The Thorpe House is located mid-block on the west side at 184 Barrie Street. It was built post-1900 in the Eclectic Edwardian style. Miss St. Clair lived in this house many years ago. The two-storey, ‘L’-shaped building has a projecting, two-storey, angled bay with a wide, pediment-like gable. More Edwardian features include the classically-inspired entrance porch with a balcony above. The balcony is supported on slender Doric colonnettes set on brick piers. This porch appears to be a replacement. There are large windows and the principal windows have rectangular transom lights decorated with small squares of coloured glass. The gable window also has coloured glass inserts. A broad, hip roof, roof curb and wide eaves overhang are Italianate features. The house has brick masonry construction and a stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, metal siding conceals the original wood trim at the gable and soffit. It also notes that although the replacement porch columns, balcony railing, and the altered porch roof are not of the same proportions as the original design, the original character of the building is still maintained. (1, 3)
The Thorpe House is located mid-block on the west side at 184 Barrie Street. It was built post-1900 in the Eclectic Edwardian style. Miss St. Clair lived in this house many years ago. The two-storey, ‘L’-shaped building has a projecting, two-storey, angled bay with a wide, pediment-like gable. More Edwardian features include the classically-inspired entrance porch with a balcony above. The balcony is supported on slender Doric colonnettes set on brick piers. This porch appears to be a replacement. There are large windows and the principal windows have rectangular transom lights decorated with small squares of coloured glass. The gable window also has coloured glass inserts. A broad, hip roof, roof curb and wide eaves overhang are Italianate features. The house has brick masonry construction and a stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, metal siding conceals the original wood trim at the gable and soffit. It also notes that although the replacement porch columns, balcony railing, and the altered porch roof are not of the same proportions as the original design, the original character of the building is still maintained. (1, 3)
The Turner House is located at 185 Holland Street West (on the northwest corner of Holland and Toronto Streets). It was built in the 1880’s in the Eclectic Gothic Revival style. The two-storey, ‘L’-shaped building has an asymmetrical façade. The gable roofs above the front façade projection and at the centre of the façade facing Toronto Street are Gothic Revival features. A medium-pitched, hipped main roof with curb detail and wide eaves are Italianate features. The entrance is from an enclosed, asymmetrical porch with a shallow-pitched roof. The porch may originally have been open. Double-hung windows (of various sizes) are set into rectangular openings with plain, wood frames and sills. Painted, wood half-timbers decorate the front and side façades below the gables. There is a discontinuous eaves line, post and beam construction, and a parged, stone foundation. The stucco cladding has been replaced with insulbrick siding. According to the 2000 inventory, some original wood siding is visible below the gables. It also notes that other than the form and some details, there are few original features. (1, 3)
This house is located at 187 John St. West (on the northwest corner of John and Toronto Streets). The 1½-storey, frame building was originally clad in stucco and it had a kitchen and rooms upstairs at the rear. There was also a garden and lawn at the back of the house. George Mapes and daughter Ella (wife of Jack Gapp), Curly Madian (?) and their daughters (Vivian and Margaret) lived here at one time. George was a retired farmer, dealer, and buyer. Years later, carpenter Joe LeBlanc and his family bought the house. He remodeled it and built a porch on the east side of the kitchen. Originally, there was a long barn (with a frame loft above) at the rear of the property. Joe’s daughter eventually had a nursing home built where the barn had stood. (1, 2)
The mid-block building located at 19 John St. West was built pre-1900 in the Ontario Vernacular style. Frank Adamson, who ran a gas station, lived in this house after World War II. It later became the home of Henry Bell and Phyllis for a short time. The 1½-storey, three-bay cottage has a rectangular plan, a centre hall, a symmetrical façade and a shallow-pitched, gable roof. It has a kitchen at the rear and a simple porch at the front. Wood frame construction has brick veneer cladding which is not original. The structure has a parged, stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, apart from the modest form, little of the original building is apparent. It notes that the (replacement) entrance canopy, windows, and cladding successfully hide clues regarding the structure beneath. (1, 2, 3)
The two-storey, wood frame house located on the west side at 196 Barrie St. was built more than one hundred years ago. The original farmhouse did not have the front addition (as seen in the photo) and it was clad with white stucco (not vinyl). This building was once the home of the Tupling family, including Ed (crate factory). At that time (1940’s), there was still a shed containing a cistern at the back. Years later it was the home of Bob Petrie (father of Ev). The house was purchased by the Kulcsar family in 2001. During the various stages of the restoration, thick, stone foundation walls were discovered. These walls were reinforced with 1’-square timbers fastened together with wooden pegs and square-headed nails (likely produced by a local blacksmith). Segments of horsehair-plastered walls and cascading ceilings were also found. (1, Letter by S. Jacqueline Kulcsar)
The Village Inn is located at 2 Holland St. East (on the corner of Holland and Simcoe Streets). There had been a hotel located at this site before the great fire of 1871. The building in this photo (1995) was built in 1920 in the Ontario Vernacular style. The original two-storey, cement building contained living quarters upstairs. One of the early inhabitants was Dave Watson, a farmer from the Scotch Settlement. He was one of the first to work with Professor Day in bringing about the drainage of the Holland Marsh. The ground floor was a grocery store in the early 1930’s (or before it was bought by Jim Gray and his wife). It was separated by a central entrance downstairs. Ken Morris bought the building around 1933 or 1934. Renovations were done by Art and Len Saint in 1937. The building was converted into the English Tudor-style hotel currently known as “The Village Inn”. A one-storey addition was added later (on the east side of the building) to contain a restaurant and ladies’ room. Under Jack Pong’s ownership, the addition became a Chinese restaurant. Additions were built later at the rear. Frank Sakowski ran the Inn for a while before it was sold to Bill Callum and Mr. Grant. The two-storey building has a wide, rectangular plan with an asymmetrical organization and a typical ‘Main Street’, storefront façade located at the street line. It is characterized by a high, flat, ‘boomtown’ façade and cornice with brick dentils. The prominent, corner entrance door is oriented diagonally toward the street intersection. Existing door and storefronts are not original. The upper-floor pairs of windows suggest some original Italianate styling. The windows are not original on either level. At the time of the 2000 inventory, the building had masonry construction, stucco and wood siding, and a built-up, tar and gravel roof. It notes that the modest, commercial building is in fair condition with no original details visible. (1, 2, 3)
This photo (from 1995) shows the remains of the foundation wall of a large, natural-ice skating rink that was once located on the southeast corner of Moore (Lovers’ Lane) and 20 John St. West. The rink, built in 1910, was owned by Thompson Fisher. It was run by Fred McKay and Bethel Sawyer. The ice surface was also used as a curling rink. There were seats for spectators and the ticket office was on the east side. There was a men’s change room and hoses for watering the ice behind the rink (where snow was piled). A lunch room, ladies’ change room, and toilets were on the west side. Overhead was a viewing platform and an organ provided skating music. There was a very large water tank in front for fighting fires and making ice. The rink was well-patronized before the war and skating to band music was also very popular. The entrance fee was 15 or 25 cents. The curling surface was used by quite a number of older people. Horse shows were held here in the summer. The cleanup man was “Sank” Lowe. He wore a white uniform and used a two-wheeled barrel, broom, and shovel for picking up manure. Box lacrosse was also played here. The facility was demolished after the war and the property became a town parking lot. (1, 2)
The two-storey house located at 205 Simcoe Road was bought and renovated by Mr. Bruce around 1928. Len Saint did the cement work and the plastering. William Ward and his family lived here later. He raised dogs and had a greenhouse and a garden at the back. He moved to James St. after he retired. (1, 2)
This one-storey, cove-sided house is located on a hill at 207 John St. West. It was built well and has been maintained well over the years. Originally, there were stables and a woodshed behind the house. It was once the home of the Robert Spence family. Daughters, Kay (a hairdresser) and Isabel, lived here. After Mr. Spence died, the house was sold. The family inherited, and then moved to Bertha Sinclair’s house on Holland Street. (1, 2)
