of Brampton.

In 1827 he built a grist mill, dammed the river and chiseled mill stones. In 1842, Frederick Haines, the second son, built Cheltenham’s first store. In 1845, the first tavern was built and run by C. Spence. In 1847, to meet demand, Haines built a larger mill with three runs of stone, and he constructed a saw mill on the south side of the river. In 1848, William Henry built an Inn. In 1850,the first blacksmith shop was built. In 1852, Cheltenham post office opened with William Allan as first postmaster. By 1853, Cheltenham had three hotels.

In the 1860s, the commercial core expanded with the addition of four shoe stores, a saddlery, and two cabinet makers. In 1874, the Hamilton & Northwestern Railway arrived north of the village (later became CNR). In 1877, the Credit Valley Railway arrived about one kilometer east of the village, accessed by Station Road. In the 1870s, Kee’s steam tannery was started and two distilleries produced ‘Cheltenham Wheat Whisky’. In 1887, fire destroyed a major block of buildings; rebuilding began. In 1914, Interprovincial Brick Company opened a plant just west of the village center.

In 1822, Joseph Kenny was awarded a Crown Grant in Chinguacousy Township of 100 acres along the Credit River on which much of Terra Cotta now sits. It is located south of Cheltenham. In 1857, Henry Tucker purchased 40 acres from Kenny to build grist and saw mills powered by a dam and mill race on the Credit River. Simon Plewes bought the mills in 1859 and the hamlet became known as Plewes Mills.

By the time a church, the Wesleyan Methodist Church, was built in 1862 the village had been renamed Salmonville for the annual spawning frenzy. A post office opened in 1866 and by 1874 there were thirty-four surveyed lots in the hamlet on the banks of the Credit River.

This early community spread westwards and straddled the boundary of Chinguacousy and Esquesing townships. This divided the village schoolchildren, their two schoolhouses being in opposite directions. By 1873 the village had acquired telegraph facilities, two sawmills and a grist mill, and in 1877 the Hamilton & Northwestern Railway arrived, stimulating local industry and farm exports.

Industry began with brickworks exploiting the local red clay, and by 1891 the post office was renamed Terra Cotta. In the 1930s, the brickworks became victims of the Depression and only a kiln chimney remains. Quarries east of Terra Cotta were established in the 1840s and the arrival of the railway broadened their market reach, allowing local sandstone to be used as far away as Ottawa in the Parliament Buildings.

In the 1940s, community enterprise expanded into recreation. The river’s abundant water resources were used to develop Clancy’s Ranch as a weekend resort, expanded in 1949 into Terra Cotta Playground, and purchased in 1958 by Credit Valley Conservation.

Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
14376 Creditview Road, Cheltenham – Frederick Haines House – circa 1887 -After losing his first home to the 1887 fire, entrepreneur Frederick Haines, son of Cheltenham’s founder, built this red brick house with intricate yellow brick patterning. Later additions are compatible with the original three gable Victorian Gothic style. In the 1940s-1950s, it became a United Church rest and holiday home. It later housed an antique shop before being converted back to a private residence. It has a bell cast roof over each front bay, an arched entry and etched glass transom and sidelights of the central entrance.
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
14411 Creditview Road, Cheltenham – King Store/Residence – circa 1870s -This Victorian Gothic general store/residence was built for Charles King, a Cheltenham merchant. In the 1880s, it became the Harris General Store with John and MaryAnn Harris living in the residence. Postmaster Albert Kee purchased it in 1928, removed the store portion and ran the post office here until 1931. His widow, Ada Louise Kee, took over as postmistress until she retired in 1958. There are cornice brackets on the eaves and there is a double Gothic window above the front bay window.
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
14396 Creditview Road, Cheltenham – 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-storey 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.
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
14387 Creditview Road, Cheltenham – Claridge House – circa 1915 – This ‘four-square’ frame house is built in the Edwardian Classical style characterized by an asymmetrical floor plan, pyramidal hipped roof and large attic dormers. The partially enclosed verandah has a roof slope that matches that of house roof above. The original owner was a carpenter.
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
14377 Creditview Road, Cheltenham – Neo-Classical Cottage – late 1850s -This 1½ storey frame cottage was likely built by John Lyons. It was sold soon after to Thomas Mercer who lived here for the next 20 years. The covered verandah with its hip roof has a banister running from both sides to the central entrance/steps along with a decorative frieze under the eaves.
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
1499 Mill Street, Cheltenham – Horatio Haines Cottage – circa 1847-1851 -This 1½ storey, timber frame Georgian style cottage is unique with its identical front and rear facades, providing views to the grist and saw mills across the river and to the developing village core. Haines family members were its builders, carpenters, lumber suppliers and intended occupants, the first being Horatio Haines, miller and fifth son of Charles and Martha Haines. Horatio died in 1856, aged 32 and it was later sold to his brother Frederick.
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
Mill Street, Cheltenham – Neo-Colonial – gambrel roof
Architectural Photos, Cheltenham, Ontario
14409 Creditview Road, Cheltenham – Beaver Hall – circa 1884 – This 1½ storey timber frame building was built by store owner John Harris, who rented it out to the community for political meetings, concerts and dances until the mid-1930s. Built into the hillside, it has a substantial stone foundation with an 1884 date-stone in the front wall. The main floor is supported with large squared timber beams visible in the unfinished basement ceiling. About 1900, a cement tile business operated from the back of the hall.
Architectural Photos, Terra Cotta, Ontario
King Street, Terra Cotta – Gothic Ontario Cottage
Architectural Photos, Terra Cotta, Ontario
396 King Street, Terra Cotta – The Grange – 400 m east of High Street – This building has evolved from John McComb’s 1840s squared timber cottage. In 1867 George Campbell and his brother William modified it into a two-family stone dwelling. It was inherited by George Campbell’s daughters in 1887 and later sold to Edward and Janet Little in whose hands it evolved into this elegant residence.
Architectural Photos, Terra Cotta, Ontario
49 Isabella Street, Terra Cotta – Stringer House – circa 1870s – This 1½ story Victorian Gothic house was originally a frame cottage later veneered in the red and yellow brick produced locally by Terra Cotta Pressed Brick. The projecting front bay has yellow brick detailing.
Architectural Photos, Boston Mills, Ontario
Boston Mills Road – log cabin

Belfountain and Inglewood, Ontario in Colour Photos – My Top 14 Picks

Belfountain and Inglewood

Caledon is a town in the Regional Municipality of Peel in the Greater Toronto Area. Caledon remains primarily rural. It consists of an amalgamation of a number of urban areas, villages, and hamlets; its major urban center is Bolton on its eastern side adjacent to York Region.

Caledon is one of three municipalities of Peel Region. The town is just northwest of the city of Brampton. In 1973 Caledon acquired more territory when Chinguacousy dissolved with most sections north of Mayfield Road (excluding Snelgrove) transferred to the township.

Some of the smaller communities in the town include: Alton, Belfountain, Boston Mills, Caledon, Caledon Village, Campbell’s Cross, Cheltenham, Inglewood, Mono Mills, Sandhill, Terra Cotta, and Victoria. The region is very sparsely populated with farms.

By 1869, Belfountain was a picturesque village in the Township of Caledon County Peel on the Forks of the Credit Road on the Credit River. There were stagecoaches to Erin and Georgetown.

After the survey of Caledon Township was completed in 1819, pioneers such as the Grahams, McColls, McCannells, Martins, Whites and McGregors settled in the area around present day Inglewood. They cleared the land, sharing common problems and interests.

In 1843, on the nearby Credit River, Thomas Corbett built a dam and dug a mill race to provide water power to run the Riverdale Woolen Mill. David Graham became a partner in the mill in 1860, and after a fire, reconstructed it in stone in 1871. By this time, Graham was Corbett’s son-in-law. The mill attracted potential employees and their families to the area. Early settlers discovered deposits of sandstone and dolomite nearby on the Niagara Escarpment. Joachim Hagerman opened a quarry in 1875, the first of many.

The Hamilton & Northwestern Railway arrived in 1877 and was crossed over by the Credit Valley Railway in 1878. The railways provided cheap and easily accessible transportation, for both locally quarried stone and manufactured goods of the woolen mill. A general store and railway hotel were soon built.

The village housing built in this period, much of it by Graham, reflected the Ontario Cottage form popular in that Victorian era.  Most houses were built using local lumber from the William Thompson Planing Mill, a more affordable option than brick. These cottages usually featured a front verandah, a center door symmetrically flanked by windows and a steep roof line with a front center gable surrounding a Gothic or arched window, the basic elements of the Victorian Gothic style. In Inglewood, most homes were left unadorned, a style referred to locally as Rural or Carpenter’s Gothic.

The increase in population gave rise to many small industries, and from the mid-1880s until 1910, Inglewood’s commercial growth included several general stores, a blacksmith, a livery and wagon maker’s shop, a butcher shop, a bakery, a general hardware and tinsmith business, a barber shop, glove factory, post office, library, and a branch office of the Northern Crown Bank.

Architectural Photos, Belfountain, Ontario
Bush Street, Belfountain – John Drury, schoolteacher 1905-1937 – Gothic, verge board trim on gable
Architectural Photos, Belfountain, Ontario
758 Bush Street – Belfountain General Store and Café – 1888 – dichromatic brickwork
Architectural Photos, Belfountain, Ontario
Old Main Street, Belfountain – It’s Roxies boutique – Gothic
Architectural Photos, Belfountain, Ontario
804 Forks of the Credit Road, Belfountain – verge board trim and finial on gable
Architectural Photos, Belfountain, Ontario
Belfountain – Log cabin
Architectural Photos, Belfountain, Ontario
Belfountain – Two-story bay window in gable, one-story bay to left of door
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
15666 McLaughlin Road, Inglewood – General Store – c. 1910
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
15641 McLaughlin Road, Inglewood – Northern Crown Bank – mid 1880s – Ontario Cottage with decorative Victorian Gothic trim details
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
McLaughlin Road, Inglewood – verge board trim on gable with finial, corner quoins, dormer
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
15640 McLaughlin Road, Inglewood – Caledon Hills Cycling – Victorian Gothic style building was Inglewood’s first general store stocking all that was needed by the community in daily produce and dry goods.
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
15612 McLaughlin Road, Inglewood – General Store – 1886 – George Merry built this red brick, hip roofed general store and located a bake-oven at the rear. Note the date stone, brick facade, paired brackets and the verandah’s decorative spool-work trim.
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
74 McKenzie Street, Inglewood – Victorian – c. 1890s – Ella Trought and Herb Spratt were given this 1½ story frame house for their marriage in 1916 and lived here for over 50 years. Herb and his brother Harold ran the hardware store their father Arthur had operated.
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
53 McKenzie Street, Inglewood – Mill Worker’ Cottage – mid 1880s – This 1½ story frame Ontario Cottage is built with a center entry, steep center gable and Gothic window in a style known locally as Rural Gothic or Carpenter’s Gothic. In 1905, Jacob Sithes purchased the house from mill owner David Graham.
Architectural Photos, Inglewood, Ontario
20 Lorne Street, Inglewood – Henry Sithe House – c. 1912 – This ‘four square’ house is built in the Edwardian Classical style characterized by an asymmetric floor plan, pyramidal hipped roof, large attic dormer and a full verandah; it has heavy limestone window lintels and sills. It was built for Annie Puckering and Henry Sithe, who was a railway foreman.

Port Hope, Ontario Book 4 in Colour Photos – My Top 14 Picks

Port Hope, Ontario Book 4

Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
57-59 King Street – Charles Clemes Duplex – c. 1876 – This semi-detached brick house is in the Second Empire style. Its colossal three-story scale is more impressive because of the semi-detached arrangement, symmetrically divided. Both halves of the composition contain a complex array of detail. The distinguishing elements are the steeply pitched mansard roof in cedar-shingles, and the gabled dormers with eaves returns and molded pilasters framed around segmentally-arched windows. A third facade dormer, centrally placed, boasts slender lights and is topped with a bracketed pediment. The facade has two-story bay windows trimmed with band courses and decorative panels in brick; dentilled cornice and paired brackets; slender windows with original glazing intact, some flat arched, some with segmental arches, some round headed; twin entrances with prominent arched transoms and paneled double doors.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
8 King Street – Robert Mitchell House – c. 1850 – This one-and-a-half story Gothic cottage has three bays to the ground floor, and is constructed of brick laid in Flemish bond with a coarse rubble foundation. The steep pitch of the gable roof, and the three steeply pointed gables containing pointed windows are distinguishing Gothic characteristics. The French doors on the ground floor and the front door with sidelights and ogre transom are typical of the Regency style. On the gable ends of the house are returned eaves. The porch in front of the main entrance, with its carved detail is a later addition. Robert Mitchell (1799-1865) was a carpenter. Originally from Ireland, he arrived in Port Hope in the early 1830s. As an active member of the early Methodist congregation, he along with builder Phillip Fox constructed the first frame Methodist Church located on Brown Street in 1833 (on a lot across the street from the present church.) His brother, William Mitchell (1799-1871), who was also a carpenter, resided in a dwelling a few doors to the south of Robert’s house. Robert’s children established businesses in Port Hope and were prominent merchants.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
20 King Street – John Read House – c. 1870 – This two-story house is clad in brick laid in an unusual pattern exhibiting paired headers between the normal stretcher pattern. This is similar to a type known as garden wall bond. The house has a low-pitched hipped roof with projecting eaves. Under the eaves lie pairs of tooled “S” brackets on a molded frieze. The window openings are flat and are headed by a brick radiating voussoir. The front facade top-story windows have brick sills, which have replaced the wooden lugsills that sit below all of the home’s other windows. The front facade has a one story bay window with a hipped roof and eaves jutting out. A molded corona decorates the plain cornice. Beneath this are medalioned block brackets set on a molded frieze panel which has been intricately decorated with carved swirling medallions. The main entrance is framed by a flat-topped portico which is highly decorated in the same fashion as the bay and is supported further by carved brackets and beveled posts. A molded panel encloses the bottom portion of the portico. The main entrance is a paneled door flanked by sidelights and headed by a flush, light transom panel. A one-story side addition has pilasters, which run to the eave line of the balcony above. A molded and paneled balustrade capped by round urns encloses the balcony. Underneath the eaves one can see decorative stepped brickwork.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
53 King Street – St. Mark’s Rectory – c. 1878 – It is a good example of the late Victorian villa with Italianate details in red brick complete with its essential exterior details of two story bay window, paired brackets to eaves, and gables, elaborate front verandah, Victorian sashing and entrance door case. In 1956, St. Mark’s Church sold the Ambrose House (50 King Street) in order to purchase this house located directly beside the Church for use as a rectory.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
55 King Street – Charles Wickett House – c. 1909 – This house was built for Charles Hearn Wickett, a prominent dry goods merchant. About1920 the first floor was extended to the south and the back verandah added. It is side gabled, three storys, triple brick, stretcher bond on a cement foundation. It has an irregular cedar shake roof, gables half timbered on stucco, hooded windows and dormers. The fenestration is the most impressive feature with a total of 47 multi-faceted windows in a variety of groupings. Except for the neoclassical front entrance and back verandah this house is an interesting Canadian vernacular version of the Arts and Crafts style of architecture. The house has a symmetrical plan with a large hall, three reception rooms, a large kitchen and butler’s pantry on the main floor, four bedrooms plus a sewing room and bathroom on the second, and another three bedrooms and bathroom on the third. In 1912, the living room was enlarged by extending the main floor at the front to the south. In the space created behind the extension a two-sided verandah was added.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
61 King Street – R. Charles Smith House – c. 1858 – The house is basically a hip roof Regency Villa with a central hall plan. The main west facade is relieved by a central projection with a pedimental gable, and pilasters, articulating the south wall and each corner, enhance the mass and solidity of the structure. Decorative projecting header bricks under the wide eaves resemble dentils. The two tall brick chimneys on each side of the house are ornamented with brick dentils and with recessed panels. A verandah spans the south side of the house and has eight-sided posts resting on paneled square bases, and carved details below the roof line. There is a bay window in the frontispiece consisting of one six over six, and two two-over-two double hung sash. Robert Charles Smith (1817-1886) built this impressive brick house for himself and his wife Sara. The house is across the street from his father’s house (John David Smith), the Bluestone (21 Dorset Street East). In 1851, R. Charles Smith contributed to the building boom that occurred during the early 1850s by building a commercial block at 48-60 Walton Street. He established himself as a lumber dealer.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
117 King Street – Elias Peter Smith House (The Little Bluestone) – c. 1834 – The little Bluestone is a small Upper Canadian house, little more than a cottage. Certain elements are related to the Bluestone, but here the local stone also stuccoed is supplemented by limestone of better quality for sills, lintels and string course instead of the red sandstone used in the larger house. The principal external feature which gives such distinction to the facade is the door case, but its dominance over the adjoining windows is relieved by the judiciously placed semi-circular attic light in the gable. In 1834, John David Smith married his second wife Augusta and built the Bluestone (21 Dorset Street East). In that same year, J.D. Smith’s eldest son, Elias Peter Smith (1807-1860) married Sophia Soper (1803-1885) and the Little Bluestone was built on the same estate. Elias Peter Smith was named after his grandfather, Elias Smith, one of the founding fathers of Port Hope. He was the Manager of the local branch of the Bank of Upper Canada located in the 1840’s on Walton Street (118-120 Walton Street).
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
15 Baldwin Street – William Hewson House – c. 1850 – This is a one-story cottage from the north facade, while a view of the south facade shows two storys. It is a classic example of the Ontario Cottage with three bays and a center gable in its hipped roof. The house is done in narrow clapboard. The building has well-proportioned exterior features and a center-hall plan. At the gable peak in the center of the main facade sits a finial; directly below this, tucked into the gable, is a semi-circular fanlight divided into five parts by narrow radiating muntins. Between the main facade’s windows and directly below the fanlight is a small, enclosed porch. Small double windows of three panes each are located on the front face of the porch which has a truncated hipped roof. The sashed windows are six-over-six and have slightly protruding lugsills that are decorated with end drops resembling acorns. The windows are treated with eared label surrounds. The horizontally louvred shutters on the main facade are for decoration. 15 and 11 Baldwin Street were built by William and Henry Hewson. The Hewson brothers were born in England and arrived in Port Hope in the early 1840s.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
35 Baldwin Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, cornice brackets, attractive porches, arched voussoirs
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
108 Bruton Street – Nathaniel Gillespie Cottage – c. 1854 – This is an Ontario Cottage, single story frame house with a hipped roof and a semi-circular window in the central gable. the sun porch now masking the front is a more recent addition and may replace an earlier verandah, a feature to be expected on the south face. Nathaniel Gillespie (1821-1899) was originally from County Armagh Ireland. He and his wife Cecelia emigrated to Canada in 1847. He established himself as a painter, during the building boom of the 1850s and it is an occupation he would have his entire life. The house remained in the Gillespie family, transferring to son Robert Tobias in 1899 after the death of both Nathaniel and Cecelia, which occurred within two days of each other.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
159 Bruton Street – William Skitch Cottage – c. 1861 – This is a diminutive example of the Ontario cottage with a hip roof, front gable with fanlight and end chimneys; the house is set over a high basement so that the rear allows more light to the cellar. The facade has a center door with transom above flanked by French windows. The building has a rear wing. The exterior is rendered in roughcast, but there is evidence of the original stucco finish scored to look like ashlar. William Skitch (1823-1894) was born in Stratton, Cornwall, England in 1823, emigrating to Canada in 1850. His wife, Anne Burney and five children arrived later that year. William established a tailoring business. Unfortunately, his shop was located in the Quinlan Block (78-92 Walton Street), which was destroyed by a fire in 1866. He was left with only his tailor irons as a result of not having any insurance. He was able to re-establish his business and by 1871, son Henry (1849-1924) was also a tailor. He took over the family business when William died in 1894.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
254 Ridout Street – Richard Trick House – c. 1851 – This house is one of the finest examples of a brick Ontario Cottage in Port Hope. It is a raised cottage with the front entrance elevated from street level and approached by double stairs. The heavy lintels of the basement windows form a continuous line with the entrance platform. Capping the house is a low-pitch hipped roof with projecting eaves and a center gable. The cornice is boxed and has fine crown molding. Each corner and the ends of the gable have small acorn drops. A turned finial and drop pierce the front gable apex. Beneath the eaves is an interesting brick frieze which consists of protruding brick courses enclosing brick dentiling. An open circle of brickwork decorates the front gable. All of the front facade windows have timber lintels, which appear to be twice the height of the lugsills below. The main-story openings hold paired, double-sash windows with doubled, mullioned transoms above. At each window corner, just under the lintels, protruding blocks have been placed. This is a small but classic example of imagination and care on the part of the planner. The main entrance in its molded housing consists of a paneled door, flanked by sidelights. Topping the door is an unusual ogee transom with well-arranged muntins. The corners of the house exhibit brick quoins. The entire house is a showcase for the talents of Richard Trick, the original owner of this house, and a prominent local bricklayer. Richard Trick (1822-1890), originally from Hartland, Devon, England, came to Canada with his brother William about 1836. He established himself as a local mason and was responsible for building many of Port Hope’s important brick structures.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
267 Ridout Street – c. 1851 – corner quoins, transom above entrance, multi-paned windows, shutters
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
284 Ridout Street – Thomas Spry Cottage (Forge Cottage) – c. 1850 – The house is a good example of local Georgian styling of the one and a half story cottage design with a center hall plan, constructed of two course local brick. Some of the features are the brick pilasters, the entrance sidelights and transom. The window above the main door is known as an eyebrow window, which was to provide light to the upstairs hallway. The large twelve-paned windows provide excellent lighting and ventilation most of which is still the original glass. Rectangular multi-paned sidelights and a transom of the same style and dimension flank the Palladian proportioned front entrance. A unique fanlight window that provides light to the upper story appears to rest on the door lintel. Forge Cottage was built by Thomas Spry; the name of the cottage is a reference to his trade.

Port Hope, Ontario Book 3 in Colour Photos – My Top 10 Picks

Port Hope, Ontario Book 3

Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
44 Pine Street North – c. 1816 – The two-story brick house in the Tudor Manor style has a steeply pitched gable roof, two chimneys, decorative buttresses, stepped gables with thickly molded windows, and enclosed front porch. on the ground floor there are double casement sash windows with Gothic tracery and a quatrefoil pattern in the top two panes. On the frontispiece above the brick porch is a Gothic arched double casement sash window. The brick porch is reinforced at the corners by attached pillars.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
82 Victoria Street South – Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams House (Penryn Park) – c. 1859 – Penryn Park is an excellent example of the Cottage Gothic house. It includes details such as barge board trim truer to the medieval pattern in their cusped and carved form than the lacy interpretation common to other buildings of the period. The house has hood molds to openings and a Chinese pagoda roof over a rear second-story window and a tower at the entrance, which might be expected of the mid-nineteenth century Picturesque. Fine finials and pendants adorn the gables. A long verandah with chamfered pillars runs along the south side of the house; originally narrow, it was widened by three feet in 1895. The house is constructed of local bright red brick with woodwork painted the appropriate period color of Tuscan red. The front steps display cast-iron risers. The oldest chimney is a joined chimney with six flues. Penryn Park was built for one of Port Hope’s most famous citizens – Colonel Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams. His father, John Tucker Williams, came to Canada during the War of 1812 and later settled in Port Hope to become its first Mayor. Arthur T.H. Williams was born in Port Hope in 1837. Arthur attended Upper Canada College in Toronto and Edinburgh University in Scotland. Like his father, he held many responsible positions in the town in addition to managing the family’s business enterprises that included large land holdings and investments in timber and mines. His political career included being elected several times to the Ontario legislature from 1865 to 1875, and later holding the position of Conservative MP in Ottawa from 1878 to 1885. After his marriage to Emily Seymour in 1859, Colonel A.T.H. Williams commissioned architect Edward Haycock to design his house named Penryn Park on the vast acreage adjacent to his father’s house, Penryn Homestead (82 Victoria Street). A.T.H. Williams is best remembered for his military career. He was Colonel of the 46th Regiment and saw service during the Fenian Invasion. As Commander of the Midland battalion during the Riel rebellion of 1885, he led a daring charge against the Metis that resulted in victory at Batoche, Saskatchewan.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
82 Victoria Street South – John Tucker Williams House (Penryn Homestead) – c. 1828-1829 – The exterior appearance is the result of extensive alterations made in the 1890s. These included the bricking over of the roughcast walls, the building of the two projecting porches to the north and south through the full height of the house, and a rebuilding of the roof, which altered its pitch and extended its eaves. The exterior double doors have a rectangular transom above them. The roof is a medium pitched hip with center flat deck and has brick chimneys. Each of the projecting porches has returned eaves, ornamental dentils, and a small circular window below the peak. From the main facade projection extends a porch with fluted Doric pillars and a carved radiating fan decoration in the pediment. On the north front projection is a pair of shuttered casement windows, and on the north facade wall are four two-over-two double hung shuttered sash windows.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
17 Victoria Street South – Samuel Coombe Cottage – c. 1860 – This is a one story high hip-roofed Ontario cottage, roughly square in plan with an ell to the rear. Constructed in stretcher-bond brick, it stands on a level site on a corner lot. The facade is symmetrically arranged around a central front door flanked by sidelights and transom. The gable is decorated with barge board and accented by a round-headed window and topped by a spike finial and ornament. Of special interest is the front door vestibule that could be seasonally removed in the warmer months. Samuel Coombe (1826-1905) was born in Stowford County, Devon England emigrating to Port Hope during the prosperous early 1850’s. He made a contribution as a carpenter during the building boom, and into the following decades.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
345 Lakeshore Road – William & Augusta Fraser House (Dunain) – c. 1857 – It was named Dunain (translated means Hill of the Birds) after the family’s ancestral home near Inverness in Scotland. The house was built by William A. Fraser on land given by his wife’s family, the Williams, owners of Penryn Homestead. In 1898, the house was taken over by Mr. Fraser’s daughter, Sarah and her husband, Frederick Barlow Cumberland. The Cumberland coat of arms etched on stained glass graces the front entrance window. The style of the original house is Loyalist Georgian with its dignified symmetry but this house exhibits a breakaway from the rigid symmetry of earlier Georgian houses. The porch and portico were added to the north side in the latter part of the century, as was the conservatory to the south, which was rebuilt again in the early part of the 20th century. The original portion of the house is a two-story red brick structure with a symmetrically placed front door, and symmetrically placed windows. The roof is a hip roof with wide overhangs and bold cornice fascia. The roof culminates in a glass roofed Belvedere bringing light into the central hall below. There is a west wing, probably originally servants’ quarters constructed in the same manner as the main house and capped by a Belvedere, lighting the center hall of this wing. A further addition was made to this west wing to accommodate a more modern kitchen, constructed in a similar manner to the original house. In the latter part of the 19th century, the front portico and porch were added to the north side of the house, the style of which is more Classic Revival popular in that period. The porch is a good example of the classical period with classical Doric columns and a wide entablature and in-filled with large windows extending to the ceiling inside. These windows are an eight over sixteen central window with four over eight sidelights on both floors, and sides of the portico and paneled. The railing for the upper porch completes this classical composition. To the southeast is a conservatory constructed in steel and is an excellent example of early 20th century greenhouse construction. This present structure replaces an earlier conservatory.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
22 Shortt Street -Thomas White House – c. 1890 – The style of this frame two-story house can be described as cottage with horizontal wood ship lap siding, six over six windows and simple trim. The plan is unusual with a side entrance accentuated by a simple but elegant porch. High pitched cross axis roofs add particular interest to this house. The front of the house has a picket fence. White was originally from England, born in 1838, and as of the 1881 census had four daughters and one son. The house remained in the White family for many decades transferring to the White children in 1929.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
48 Bloomsgrove Avenue – Thomas B. Chalk House – c. 1890 – This late Victorian two-story brick house has fine brick detailing. The center bay of the house has two large arched windows (typical of the Romanesque style) with stained glass semicircular transoms. Above is a protruding bay window in frame with fine wood detailing and a large arched top central window. The peak of the roof above has decorative fretwork suggesting a more Edwardian period. The side bay has a similar arched top window. On either side of the house is a porch. The west porch protects the front door located on the side of the building, while the east porch provides a kitchen entrance. Each of these porches has decorative columns and fretwork. A side bay window is similar to the front bay window. The brickwork has decorative brick arches over windows, brick corbels with specially formed brick, brick banding, and decorative brick chimneys.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
5 Bloomsgrove Avenue – Robert Horsey House – c. 1870 – Robert Horsey was a Port Hope carpenter. This one and a half story, two bay house is rectangular in plan and constructed of brick veneer laid in stretcher bond with a coarse rubble foundation. The roof is a high gable, gable end to the street, and contains some decorative trim at the apex. The eaves consist of a plain boxed cornice. The shuttered windows on the upper story are six over six double-hung sash with plain surround and lugsills. The decorative details on the porch are Victorian details.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
98 Ontario Street – Thomas Wickett House (Penstowe) – c. 1894 – Although built in the Queen Anne Revival style, it has detailing of the Romanesque style. The roof is irregular and complicated, but is composed basically of several steeply pitched gables and one overhanging gable dormer. The gables are pedimented with some rafters exposed. The pediment has a set of triple windows in a bold wooden surround. Trimming the windows are tooled pilasters and heavy entablature. Decorative shingles complete the pediment. The stretcher-bond brick house has various types of structural openings from flat on the top story, to segmental on the projecting south bay, to rounded Romanesque on the front facade. Voussoirs head most windows, but protruding arched gables of brick surround the semi-elliptical openings. Stringer courses join the sills of the house and join the tips of the arches on the main facade. The main door is set in one of the arched openings, but is itself flat. The house has a second-story bell-cast balcony adorned with heavy turned balusters and turned columns. The balcony roof is supported by brackets and has a molded frieze. The open end of the balcony is partially filled by lattice-like woodwork. The spooled columns are turned and have a rounded, bulbous appearance. On the first story, a shed-roofed porch with the same characteristics can be seen. The house sits on a squared-stone foundation with segmental basement windows.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
162 Peter Street – This two-story house is indicative of the Italianate Style Victorian house. A symmetrically placed entrance is noted for its heavily decorated portico topped by iron balustrade made in the foundry of the original owner. The entrance is flanked by two bay windows with similar iron topping. The roof overhangs are supported by brackets typical of this Italianate period and is topped by a widow’s walk. The semi-circular window over the entrance designed in a Florentine pattern is of particular interest. Another interesting point is the unusual width of the overhanging eaves with their double brackets.

Port Hope, Ontario Book 2 in Colour Photos – My Top 16 Picks

Port Hope, Ontario Book 2

Before Canada became a nation in 1867, Port Hope was already a boom town. Its main streets were thronged with horse-drawn carriages and farmers’ wagons, its plank sidewalks crowded with shoppers and merchandise. Wood-burning locomotives pulled heavily loaded trains through town on their way to a harbor filled with schooners and steamships. Solid brick commercial blocks and houses lined the streets.

The town grew rapidly from four families of English descent who arrived by boat in 1793 and settled at the river mouth. Until then the area had been home to aboriginal groups—Huron, then Iroquois, and finally Mississauga—attracted by the salmon and sturgeon that swarmed in its river.

The first European settlers came from the new United States. They had chosen to follow the British crown after the American Revolution. More families arrived including blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers, and merchants. The mills drew farmers from fifty and sixty kilometers away. Grain that could not be milled was bought by distilleries—there were eventually five along the river—that produced a famous Port Hope whisky. In 1856 the Grand Trunk Railway connected Port Hope to Toronto and the Atlantic seaboard. Its viaduct over the Ganaraska River was the second greatest engineering challenge on the route, exceeded only by bridging the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.

Another railway heading north from Port Hope opened up the vast timberlands and new farms of central Ontario and stretched to Peterborough and Lindsay. Eventually it reached Georgian Bay, at Midland. Down this line came great loads of timber and grain. Some went east to England, but most was exported to the USA through Rochester across the lake.

Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
86 John Street – The Bank of Upper Canada – c. 1857 – The three-story brick structure is almost square and is a good example of Italianate architecture with a flat roof, protruding eaves supported by ornamental molded brackets, tall and round-headed windows and decorative window trim. The exterior walls have recessed panels in the brickwork and the white brick was manufactured in Toronto. A stone band course separates the coursed rubble foundation from the brick structure. On the main facade, there are nine openings, two windows and one entrance way on the first story, and three windows on each of the second and third floors. The first story windows are round-headed and six over three double hung with a round-headed center pane and five surrounding panes over three vertical panes. These windows are surmounted by molded wooden “pedimental” surrounds. Double pilasters on each side are formed out of the brick. The second story windows are flat six over nine double hung sash, surmounted by molded “entablature” surrounds with a central flourish, and bordered by single brick pilasters. The center window has been replaced by French doors, and opens out to the cast iron railed balcony on top of the front porch. The original cast iron balconies of the other second story windows have been replaced by plain modern iron rails. Three projecting rows of brick form the sills on the second story fenestration. The third story windows have segmental molded wood heads, and have brick pilasters at the sides, and wooden lugsills with supporting brackets. The Bank of Upper Canada was established in York (Toronto) in 1822. Until its demise in 1866, the bank was one of British North America’s leading banks. It played a significant role in the financial development of Upper Canada.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
94 John Street – J.D. Smith House – c. 1835 – symmetrical arrangement of windows around the central front door with pilastered doorcase and transom, two-story gable roof with brick end chimneys, timber frame construction sheathed in clapboard. A one story hipped roof addition is at the side, and if not original is fairly early; it provided a separate entrance to the taproom. The house had its historic beginnings as a local tavern.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
25 John Street – Meredith House – c. 1853 – This symmetrical design with two-story bay windows flanking the wide double entrance is a good example of late Victorian brick building. Decorative trim appears on the front facade. A flat roof, simple chimney, and two-story verandah are additional features.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
27 John Street – The Cochrane House – c. 1848 – This two and a half story frame dwelling is an early example of the Greek Revival. It is a square house with a side-hall plan and gable roof. The main facade has three bays and the main entrance to the house is located on the north side of the facade. The entrance is simple, yet gracefully done. The wide, closed transom, with its plain entablature, helps to frame the entrance. On either side of the door are plain, wooden pilasters. The entrance is reached by a wide flight of stairs. All of the windows have the original sashes of six panes over six panes. They all have molded wooden surrounds and flush wooden sills. The Cochrane House is named for James Cochrane, the original owner and proprietor of the Queen’s Hotel (81 Walton Street). James Cochrane (1815-1900) was born in County Down, Ireland in 1815. He came to Canada in 1841, and settled in Port Hope. In 1871, he built the Queen’s Hotel.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
50 John Street – Y.M.C.A. (Young Men’s Christians Association) – c. 1874 – The main floor of the two-story front contains round arched main entrance (asymmetrically placed) and secondary flat-arched entrance at left. Between are brick pilasters enclosing a plain window and transom. The second story has a central projecting panel into which a circular window with quatrefoil glazing is placed. Twinned narrow windows, symmetrically placed, complete the composition. Separating the two storys is a band course. The cornice is molded and at center is an unusual peak with applied ornament. The roof is of the shed type.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
10-12 Mill Street South – Customs House and Registry Office – c. 1845 – This three-story parapet gabled brick commercial building retains its original features on the upper storys but has been considerably altered on the ground floor level, although the separate three entrances still remain. Five double-hung sash are on the second and third floors. The medium peaked roof is supported by decorative eave brackets on the front facade. A wooden shop front cornice runs along the front facade. T. Ward was the Registrar during that period and by 1853 this building was being used as the Customs House and Registry Office. Port Hope was constituted as a port of entry in 1819, however, it was not until 1829, that a harbor was established. A wharf was constructed on the east side of the river and a pier was established on the west side. By the late 1840s, Port Hope was a bustling port and busy commercial area; modifications and expansions were made to the harbor in the ensuing decades. As a port of entry, a Customs House was required. Additionally, the building served as the Registry Office, a repository of legal land transactions until 1871, when a separate Registry Office was built on the north side of Mill Street (17 Mill Street North).
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
17 Mill Street North – County Registry Office East Durham – c. 1871 – The Land Registry Office is an attractive Neo-Classical brick building, simple in its single story silhouette and gable roof of medium pitch. The gable end, which forms a triangular pediment, faces the street and presents a three-bay facade with projecting vestibule. All the door and window openings are crowned with true semi-circular arches. On the facade these are recessed into arched brick panels and topped with keystones. Band courses in brick and a plinth add decorative emphasis to the masonry. Still visible and of significance is the painted sign over the front door that reads “East Durham 1871. The structure is unique, composed of three brick vaults that run across the width of the building. The building’s prime objective, fireproofing, was essential to its role as a safe depository for all legal documents affecting land ownership. It follows a plan established by the provincial government in the 1870s.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
37-41 Mill Street North – This is a three story, brick building with gable roof with parapet walls and end chimneys. The windows at street level are conventional sash. At second and third storys, the windows are glazed in original six over six sash. The brick arches are remarkable for the angle of their splay, which creates a decorative pattern unusual in Port Hope. The upper cornice is distinguished by a decorative bracket and molded boards. 41 Mill Street – Crawford Block – c. 1848 – is the north third (left of picture) of a very important terrace. Henry Howard Meredith purchased the Crawford Block in July 1853. Robert Crawford, a saddler and tanner located on Ward Street, had built the block. In 1853, Henry Howard Meredith acquired this block of townhouses. In a rental advertisement of 1860, he described the townhouses as “three comfortable three story Brick Dwelling houses on Mill Street North of the Post Office. These houses are particularly well adapted for persons requiring residences in the business part of Town, or for persons wanting a dwelling house with offices adjoining”.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
46 Cavan Street – c. 1842 – The Chalk Works is one of the few buildings that remain from Port Hope’s industrial heyday. The brick structure stands three storys high with a gable roof, rounded corner in header bond. Robert Chalk (1820-1890), an English immigrant born in Biddeford, Devonshire, England, settled in Port Hope in 1842 at the age of 22, and established a wagon and carriage-making business. Chalk Carriage Works was located on Cavan Street on the steep hill where South and Cavan Street meet, a hill that was sometimes referred to as Chalk’s Hill. Many of Port Hope’s early industries were located on Cavan Street on the Ganaraska River. The Chalk Carriage Works manufactured lumber wagons, cutters and carriages and provided blacksmithing as well.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
72 Augusta Street – Smith Cottage – c. 1865 – This is a 1½ story brick cottage perched high on a hill with a grand overlook to the south. The porch was restored based on archival photos. The simple center hall plan is punctuated by a protruding center bay entrance.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
78 Augusta Street – Thomas McCreery House – c. 1875 – This is a late Victorian Italianate design, with the characteristic irregular plan, ell-shape to the front and with the tower crowned by a steeply pitched mansard roof, with a gable and with iron cresting to the small flat deck. The ornamented window heads and door arch with their incised decoration, projecting keystones and scrolls are probably cast stone. Florid Renaissance detail, multi paneled doors and square towers are typical of the Italianate style. Brown and green were popular colors used on details. Thomas McCreery was the proprietor of a billiard saloon on Walton Street during the late 1860s and early 1870s. By the 1880s, he was a grocer on Mill Street, and later sold ale and porter from a shop located in the Robertson Building at the corner of Queen and Walton (35 Walton Street).
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
86 Augusta Street – James Leverich House – c. 1877 – The house is a good example and characteristic of a mid-Victorian villa in the picturesque manner. Two story bay windows and paired brackets to eaves are typical of late Victorian houses. The basement wall material is rubble, and the brickwork is stretcher bond. There is one chimney on the east side of the house and two on the left, or west side, all made of brick. The main door surround is of plain wood. In 1887, James S. Leverich purchased the property. Leverich (1828-1892) was born in Otisco, New York. By 1857, he had established himself as a merchant selling groceries and liquors on Walton Street. By the early 1870s, he established a business as a lumber merchant selling lumber, lath and shingles. The house remained in the Leverich family until 1920.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
89 Dorset Street West – William Sisson House (Wimbourne) – c. 1853 – The well-balanced square house exhibits features of the Regency style. The roof is a variation of the truncated hipped roof with a medium pitch. On each side there is a center-hipped gable with attractive barge board. William Sisson (1801-1885) born in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York built Wimbourne House. He emigrated to Port Hope in June 1823. His wife, Elisa Ann Walton, was born in Upper Canada in 1805. He manufactured leather. Mr. Sisson, father of four children, was an active member of the Durham Agricultural Society and served as its treasurer for forty years. He was an active promoter of the first Mechanic’s Institute, and raised and commanded a troop of cavalry (attached to the Durham Regiment), which assisted in the suppression of the rebellion of 1837-38.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
108 Dorset Street West – 2½-storey frontispiece with cornice return on gable and trefoil window
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
115 Dorset Street West – Thomas Clarke House (The Cone) – c. 1858 – The one and a half story grey board and batten house incorporates some elements of the Gothic Revival style. It has steeply pitched gables, the appearance of irregularity because of complex roof patterns, pointed arched openings such as the Gothic window above the doorway, and decorative details including the quatrefoil window tracery in this same window, the barge boards in the gable peaks and the finial. A notable feature of the exterior is, the board and batten, was preferred by Downing for he believed that it was more economical than clapboard, and because it was a bolder method of construction, it better expressed the picturesque beauty essentially belonging to wooden houses. The main facade has three pairs of four over four double-hung sashes, a bay projection containing three casement windows, and five six over six double-hung sashes. The central double doors each have twelve windowpanes. The original owner, Thomas Curtis Clarke (1827-1901) was associate engineer and secretary of the Port Hope, Lindsay and Beaverton Railway, and later advisor for the Harbour Board at the reconstruction of the harbor in the 1850’s. His wife Susan Harriet Smith (1837-1909) was a daughter of John David Smith (1786-1849) who built the Bluestone (21 Dorset Street East), and granddaughter of Port Hope founder, Elias Smith.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
175 Dorset Street West – David Smart House (The Hillcrest) – c. 1870 – This house is the only example of “Beaux Arts” architecture in Port Hope. An addition to the house was made around 1900 which consists of the large Jeffersonian portico on the north. This massive two and a half-story structure is held by fluted columns with large Corinthian capitals, the main original portion of the house is hipped roof section with two polygonal wings at each end. This section sports beautiful Palladian dormers, bracketed eaves and a grand verandah. The house was built for David Smart, a barrister and notary public who married Emily A. Worts of Gooderham and Worts Distilleries of Toronto. Smart became a director of that distillery.

Port Hope, Ontario Book 1 in Colour Photos – My Top 15 Picks

Port Hope, Ontario Book 1

Port Hope is a heritage community situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Northumberland County and offers both an urban and rural paradise with the perfect combination of heritage charm, modern vibrancy and cultural allure. The Ganaraska River runs through the heart of town past historic buildings.

The Township was opened in 1792 and named in honor of Colonel Henry Hope, a member of the Legislative Council of Canada.

Before Canada became a nation in 1867, Port Hope was already a boom town. Its main streets were thronged with horse-drawn carriages and farmers’ wagons, its plank sidewalks crowded with shoppers and merchandise. Wood-burning locomotives pulled heavily loaded trains through town on their way to a harbor filled with schooners and steamships. Solid brick commercial blocks and houses lined the streets.

The town grew rapidly from four families of English descent who arrived by boat in 1793 and settled at the river mouth. Until then the area had been home to aboriginal groups—Huron, then Iroquois, and finally Mississauga—attracted by the salmon and sturgeon that swarmed in its river.

The first European settlers came from the new United States. They had chosen to follow the British crown after the American Revolution. So had Elias Smith, a Montreal merchant who, with two partners, Jonathan and Abraham Walton, financed their arrival. In return for settling forty families on the land and building a sawmill and flour mill to serve them, the partners received a grant of land roughly the size of modern urban Port Hope.

More families arrived including blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers, and merchants. The mills drew farmers from fifty and sixty kilometers away. Grain that could not be milled was bought by distilleries—there were eventually five along the river—that produced a famous Port Hope whisky. Its most rapid growth began when railways revolutionized travel in what is now Ontario. In 1856 the Grand Trunk Railway connected Port Hope to Toronto and the Atlantic seaboard. Its viaduct over the Ganaraska River was the second greatest engineering challenge on the route, exceeded only by bridging the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.

Another railway heading north from Port Hope opened up the vast timberlands and new farms of central Ontario and stretched to Peterborough and Lindsay. Eventually it reached Georgian Bay, at Midland. Down this line came great loads of timber and grain. Some went east to England, but most was exported to the USA through Rochester across the lake.

Walton Street was named after Captain Jonathan Walton who brought the first settlers here. The Walton and Smith families were among the original petitioners for land grants and figured very prominently in the Town’s history. Port Hope was incorporated as a police village in 1834.

Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
56 Queen Street – c. 1851-53 – The Town Hall has a center entrance with a round-headed fan-lighted transom on its seven-bay pilastered front. The building was designed in the Neo-Classical style. The central octagonal cupola has alternating four-paned, heavily mullioned transomed windows, and clock faces with Roman numerals. Louvered panels are separated by small slender Roman Doric colonettes.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
28 Bedford Street – This large 2½ story four bay brick house is built in the Romanesque Revival style with a large irregular plan, heavy masonry, steeply pitched roof, tall chimneys, recessed porch, and oriel windows. The imposing entrance way is composed of a shingled pediment and round arches of corbelled and stepped brick with decorative panels on either side of corbelled brick.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
42 Bedford Street – c. 1860 – mid-Victorian style – two storeys high with a hipped roof with extended eaves; wood band decoration below the cornice; transom and sidelights around front door; collared polygonal posts on the full-width veranda
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
One Walton Street – The Waddell Hotel – c. 1845 – This three-story brick ell-shaped commercial block with residential space above fronts to Walton and Mill Streets. Its handsome facades include stone columns, pilasters and lintels at the ground floor level, rusticated stone quoins, eared wood window surrounds with cornices to architraves at the second floor, and a simpler treatment with wood surrounds to openings on the third story. The roof is gabled and turning the corner forms a hip. The Ganaraska River originally divided into two streams around the present Walton Street Bridge and the area where this building stands was an island. When the river was re-channeled the entire Mill Street area was built up from marsh and became another access route to the harbor. In 1844, Robert Needham Waddell had this prominent corner block constructed.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
29-33 Walton Street – c. 1845 – It is a brick commercial building with residential and/or storage space above. The corner is rounded to Queen and Walton Streets, and the block stands three storys high. A pilastered front of Greek Revival style is topped by a heavy wooden frieze and cornice. The frieze is pierced by stomachers, and the soffit contains mutules and guttae, characteristic of Greek Revival. There are six bays to the Walton Street facade, including one on the rounded corner, and six bays to the Queen Street facade. The windows on the second and third storys are headed by a plain lintel and supported by lugsills on the third story and a continuous sill, acting as a string course on the second story.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
81 Walton Street – The Walton Hotel, formerly known as the Queen’s Hotel, was built in 1870. A story was added in 1876 and in 1907, a story was also added on the south end of the building. As it stands today, the Walton Hotel is a three-story brick building on the southeast corner of the intersection of John and Walton Streets. The Walton Street facade is divided in three sections by brick pilasters that carry through the ornamental brick cornice. The narrower central panel contains parted round-headed windows on the third floor surmounted by an ornamental name panel. Below is a round-headed window. Both side panels are identical on the second and third floors and contain paired windows with segmental heads and two-tier brick labels. The upper windows have individual sills whereas the second-floor ones share a continuous sill. An intricate brick cornice extends along the Walton Street facade as well as along John Street. The Walton Street corner of the building is rounded.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
114-116 Walton Street – Russell Block – c. 1875 – This block is a three-story Second Empire brick building, four bays wide with a false mansard roof. The second story bays have semi-circular structural openings with decorative cast iron lintels. The third story bays are twin semi-circular bays separated by narrow columns and featuring decorative brick lintels. The facade of the block is pilastered from the second story to about one and a half feet above the third story bays. There are two large pilasters on either end topped with decorative brick capitals. The facade has a machicolated brick cornice with recessed panels below the wooden cornice of the roof. Henry C. Russell (1834-1911) was a cabinetmaker and furniture dealer.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
Walton Street – Italianate style – iron cresting above bay windows and entrance, cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
160 Walton Street – Andrews Newman House – c. 1852 – This two-story, rectangular, brick-veneered house with medium-pitched roof with a flat center deck has three bays to both storys on the main facade. The windows have plain lintels and lugsills and are shuttered on the second story. A verandah runs across the front of the house, supported by turned wooden supports and decorative barge board. The door has a flat transom and sidelights. The larger front windows on the ground floor with recessed door case with sidelights and transom indicate this building may have started out as an Ontario Cottage. The first story windows are wider than the second story, and the lugsills narrower than those of the second story. Joseph Newman (1813-1859) was originally from Ireland, having arrived in Port Hope about 1838 or perhaps earlier. He was a baker, grocer and dealer in country produce with a shop on Walton Street.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
162 Walton Street – c. 1888 – George Hooker House – Built originally as a two-story shop and dwelling, this square house is constructed of brick laid in stretcher bond and has a medium-pitched hipped roof with a flat deck and plain-boxed cornice. On the east wall, where the main door is located, there are three bays on both storys. The windows have segmental heads with radiating brick arches, painted lugsills, and well-fitting shutters. A porch with five supporting columns is located off-center on the east wall.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
186-184 Walton Street – Williams Duplex- c. 1875 – This is a duplex, standing two-storys high with a gable roof. The composition is enhanced by a gabled “frontispiece”, which projects slightly from the facade. This in turn is graced by a bay window (at ground level), complete with cornice and brackets. At second-floor level, the “frontispiece” bears two windows. All the bays are segmentally arched, except the louvered attic vent, which is round arched.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
202 Walton Street – c. 1850 – McDougall Smart House – It is a vernacular house with an interesting main facade. The roof has a parapet gable roof trim, and it has no overhang where it slopes down on the north and south sides. Four single chimneys, two on either side of the gable peak, emerge from the parapet trim. The main facade has six openings: there are three equally spaced windows on the second floor, and directly below are two more windows and the new front door with its single sash transom above. There are four pilasters; just below the roof line, some brick dentations decorate the wall’s surface. Around the back door there is a small inner closed porch composed of panels of wood and glass divided by chamfered strappings. A large porch extends over this and down to the road. It has an elevated concrete floor on which stands four columns: these columns are square-based and have beveled edges. They are crowned with simple capitals, and from these, decorative supports and small brackets extend up to the roof.
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
236 Walton Street – 7 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms – 3,500-5,000 square feet – 2½-story tower with mansard roof, cornice brackets
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
238 Walton Street – semi-circular radiating fan window in the gable above the porch, sidelights, transom
Architectural Photos, Port Hope, Ontario
240 Walton Street – 3-story tower with mansard roof, iron cresting, cornice brackets spindles and decorative porch supports

Cobourg, Ontario Book 5 in Colour Photos – My Top 8 Picks

Cobourg, Ontario Book 5

Cobourg is a town in Southern Ontario ninety-five kilometers (59 miles) east of Toronto and 62 kilometers (39 miles) east of Oshawa. It is located along Highway 401. To the south, Cobourg borders Lake Ontario.

Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
166 James Street East – 1880s – two-story rectangular house with a side wing – chipped gable
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
120 University Avenue East – Victoria College – 1832 – Edward Crane, architect and builder. This is in the Greek Revival style and was built as the Academy of the Methodist Church and became one of Canada’s earliest degree-granting universities in 1841. Egerton Ryerson, a prominent educator and founder of the Ontario public school system, was its first President. After forming a vital part of the Town’s academic and cultural life for over fifty years, Victoria College was persuaded to relocate to Toronto in 1892 and today remains affiliated with the University of Toronto.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
10 Chapel Street – c. 1841 – This house has Georgian features – balanced facade, medium-pitched roof, and robust end chimneys. Its rather heavy and severe doorway, with its single panel, is characteristic of the Greek Revival style.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
428 John Street – Built by William Hargraft, a prosperous hardware merchant in Cobourg who became Mayor and member of the Provincial Government. Second Empire Style with front tower.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
18 Spencer Street East – Known as ‘The Poplars’. The Spencers, Beattys and Daintrys who lived here were closely associated with the history and development of Cobourg and were connected to well-known Canadian families including the Ryersons. Early Ontario Regency Architecture
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
50 Havelock Street — c. 1851. Residence of R.D. Chatterton who was the first editor of the Cobourg Star, Canada’s oldest continually published newspaper.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
77 Havelock Street – 1876 – This square house was built as a wedding present from the bride’s parents for Alfred Reynar, professor of English literature at Victoria College, and his bride Ida Hayden. The double main door is enhanced by a curved transom and narrow sidelights. The bay windows have stained glass transoms above each of the three narrow, mullioned window panes; there is bracketing under the eaves.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
80 Havelock Street – c. 1875 – William Bond, a contractor and builder, built this Victorian house with elaborate stone quoins, and stone lintels with worked keystone over each window. The second story center window is a mock French door, a counterpoint to the main door. Professor Bain of Victoria College was its first owner.

Cobourg, Ontario Book 4 in Colour Photos – My Top 10 Picks

Cobourg, Ontario Book 4

Cobourg is a town in Southern Ontario ninety-five kilometers (59 miles) east of Toronto and 62 kilometers (39 miles) east of Oshawa. It is located along Highway 401. To the south, Cobourg borders Lake Ontario.

Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
80 University Avenue West – Ontario Vernacular house – The gable apex is ornately decorated by gingerbread, under the eaves are paired brackets and a decorated frieze. There is a large wooden medallion in the center gable.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
250 Mathew Street – c. 1850 – This Ontario Cottage was built by Mathew Williams. Substantial over-hanging eaves of the hipped roof give it a hat-like quality. This form of roof was unique to the Cobourg area. It has a lovely doorway.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
258 Mathew Street – c. 1840. -This clapboard saltbox house is stylishly finished with returning eaves and elaborate end boards. It has a splendid doorway.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
100 James Street West – sidelights and transom around front door, dormer in attic
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
96 James Street West – dormer, circular window
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
78 James Street West – two-story bay window with pediment
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
James Street West – pediment above Doric pillars
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
453 Division Street – c. 1880s – Samuel Clark, a merchant in Cobourg, bought this house from shoemaker John Sherman in 1884. Clapboard siding and barge board are the distinguishing features. There is a Gothic window in the small gable.
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
410 Division Street – 1890-1900 – George Stanton House – Queen Anne element
Architectural Photos, Cobourg, Ontario
420 Division Street – 1835 – Georgian – Residence of George Perry, son of Ebenezer Perry, Chairman of the Board of Police, the first governing body of the Town. It is in Regency style with its contrasting window sizes on the first and second floors, sweeping galleries, low hip roof, and tall chimneys. It is now Woodlawn Inn.