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The Dan Collings House is located mid-block at 33 Colborne Street. It was built in the Gothic Revival style in the 1880’s. There were once barns (for animals and equipment as well as for marsh hay) on the property. It was the original home of Dan Collings. He was always a teamster who worked the marsh and he later bought and sold junk and farm machinery. Dan had three daughters, Edna, Olive (Al Readman) and Emily (Chet Wilkinson). Dan was considered to be a real character who lived to the age of 93 years. Mrs. Collings died in the 1920’s.
The 1½-storey, two-bay ‘farmhouse’ has an ‘L’-shaped plan with an off-centre hall and a medium-pitched, gable roof. There is a single door with a multi-paned transom and sidelights. The structure has large window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Large, replacement, double-hung windows are set into the original openings with plain, wood trim and sills. The house has wood frame construction with vinyl siding. Originally, the siding was probably wood. According to the 2000 inventory, despite its new colours, the basic Gothic Revival form is very evident in this house. (1, 2, 3)

This house is located at 62 Frederick Street. The section of this street from Moore Street to Barrie Street was originally known as Letitia St., and was named after Letitia Magee (a land speculator in the 1830’s). The name was later changed to Frederick St. to avoid confusion during emergency calls. (1, 2)

The Dougald MacDonald House is located mid-block at 63 Frederick Street. The house was built pre-1900 (around 1882) in the Ontario Vernacular Cottage style. It was built by George (Geordy) MacDonald, a bachelor, stone mason, and contractor who emigrated from Scotland at the age of 27. He was responsible for building homes and schools in this community, as well as the first Presbyterian Church in Bradford that once stood on John Street. The one-storey, three-bay cottage has a square plan with a centre hall. A box hall was typical for this style. The house has a symmetrical façade and a simple, gable roof. The grade-level entrance has a single entrance door with a rectangular, glazed transom. The large, 8/8, double-hung windows have plain, wood trim and sills. The house has wood frame construction covered with aluminum siding. According to the 2000 inventory, the original siding was probably wood. It also notes that the building was largely obscured by trees and that it probably had few decorative details originally. A photo (and brief article about the renovations) in Century Home Magazine (April 2002, page 18) reveals that the two cedar trees in the front yard have been removed and that a porch has been added at the front of the house. (1, 2, 3, 5, Century Home Magazine)

This house is located at 68 Frederick Street. (1, 2)

This house is located at 106 Frederick Street. (1)

The barn located on the east side of Essa St. (south of Frederick St.) belonged to the former Anglican Manse. The Manse was located at 81 Frederick St. (1, 2)

The building located at 10 Holland St. East in this 1995 photo is not the original structure on this property. That building was destroyed in the big fire of 1871 and the space stood empty for many years. A man from Aurora hired Art and Leonard Saint in 1936 to build a movie theatre on the vacant lot. It was to be a winter and fall project after they finished building the Post Office on Barrie Street. The Holland Theatre, as it became known, was completed in 1937. It had a basement, a front projection room upstairs, a cement foundation, cement floors and red, block, tile walls. All of the quicklime that was used was hauled in from Hagerville and made into mortar in the basement. The mortar contained camel, goat, and cow hair which came from Colles’ Leather business in Aurora. A steel, suspended lath was plastered in the ceiling. The roof was flat and sloping and the stage was at the rear. The owners in the 1940’s and early 1950’s were Mr. Rees and Mr. Hobberlin. George Carson bought the theatre after WWII. The structure later housed many businesses, including a Deemac Furniture store. The building is currently (2014) unoccupied. (1, 2)

The buildings shown in this photo are located at 21, 23, 25 and 27 Holland St. East. One of the buildings in this row was once a bakery and confectionary owned by Jack Madil. There were two ovens in the rear and a barn at the back of the property. Jack later sold the business to Fred Gowland in the early 1930’s and bought a farm (on the north side of Concession 10, on the west side of Sideroad 10). Fred and his family moved into the living quarters above the bakery. He had a partner and second baker named Bert Hunt. Fred later got a job as head baker at the Penetanguishene Asylum and moved to that area. Bert was left to run the business until he got sick. The business was then closed and the building was sold.
The 25 Holland St. East address was the Liberal Party office for Kraft Sloan in 1995.
The 27 Holland St. East address was the location of a barber shop run by Joe Scotto for over thirty years. (1, 2)

The mid-block building located at 37 Holland St. East was built in the Gothic Revival style in the 1880-1890’s. Originally, the left side on the ground floor contained an office occupied by grain buyers. It had a front door and a small window. The remainder of the building was used as living quarters for several families over the years, including Art Hand (a painter and decorator) and his wife (Sawyer), and later their son Orville and his wife Helen (Noble). It was eventually sold to Mr. Glass, a merchant.
The 1½-storey house has an ‘L’-shaped plan with a centre hall. It also has an asymmetrical façade, an off-centre front gable at the façade projection, and a medium-pitched, gable roof. There is a raised, open porch. The existing roof, supports, and railing are not original. Its wide door opening suggests that the original had a transom and sidelights. The door itself is not original. There are small windows with high floor to ceiling heights. Wide windows set into rectangular openings in the projecting bay are not original and the variation in the brick suggests that the original openings were partially bricked in. The windows in the receding bay are set into segmented, arch openings with brick voussoirs and concrete, lug sills. None of the existing windows are original. The building has wood frame construction with brick cladding and a textured, concrete foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, there are few original details remaining in the building. (1, 2, 3)

This mid-block building is located close to the street (on the south side) at 72 and 74 Holland St. East. It was built in the 1870’s (after the fire of 1871) in the Neoclassical Duplex style. According to historic maps, it may have been one of a pair of buildings built side by side on Holland Street.
The Prolbert family lived at 72 Holland St. East for many years. “Pentypool” worked for Bill Sutton and was a sign painter. The house at 74 Holland St. East was rented to a number of people, including Jim and Jane Armstrong (when they were first married). Later it was the home of Dan Collings, Mrs. Campbell, Neil and Dorothy. Dorothy was Dan’s housekeeper for many years. He built a horse stable and had a team. Barney Campbell drove the team on the marsh to and from sales.
The two-storey, four-bay, semi-detached house has a simple, rectangular form with a medium-pitched, saltbox roof. It has slightly-raised entrances that are located at either end of the façade. This placement gives greater privacy than paired entrances, but it places habitable rooms along the party wall. The doors are set into high, rectangular openings and are not original. A transom is still in place on the east entrance, but the transom has been closed in over the west door. There are large window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Unlike in typical neoclassical buildings, the windows (not original) are not aligned. The large, front, ground-floor window in the east half has been partially filled. Windows are set into plain, rectangular openings with plain, wood frames and sills. Smaller, upper-storey windows are offset from the ground floor. The building has wood frame construction, vinyl siding (not original), a parged, stone foundation, and a basement. According to the 2000 inventory, few original details remain other than the building’s general form. (1, 2, 3)