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The Fred C. Cook Senior Elementary School is located at 75 Queen Street. It is not the original building to be found on this site. That structure was a small, two-room, grammar school from Bond Head that was loaded onto a sled and pulled by horses many years ago to the newly-formed town of Bradford. It was set among the pine trees found on a plot of land between Fletcher and Queen Streets. That structure eventually became the first high school in Bradford. It was destroyed by fire in 1890 and a new school was opened on the same site. It burned as well. The Fred C. Cook Senior Elementary School (as seen in the photo) was erected in its place in 1923 or 1924. It was built in the Colonial Revival style. A four-room wing was built in the rear school yard in 1956 (1960’s?) to alleviate over-crowding.
The main building has 2½ storeys. Its large, simple, rectangular form dominates this site. The structure is set well back from the street on a broad expanse of lawn. This positioning suggests its importance in the community. There are large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights, and a flat roof (probably covered with built-up tar and gravel). The entrance is raised one-half storey above grade level. Stairs lead directly to an over-scaled entrance door framed by white-painted pilasters and a plain, wood entablature above. The double door and transom do not appear to be original. The tall, ‘Venetian” windows (characteristic of the neoclassical style) have pilasters and three-foot ‘lights’. The first and second-storey windows are joined by recessed, wood panels. A white-painted, urn-trimmed, roof balustrade is set into a brick, parapet wall. Thin pilaster strips (set into a continuous ‘sill’ at the ground-floor level) sub-divide the front façade into multiple bays. The building has concrete, masonry construction with brick, masonry cladding, applied wood details, and a concrete foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the building is in excellent condition with many original details.
A new, modern version of the Fred C. Cook Elementary School opened in September, 2013. It is located at 20 Fletcher Street. (1, 3, Bradford District High School’s web site)

The house located at 149 Queen St. (on the northwest corner of Queen and Essa Streets) was built pre-1900 in the Ontario Vernacular Cottage style. It was once the home of the Bales family.
The 1½-storey, three-bay ‘cottage’ has a simple, rectangular form with a symmetrical façade and a centre hall plan. It has a medium-pitched, gable roof and a lack of decoration and porch addition. The replacement windows have the original, plain, wood lug sills and trim. Metal storm windows and the door are later additions. The structure also has a one-storey addition that was built at a later time. This structure has stucco cladding on 4” poured-in-place, concrete walls and a parged, stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the modest dwelling requires painting and landscaping. (1, 3)

This structure faces Mary Street and is located at the rear of the former Winchester Arms Restaurant (on the southwest corner of Holland and Barrie Streets). Green, board and batten cladding had been added since the photo was taken in 1995 or 1996. (1)

The two-storey house located at 21 Simcoe Road was built by George Stoddart before World War I. Originally, it was clad in brick and there was a large barn at the rear across the full lot. There was also a 2’-square dumb waiter in the house. It was operated by a pulley system and used to move things from the basement to the upper floors. Mrs. Stoddart and her son (George) lived here for many years. Tom Bell retired from the Bank of Commerce in the 1930’s, and he and his wife and daughter (Dorothy) were next to live in this house. Dorothy lived here until her father died and she was too old to remain. (1, 2)

Alex Sutherland’s bakeshop was located at 27 Simcoe Road for many years. It was later sold to Howard Bowser. Howard converted it into a rental dwelling. The building was eventually owned by a market gardener who had a cement garage and storage building constructed by Len Saint on the property. Neil Lathangue and his wife lived here for a time years later. After they left, Tommy and Bill Whiteside moved in and remained here until they died. (1, 2)

The building located at 30 Simcoe Road was known as the Lathangue & Skwarchuk Funeral Home when this photo was taken in 1995. The Kilkenny family was the first to serve Bradford with a funeral home in 1836. Neil Lathangue owned the business from 1950-1963. Mac Lewis was the owner from 1963-1973. He brought Bill Skwarchuk into the business in 1968. Today (2017), the funeral home is owned by Bill Skwarchuk and his family. (1, Skwarchuk Funeral Home web site)

The Wilkinson House is a mid-block building located at 31 Simcoe Road. It was built by Art Saint and/or George Stoddart around 1923 in the Arts and Crafts style. The house was sold to Chris Long, his daughter, and her husband Fred Wilkinson (a printer for the Bradford Witness) and daughter Marjorie. When they moved to Toronto to work at the DeHavill and Aircraft Company during WWII, the house was sold to a market gardener whose family lived here for many years.
The 1½-storey, two-bay ‘bungalow’ has a simple form with an asymmetrical façade and a rectilinear plan. A broad, steeply-pitched, gable roof extends down to reduce the scale of the building from the street. It covers the open front porch and is supported on wood half columns on brick piers. There is an off-centre hall entrance from the porch. The porch (entered from the front) is raised and has a simple, wood handrail and baluster. There are wide window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. A wide band of windows across the front of the dormer emphasizes the horizontal lines and massing of this house. The wide windows are set into rectangular openings. Smaller, second-storey windows in the front dormer are offset from the ground-floor windows and have plain, wood sills and trim. The windows and the second entrance door are not original. A mix of exterior cladding materials is common to this style. The house has returned eaves at the dormer roof. Wood frame construction has brick, masonry cladding and vinyl siding on the dormer. The original cladding would have been wood. There is a painted, concrete foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is in good condition with many original features that have been maintained well. (1, 2, 3)

The Dr. Clement House is located at 41 Simcoe Road (on the southeast corner of Simcoe Road and Centre Street). It was built around 1830-1860 (1840’s?) in the Classic Revival style. Dr. Clement lived and died here after practising in the 1870-80’s. He was buried in Clement Cemetery on the 2nd Line in Innisfil (east of Highway 11). His wife Rachel lived here until her death. The house was then rented to Walton, a railroad man for the C.N.R. The barn and garden behind the building ran to William St. (as did all the properties on the east side). Sam Catania and his wife Sarah lived here in later years. They converted the house into two apartments and had a dry cleaning business in the garage that was eventually destroyed by fire. Sam sold the house to Bruce and Barbara Verney. They were still living here when this photo was taken in 1995. Bruce was a chiropractor. A building used as a dry cleaner was constructed later on the property. Jack Pong (a restaurant owner on Holland St.) built a house on the back of this property that extended to Centre Street.
The street level has apparently been raised considerably around this house as the current 1½-storey, two-bay house was originally 2½ storeys. It has an asymmetrical façade and entrance, a simplified ‘temple’ form, and a medium-pitched, gable roof. The pediment roof shape has return eaves facing the front. A hip roof on the raised entrance portico is supported on wood beams with decorative, wood dentils. The corner columns have wooden ‘flutes’ and are mounted on brick pedestals. A wood-panelled door is flanked by narrow sidelights and is topped by a transom light. The house has small window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Small, upper-floor windows are set into rectangular openings with plain, wood frames and sills. A ground-floor, bay window is an angled projection with a hip roof. The brick masonry foundation appears to be a replacement. A horizontal belt line at the top of the foundation is expressed with wood trim. The structure has wood frame construction with stucco cladding and a cut-stone foundation. Bricks found at the bay window foundation and at the entrance porch are probably not original. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is in good condition with many original details. (1, 2, 3, 4)

The building located at 46 Simcoe Road (on the corner of Thomas St. and Simcoe Road) was built pre-1900 in the Ontario Vernacular Cottage style. James Church, and then Jimmie Jackson, his wife, and son once lived in this house. Jimmie worked for the town, was a noted drain expert, and did road work. Mrs. Jackson remained in the house for many years after her husband died. It was also once the home of Lorne Faris (a jeweller) and his wife (Ona). Lorne converted the shed that was on the property into a garage. John Kanyo Jr. lived here when he was first married. After the Kanyo family, it became the home of Budd Robson. Years later, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Madill (retired farmers from the south side of the 10th Concession near Highway 400) resided here.

The one-storey, three-bay ‘cottage’ has a simple form with a symmetrical façade, a rectilinear plan, and a shallow-pitched, gable roof. It has a centre hall entrance from a covered, open, front-entrance porch which is accessed from the side. Originally, the porch stairs were in the centre and aligned with the front door. The hip roof on the porch is supported on turned posts. Decorative, wood fascia is found at the porch roof. There is a plain, wood handrail and balusters and the porch foundation is enclosed with wood lattice. The building has narrow window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Windows are set into rectangular openings with plain, wood trim and sills. The house has wood frame construction with brick cladding and a parged, concrete foundation. Originally, the cladding was stucco. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is in good condition with some original features that have been maintained well. (1, 2, 3)

The mid-block building located at 47/49 Simcoe Road was built around 1830-1860 in the Neoclassical Duplex style. Originally, there was a long, one-storey, frame house located at this site. It had a verandah on the northwest side, a picket fence along the street, a large barn on the south side of the house, a garden at the back and it was the home of Lew McConkey Sr. (a grain and seed merchant), his wife, and son. Lew had an office on the north side of Holland Street. New owner Paul Sadlon had Len Saint build a garage and a storage building at the back. Paul and his wife were market gardeners. Their son owned Bruce Sadlon Motors. The house was later converted into two apartments. Jack Gibney and his wife (Sadie Copeland) and their three daughters (Doris, Joyce and Muriel) lived here at one time. He was a horse trainer and worked for Dick Crake for many years. Jack replaced Alfred Payne (a bachelor who lived at the Queen’s Hotel). The current duplex was built on the same property after the house was demolished. Harold Gwyn, owner of a plumbing and heating business, was the owner of this newer building at the time this photo was taken in 1996.
The two-storey, four-bay, semi-detached house has a rectangular plan, a formal, symmetrical façade, and a medium-pitched, gable roof that has a central chimney (not original). Slightly-raised, separated, side-hall entrances are located at either end of the façade. This gives greater privacy than paired entrances, but it places habitable rooms along the party wall. The doors are set into plain, rectangular openings and are not original. There are large window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Equal-sized, ground-floor and second-floor windows (not original) with high sills are set into plain, rectangular openings. The openings have plain, wood frames and sills. Similar window openings above the entrance doors may have once existed and then been covered. The building has wood frame construction with vinyl siding (not original), a cut- stone foundation, and a basement. According to the 2000 inventory, few original details remain other than the building’s form. It also notes that the slightly-sagging roof suggests insufficient structural supports in the centre of each house. (1, 2, 3)