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This mid-block structure is located at 23 and 25 John St. East. It was built around 1830-1860 in the Neoclassical Duplex style. Lewis Algeo, one of the first Irish settlers in West Gwillimbury and a retired farmer, once lived in the west side of the building. T. S. Graham lived in the east side in the early 1900’s. James Glynn lived here around 1916. He left it to James Nolan, son of Denis and Catherine Nolan (reeve of West Gwillimbury), his wife Clare(a piano teacher), and their son, Dennis. The east side was also once the home of Miss Dora Noble, a nurse at the new hospital in Newmarket. She lived here with her retired father (James Noble) until he passed away.
The two-storey, six-bay, semi-detached structure has a rectangular plan with a side hall entrance. It has a two-storey, ‘L’-shaped, rear extension and a medium-pitched, gable roof with chimneys set into each gable end. The formal, symmetrical façade has a series of openings arranged equally across the front. It has paired, entrance doors with side halls along the common, party wall. The raised entrances are set close to the street with side stairs and railings that are not original. Each door has a high transom light set into a plain, rectangular opening. There are large window openings with high floor to ceiling heights. Equal-sized ground and second-floor windows with high sills are set into rectangular openings with plain, wood frames and lug sills. The windows are not original. Wood frame construction is covered with vinyl siding and the building has a cut-stone foundation with a basement. Originally, the cladding was stucco. According to the 2000 inventory, few original details remain other than the building’s form. It also notes that the chimney is not original. An aggressive fire damaged much of the structure on April 6, 2015. Several residents were left homeless as a result of the fire (Bradford Times, April 7, 2015). The structure has since been demolished. (1, 2, 3)

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)

The mid-block building located at 47/49 Simcoe Road was built around 1830-1860 in the Neoclassical Duplex style. Originally, there was a long, one-storey, frame house located at this site. It had a verandah on the northwest side, a picket fence along the street, a large barn on the south side of the house, a garden at the back and it was the home of Lew McConkey Sr. (a grain and seed merchant), his wife, and son. Lew had an office on the north side of Holland Street. New owner Paul Sadlon had Len Saint build a garage and a storage building at the back. Paul and his wife were market gardeners. Their son owned Bruce Sadlon Motors. The house was later converted into two apartments. Jack Gibney and his wife (Sadie Copeland) and their three daughters (Doris, Joyce and Muriel) lived here at one time. He was a horse trainer and worked for Dick Crake for many years. Jack replaced Alfred Payne (a bachelor who lived at the Queen’s Hotel). The current duplex was built on the same property after the house was demolished. Harold Gwyn, owner of a plumbing and heating business, was the owner of this newer building at the time this photo was taken in 1996.
The two-storey, four-bay, semi-detached house has a rectangular plan, a formal, symmetrical façade, and a medium-pitched, gable roof that has a central chimney (not original). Slightly-raised, separated, side-hall entrances are located at either end of the façade. This gives greater privacy than paired entrances, but it places habitable rooms along the party wall. The doors are set into plain, rectangular openings and are not original. There are large window openings with low floor to ceiling heights. Equal-sized, ground-floor and second-floor windows (not original) with high sills are set into plain, rectangular openings. The openings have plain, wood frames and sills. Similar window openings above the entrance doors may have once existed and then been covered. The building has wood frame construction with vinyl siding (not original), a cut- stone foundation, and a basement. According to the 2000 inventory, few original details remain other than the building’s form. It also notes that the slightly-sagging roof suggests insufficient structural supports in the centre of each house. (1, 2, 3)

Description : Bats in the tower, a bottle of wine tucked in behind the dated cornerstone, mould and dry rot in the rafters... that's what the Priestly Demolition crews found, as they demolished the old St. John's Presbyterian Church on John St. West in Bradford last weekend. The church came down more quickly than expected. When crews removed the windows in the east wall, it bowed outwards, creating safety concerns. And when part of the roof was removed, to lessen the possibility of unexpected collapse, a portion of the brickwork on the east wall fell. Structural safety was one of the key concerns that led the Presbyterian Church to sell the 112 year old building. Bulging walls, rotting rafters - estimates suggested that over $500,000 in repairs were needed, simply to preserve the structure. The cost did not include expansion, or the provision of handicapped access or washrooms. The Presbyterian Church instead has built a new St. John's Presbyterian, on Middletown Sideroad - a "House of God" that is completely handicapped accessible, large enough to accommodate the congregation, with a gymnasium and room for community outreach, filled with light and air, and free of hazardous mould. It is a vibrant expression of the Presbyterian Church in Bradford West Gwillimbury. The John St. property was sold to the neighbouring Trinity Anglican Church. Although the land will be used as a parking lot in the short term, the Anglican Church is fundraising to someday raise a new "House of God" on the site.

This series of photographs depicts the demolition of the Van Voorst-Armstrong house on Line 6, next to Bradford Valley Nursing Home. Dave Chambers (of Bond Head) used some of the bricks from this site for an outdoor fireplace.
See related descriptions "No heritage designation for ca. 1850s home" for more information.

Article containing photographs on the demolition of the old South Division police station at 45 Holland Street East on June 24-26, 2009.

The old police station here at number 45 Holland Street East. It was demolished on June 24-26, 2009.