The mid-block building located on the west side at 150 Toronto St. (on the corner of Toronto and Queen Streets) was built around 1890-1910 in the Gothic Revival style. The 1½-storey, original farmhouse has a recent, two-storey addition, a simple rectangular form and a medium-pitched, gable roof. The original brick masonry construction was totally reclad with new brick veneer in the 1980’s. Replacement windows and doors may, or may not, be the original size and/or at the original locations. A new, parged-block foundation covers the existing stone foundation. According to the 2000 inventory, little of the original building is apparent apart from the form. It also notes that the new, brick cladding with dichromatic quoining, belt course, and window heads are not a convincing replication of the old-style detailing. The side-wing addition was thought to relate minimally to the main house. (1, 3)
This house is located on the west side at 84 Williams Street (at the top of Back Street). It was the home of Bob Root, his wife (Sarah), and children (Bill Jr. and Mildred). Originally, there were barns and sheds at the back and they kept cows, horses and chickens. Bob was a noted wooden pump maker. He later sold and repaired pumps. Bob also dug graves and installed and dug field drains. (1, 2)
An animal footprint in a building brick. The brick is displayed on a wood mount with a gold plaque. The item was recovered by Bill Patton during the demolition of the Convent in August 1994.
This folder contains photographs of various historic buildings in Bradford and accompanying descriptions on each. The photographs are found in the Bill & Erica Marks Archive Room and were originally compiled by George Jackson and Joe Saint. The text accompanying each photograph was researched and written in 2015-2017 by Janice Hopkins, a long-time library volunteer. She utilized many library resources in her research which are noted at the bottom of each description. See below for information on each reference.
