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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 Mark Scanlon House, also known locally as ‘The Pines’, is located at 168 Church St. (on the northwest corner of Church and Queen Streets). It was built in the Gothic Revival style around 1850 by Mark Scanlon. He was a lawyer and one of the original town fathers. This structure later became the home of Professor Day, the Misses Lane, and eventually lawyer Robert (Bob) Evans.
The two-storey, ‘L’-shaped farmhouse sits on a large corner lot. It has 1½-storey rear additions. The main building has an asymmetrical plan, a steeply-pitched, gable roof with dormers, and multiple chimneys. A wide entrance has sidelights and a transom with etched glass in a pattern. The wood screen door is not original. A line in the brick indicates an original wrap-around porch (Regency style). The existing porch is a twentieth-century replacement. There are large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights. The large, 6/6 (original) sash windows are compatible with modern, storm additions. The bay windows are 2/2 sash. There are painted, wood lug sills and a projecting, bay window with a crenellated cap. The house has a false rose window in the side gable (with a chimney stack behind). The shutters are original. There is an elaborately-carved, deep, bargeboard trim (beneath the sloped gables only) with rectangular, upright and dropped finials. There is also dichromatic brickwork at the corner reveals, window labels, and label stops. The building has loadbearing, brick masonry construction and a stone foundation. Rare, pink brick used as cladding was possibly made in Newmarket. According to the 2000 inventory, the picturesque house is well-maintained. (1, 3)

Miss Sinclair’s House is a mid-block building located on the south side at 92 Holland Street West. It was built in the 1890’s in the Italianate style. Miss Bertha Sinclair lived in this house for many years. When she died, her nieces Kay and Isabel (daughters of Robert Spence) moved into the house. They were hairdressers. Isabel later moved and part of the house was rented to George and Ethel Stewart. The building was eventually sold to a real estate agent. The office of Dr. Fitzsimmons was also here at one time. Next to this structure was a vacant lot belonging to the Sinclair family. Many years ago there was a Temperance Hall and a church located there.
The two-storey, rectangular, main building has a single-storey, rear addition, a symmetrical façade, and a moderately-pitched, hip roof with a central chimney. The grand, Italianate scale is reflected in the large window openings, high floor to ceiling heights, and the large, 6/6 sash windows. There are deep, projecting eaves with ornately-decorated, paired cornice brackets and ‘false quoins’ (wood detailing meant to resemble masonry). The window cornices are exaggerated. According to the 2000 inventory, the stone foundation, wood frame construction, horizontal, wood-sided exterior finish (resembling masonry), and painted, exterior, wood trim are maintained well. (1, 2, 3)

The Gummerson House is located at 151 Church St. (on the southeast corner of Church and Queen Streets). It was built in the Gothic Revival Cottage style around the 1880’s. The Gummerson family moved to Bradford from Bond Head (on the southwest corner of Beeton Road) in 1886. This structure later became the home of Rose MacEwan. Sue and Philip Richards also lived here at one time.
The 1½-storey, three-bay ‘cottage’ has a one-storey and a 1½-storey rear additions. There was a barn at the rear originally. The house has a centre hall plan and a medium-pitched, gable roof with steeply-pitched dormers. It has dichromatic brickwork at the stylised quoins and a patterned belt course. There is an accent brick, diamond pattern at the dormer and gable peaks and at the curved, brick lintels at the openings. There are large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights. The house has four-pane, casement windows at the front and 2/2 wood, sash windows at the sides. Painted, wood, lug sills remain. The front dormer has a round-headed casement. Original windows and doors, loadbearing, brick masonry construction, and a stone foundation also remain. An inscription in a brick at the rear of the building reads: “Sept. 3, 1886 prayer meeting”. According to the 2000 inventory, the lack of Gothic Revival features (such as a porch and gingerbread trim) indicates a more modest, vernacular variation. It also notes that the house originally had three chimneys (one at each of the gable ends) and a barn at the rear. (1, 3)

The structure located at 38 Holland St. West (on the southwest corner of Holland and Drury Streets) was built around 1900 in the Ontario Vernacular style. B.B. “Ben” Collings lived upstairs with his wife (a Waldruff), and children Bernice, Kathleen and Norman. Both daughters became school teachers and Norman (“Dodger”) was a professional hockey player who helped his father and later took over the business. Ben’s workshop was also located here and there was a horse stable at the rear of the property many years ago. The back end of the building was destroyed by fire in the 1920’s. Ben Collings was involved in several businesses. He was also known as an organizer and sports manager. At one time this building was the site of the Collings’ mattress factory. Ben also cut marsh hay and hauled it down the river on a scow. Sometimes the hay was stacked for winter baling. The horses wore four wooden boots and wouldn’t get off the scow until they were applied. Ben was a furniture maker and an undertaker. His first experience as an undertaker was with the body of his own father. He bought Jack Spence’s fishing business (including nets, reels, pulleys, ropes and the fish shanty at the mouth of the river on the east side opposite the 8th Line). His largest catch of fish was five tons of carp. He fished in the spring and fall and put nets under the ice in winter. Carp was caught (when in season) and had to be kept alive for the Jewish market. He employed about eight men all year round. Later he had old cars cut down to make tractors. Ben and another man broke (worked?) Col. Bar’s marsh land at the north end of Federal Farms Rd. (Bathurst Street). The Newmarket Canal started and died on this property.
The two-storey, commercial ‘row’ building has second floor offices (or living space), a wide, rectangular plan with symmetrical organization, and a flat, built-up, tar and gravel roof. The ‘Main Street’ frontage with a typical, storefront façade is located at the street line. The Drury Street façade on the north portion of the building (fronting Holland Street) has a more informal façade with openings placed as required to suit the building’s requirements. The Drury Street building has a plain, symmetrical façade and is dominated by a wide, segmented, arch entrance raised slightly above the sidewalk. A loading door to the rear portion of the Holland Street building has a segmented, arch opening and a concrete sill raised above street level. The existing doors and windows are not original. There are several window openings with segmented, arch openings and concrete lug sills. Several basement windows (all topped with segmented arches) have been fully, or partially, blocked in. This suggests that the building was built before the existing road or town services were installed. The building has masonry construction, brick cladding, and a parged, stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, this modest, commercial building is in good condition with some original details. (1, 2, 3)
Please contact the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library (905-775-3328) if you have any other information about this photo.

This house is located on the south side at 156 John St. West. It was originally a garage built by Merle Woodcock on his property. The structure was on the laneway that went to Holland Street. This laneway was a popular spot for sleigh rides when the Moore family had creek property many years ago. (1, 2)

Bradford United Church is located at 66 Barrie St. The structure in this photo was built in 1865 in the Gothic Revival style. There was an original church built on this site in 1851.
The 1½-storey building has a rectangular plan, tall and narrow window openings, and a steeply-pitched, gable roof. The enclosed narthex is a recent addition. It is not considered to be consistent with the original style. Tall, gothic-style, trefoil arched openings light the nave. A round, rose window (with muntins set in the shape of a cross) is set into the gable portion of the façade. These cross-shaped muntins replace the original four-leaf clover muntins. The vergeboard has small, gothic arches. Octagonal pinnacles are found at each of the four corners. These pinnacles were originally topped with ornamental spires. Shallow buttresses extending the full height of the façade divide it into three parts. The trefoil arch and the three-part façade refer to the Trinity. There is brick masonry construction with stucco cladding and a parged, stone foundation. The original dichromatic brick cladding is concealed under the stucco cladding. Originally, the underlying red brick walls had buff-coloured brick buttresses and framing at the door and window openings. According to the 2000 inventory, the building is in good condition with some original features. (1, 3, 4)

The Davey House is a large, two-storey house located at 79 Barrie St. (on the northeast corner of Barrie St. and Scanlon Avenue). It was built in the Gothic Revival style around 1880. There was a two-storey, frame barn on the back of the lot originally. Bill Davey and his family - Minto "Scott", Leona, Oswald, Archie, and Margaret - lived here many years ago. Bill was a carpenter’s helper for local builder A.J. Saint. Bill was also a noted lumberman, butcher, and hunter. He owned a slaughterhouse on the west side of Simcoe St. (Picadilly Hill) and a butcher shop at the corner of Holland and Moore Streets. Bill died at his hunt camp in his nineties.
The ‘L’-shaped house sits quite near the street line. It has large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights and a medium-pitched, gable roof. Elaborately-carved bargeboard trim and finials, a coloured glass, arched transom over a main-floor window, and the original wood lug sills remain. The house has wood frame construction and a stone foundation. Deterioration of the brick veneer at the grade level indicates a lack of adequate, subsurface drainage. An original rear, one-storey addition with a simple shed roof (once used as a summer kitchen) still remains. According to the 2000 inventory, the replacement windows, doors, and the two-storey addition at the entrance are unsympathetic with the original building. (1, 2, 3)

Dr. Gilbert Blackwell’s House is located on the southwest corner of Barrie and Joseph Streets at 72 Barrie Street. His office faced Joseph Street. The structure was built in 1935 by builder Art Saint in the Arts and Crafts style.
The simple form has an asymmetrical façade and a rectilinear plan. A broad, steeply-pitched, bell-cast roof with a centre dormer extends down to reduce the scale of the building from the street. It also covers the original front porch (which has been enclosed). The structure has 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. Smaller, second-storey windows in the front dormer are offset from the ground-floor windows and have plain, wood sills and trim. The original arched openings in the front porch have been infilled and new windows have been installed. Brackets support the cornice at the roof and there is a central, brick chimney. The house has wood frame construction, stucco cladding and a painted, concrete foundation. A mix of exterior cladding materials is common to this style. The windows, awnings, and the one-storey, rear addition are not original. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is in good condition with some original features. (1, 3)

The Gib Lukes House is located mid-block on the west side at 170 Barrie Street. It was built post-1900 in the Edwardian Classicism style. The garage at the rear where Gib Lukes parked his Stanley Steamer automobile is currently the building at 123 Moore Street being used as the Bradford Food Bank.
The two-storey, rectangular building has a strong, simplistic underlying form. It has a two-storey projecting bay, hip roofs and projecting dormers. There is a classically-inspired entrance portico with a balcony above. The porch roof is supported on Doric colonnettes on brick piers. A pediment form highlights the entrance. The roof line has a dormer and substantial chimneys. Decorative soffit brackets surround the main eaves and dormer eaves. The house has a variety of window sizes. The brick window arch has a subtle ‘eyebrow’ detail. Transoms are found at the bay windows. The house has brick masonry construction and painted wood cornice, porch, balcony and dormer details. There is a stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, the house is maintained well. (1, 3)