Photograph of the construction process of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library building at 425 Holland Street West. Bradford District High School can also be seen in the photograph. Handwriting on the back in ballpoint pen dates the photograph to "Oct 3, 2009"

Photograph of the construction process of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library building at 425 Holland Street West. Part of Bradford District High School can also be seen in the photograph. Handwriting on the back in ballpoint pen dates the photograph to "Oct 15/2009"

Photograph of the construction process of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library building at 425 Holland Street West. Handwriting on the back in ballpoint pen dates the photograph to "Sept 24, 2009"

Photograph of the construction process of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library building at 425 Holland Street West. Part of Bradford District High School can also be seen in the photograph. Handwriting on the back in ballpoint pen dates the photograph to "Sept 17, 2009"

Photograph of Library CEO Liz Fenwick inside of the new Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library building at 425 Holland Street West, celebrating the building's completion. On the right are Library staff members Louisa Pinto and Lynn Flack. The photograph was taken on April 15, 2011.

Printout copy of a photograph of Library CEO Liz Fenwick (left) and Heidi (Chard) Northover (right), taken inside the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library in December 2017. Heidi Northover is holding a clock given to her in honour of her 30 years of service working in the Library.

Printout copy of a photograph of Heidi (Chard) Northover holding the tablet given to her in honour of her 35 years of service working in the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library. The photograph was taken inside of the Library on December 15, 2022.

Printout copy of a photograph of (from left to right): Nina Cunniff (Deputy CEO and Manager of Corporate Services), Heidi (Chard) Northover, Andrea Ciurria (Manager of Public Services), Elizabeth Campbell (Manager of Community Engagement) and David di Giovanni (Manager of Cultural Services). Heidi Northover is holding the tablet given to her in honour of her 35 years of service working in the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library. The photo was taken inside of the Library on December 15, 2022.

The structure located at 18 Holland St. West is a unique, infill building. It was built in the Boomtown style around the 1890’s on a narrow lot that was originally a laneway the two adjacent buildings. It had a side entrance to the Queen’s Hotel so that teamsters and buggy patrons could get their drinks from the Queen’s after work. The owner of the building erected at this site only has the title to the ceilings, floors, and front and rear walls. The side walls belong to the neighbouring buildings. The one-storey storefront has a ‘false’ façade and a narrow, rectangular plan with an asymmetrical organization. An asymmetrical façade with a ‘boomtown’ front was common to small, rural, commercial buildings. The flat roof (built-up tar and gravel) with a high parapet was intended to make the façade appear more imposing and substantial. A recessed, grade-level entrance provides shelter for the doorway. The original entrance had a transom light over the door which was later covered with solid panelling. The entrance door is not original. A large, storefront, window bay dominates the façade at street level and maximizes the amount of area available to display merchandise. The window is not original. When the building was inventoried in 2000, a decorated parapet had a double band of brick corbelling near the top with two recessed panels of decorative brick below. The building had masonry construction with brick cladding and roof spans between the exterior side walls of the adjacent buildings. The panelling above the front window replaced the original signage panel. It noted that and the original brick would have been unpainted and that the building is in good condition.
Several businesses have been located here over the years, including a smoke shop run by Fred “Colly” Collings (and later, by Oswald Davey). Mr. Willoughby, a tailor, and his son Vincent moved to the area from Sutton. He worked for Al Hemock. Lorne Fines later took possession of the building and ran a jewellery shop here until he retired. Jack McKay, a veterinarian, then bought the structure and had his practice here. In more recent years, it became an ice cream parlour. (1, 2, 3)

The structure located at 29 Holland St. West was vacant for many years. Howard Bowser bought and restored it as a shop with living quarters upstairs. Ted and Audrey Gapp lived here for a number of years. Helen Bantam ran a ladies’ shop downstairs and lived upstairs. She may have bought it from Bowser. At the time of this photo (1995), it was a barber shop.
The building located at 31 and 33 Holland St. West (on the northeast corner of Holland and Moore Streets) was built around 1880 in the Ontario Vernacular style. It was constructed on the site of the former Edmanson Bakery (33 Holland St. West). The bakery was the origin of the big fire on May 23, 1871 that destroyed much of downtown Bradford. E.P. Snow had a harness and saddle shop at 31 Holland St. West for many years. He lived on the north side of John Street. Later it was bought by Secondo Cavallo, who ran a shoemaking business at this location. He lived on the south side of John Street. Cavallo’s daughter (Aida) ran the business for a few years and then it was sold. Lash Davey and Bill ran a butcher shop at 33 Holland St. West for several years. They had a slaughter house on Piccadilly Hill (Simcoe St. South). James Webb, a butcher and lacrosse player, later ran his shop here. Webb was joined by his son Jim, who eventually took over the business and employed Harold Boyd. Jim originally had an ice house at the back of the property. A freezer locker was built later by Len Saint at the back. The building and business were eventually owned for many years by the Pezzanitti family.
The one-storey, commercial, semi-detached ‘row’ building has a wide, rectangular plan with an asymmetrical organization. There is “Main Street” frontage with a typical, storefront façade located at the street line. A plain façade is characterized by a high, flat, ‘boomtown’ façade with brick dentils. The two-bay façade is dominated above the storefronts by an applied, pressed- metal cornice with stone brackets at each end. Existing doors and storefronts are not original. Wide, glass, storefront windows with stone sills are also not original. The building has masonry construction with brick cladding, a stone foundation, and a flat, built-up tar and gravel roof. According to the 2000 inventory, the modest building is in good condition. (1, 2, 3)