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This house is located on the south side at 96 John St. West. It was considered to be “new” when this photo was taken in 1995. Many years previously, this property was owned by Bill and Mae Fuller. (1, 2)

The building seen in this photo (from 1995) was once located on the north side at 9 John St. West. It was a long, one-storey, frame house with a verandah on the south side and a small porch on the east side (facing Barrie Street). Dick Crake and his sister lived here for a number of years after he moved from a large house on the northwest corner of Holland and Church Streets. They both died here around the time of World War II. John Metcalfe later moved here from a farm on Highway 88 (at the west end of town). He lived in the house as a bachelor until his death. The house was eventually demolished and the Bradford Post Office was built by Art and Leonard Saint at this location. (1, 2)

This house was once located at 89 John St. West. It was probably built pre-Confederation and it was considered to be one the best examples of the Regency Cottage style of building in Bradford. The one-storey, stucco, square building had an addition at the rear that contained a couple of rooms. There also was a long wooden shed behind the house. Mr. Robinson lived here in early 1930’s. Later it became the home of Bill Hounsome and his wife, Lena, and son Allen. Sam Caen (?) and his wife Daisy and their sons lived here after World War II. In its final years this building was the home of the Everitt family. It was demolished on April 11, 2014 (Bradford Times, April 24, 2014). (1, 2)

The Bradford Presbyterian Church was once located at 81 John St. West (on the northwest corner of Church and John Streets). A Presbyterian church in Bradford dates back to 1856. The original frame building was built on this site and used until 1893. At that time it was sold to the Anglican Church and moved a short distance north to be used as the Parish Hall. The structure seen in this photo (from 1996) was designed in the Romanesque style by Siddell Baker Architects in Toronto. It was constructed in 1893 for $5,000 by local builder Dougald (George) MacDonald. George was able to do short-hand blueprints and he was also the Sunday school teacher. The church pipe organ was installed in 1915 (with a portion of it funded by the Carnegie Foundation). A seven-foot section of interior, cornice molding fell off and crashed through some front seating and the floor and landed in the basement in 1937. It was rediscovered years later in George MacDonald’s barn.
The 1½-storey building had a modified, cruciform plan with an apse, narthex, and square and polygonal entrance towers. There was a steeply-pitched, gable roof with pyramidal and polygonal roofs on the towers. This structure was a complex massing of heavy, simple forms, each of which had a clear function. The main entrance was through a large, round-arched doorway with a crescent-shaped transom light and a heavy, panelled, wood door. It was set into a high, square tower at the southeast corner of the church and it marked the site as a landmark within the town. Tall, narrow, window openings had thin windows with a vertical emphasis. Some secondary windows were set in rectangular openings (but with the same narrow proportions). Windows having round-arched openings of various sizes in groups, and as singles, lit the nave. The simplicity of this church and the lack of typical Romanesque Revival details such as heavy, stone stringcourses and lintels gave the church a Norman feel with its squared tower and massive walls. Square pinnacles topped the four corners of the entrance tower. The building had masonry construction with brick cladding and a cut-stone foundation. Len Saint, a local stone mason and brick layer, did the plastering for the church. There were metal panels on the steeple and tower roofs. According to the 2000 inventory, the church was in excellent condition with many original features.
The congregation moved to St. John’s Presbyterian Church which was located on the Middleton Sideroad (circa 2004). Trinity Anglican Church purchased the old Presbyterian Church building and land in 2004 and the building was demolished in 2005 to provide additional parking for the congregation of Trinity Anglican Church. (1, 3, 4, Trinity Anglican Church Bradford website)

This building is located at 57 John St. West. Originally, it was the site of a small, mud-brick house with a porch on the front (on the west side) and a frame kitchen in the rear. Roy Gordon, a lawyer, eventually bought the house and had it remodelled to become his law office. (1, 2)

The small, frame house located at 52 John St. West was built by Art Saint after World War II for his father (Frank) and sister (Lena). After Frank’s death, Lena moved to Toronto and the house was sold. (1, 2)

The Neilly House is located mid-block on the north side at 51 John Street West. It was built around 1900 in the Eclectic Edwardian style. The structure was designed by the same architect who was responsible for designing Bradford’s Anglican Church. This house was built for jeweler Andy Neilly. His business was on Holland St. (across from the Queen’s Hotel). He was a good hunter and sportsman and belonged to the Neilly Rifle Club. The club members met at Eagle Hill on the 13th Line (at the canal on the end of Back and Bingham Streets). This building was later the home of Mac Tobias and his wife. They ran a clothing store on Holland St. (in the second building east of the Queen’s Hotel) before moving to Toronto after World War II. Dr. McMichael, a dentist, lived and had his office here until he moved to Barry’s Bay. Merle and Shirley Woodcock and their family eventually bought, repaired, and remodeled the house.
The two-storey, ‘L’-shaped building with gable roofs has a smooth, brick exterior. There is full height projection with a projected, gable roof above. A textured, wood-shake finish at the flared front gable and the elaborate trim and decoration at the gable window are also Edwardian features. The house has precast voussoirs above the semi-oval transom at the main front window and precast, lug sills. It has loadbearing, brick masonry construction and a stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the new front addition is unsympathetic with the original building. A new, cedar-shingle roof with copper valley flashing was also noted. It considers the building to be well-maintained. (1, 2, 3)
Please contact the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library (905-775-3328) if you have any other information about this photo.

The one-storey, frame house located at 45 John St. West originally had a kitchen and a woodshed at the rear and a veranda at the front. It was the home of Stan Cairns' parents Isaac and Grace (Fisher). The family lived here before and after World War II. (1, 2)

The building located at 27 John St. West (on the northeast corner of John and Moore Streets) was built around 1890 in the Gothic Revival style. It was the home of John Lee (a retired farmer from north of Bradford) for many years. After World War II, it was the home of Mildred Peelar and her family. Walter Mundy later lived here before the house was sold.
The 1½-storey, ‘L’-shaped, main building has a medium-pitched, gable roof with a steeply-pitched, gable dormer. These are Gothic features. There are round-head, coloured transom lights over several ground-floor windows that are structurally supported above by arched, brick voussoirs. There is also a rectangular transom over the entrance door. Windows of various sizes (indicating post-1880 construction) have the original, wood lug sills. The structure has brick, masonry construction and a rusticated, stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the replacement porch varies from the original design intent. (1, 2, 3)

The mid-block building located at 23 John St. West was built pre-1900 in the Ontario Vernacular Cottage style. It was the home of retired farmer Walter King (during and after the war) until his death.
The one-storey, three-bay cottage has a rectangular plan, a centre hall, a symmetrical façade and a gable roof. It had a kitchen at the rear originally. There are single windows (with low floor to ceiling heights) to the primary rooms on each side of the porch at the front. The wood trim is original, but the windows and the door are replacements. Metal supports for the porch roof are not original, but the roof itself may be authentic. The house has wood frame construction with vinyl siding. The original wood siding is probably still under the newer cladding. According to the 2000 inventory, few existing building elements appear to be original other than the building’s form. It also notes that this modest cottage probably had few decorative details originally. (1, 2, 3)