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Government Inn 1798-1861
Near this site on the Credit River's eastern bank, the government of Upper Canada built a "post-house" or inn in 1798, for the use of persons travelling between york and such settlements as Niagara and Detroit. Constructed of dressed timber, it was for some seven years the only building between Etobicoke River and Burlington Beach. Local Mississauga Indians gathered here to trade salmon and furs. Here also they signe the Treaties of 1805 and 1818... -
Aurora Armoury
Built in 1874 as a drill shed for the 12th Battalion of Infantry or York Rangers, the Aurora Armoury was part of a network of defence training facilities for citizen soldiers. It evokes the larger stories and traditions of the province's militia regiments, recruited regionally, and possessing close affiliations with their communities of origin. The armoury was also the site of Edward Blake's famous "Aurora speech" of 1874, in which the prominent politician and former... -
Barnum House
A superb example of a prosperous Upper Canadian home, this elegant classical building was erected about 1819. Though its interior has been modified several times since, the façade remains essentially unaltered. In the first historic house restoration undertaken in the province, the structure was refurbished by the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario in 1940. Since 1982, its continued preservation has been entrusted to the Ontario Heritage Foundation. -
Bay Queen Street Store, The
Department stores revolutionized shopping in the late nineteenth century by offering selection, low prices and money-back guarantees. In 1895, Robert Simpson commissioned architect Edmund Burke to design his new department store at the southwest corner of Yonge and Queen Streets. It was the first building in Canada with a load-bearing metal frame and a façade clearly patterned on this internal structure. By 1969, Simpson's department store had been enlarged six times and occupied two city... -
Bethune-Thompson House
Built by Loyalist settler Peter Ferguson in 1784, the original log cabin on this site is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Ontario. The cabin walls were constructed using a French-Canadian technique called poteaux sur sole where vertically placed, squared logs were held together by horizontal plates located along the top and bottom. The larger home adjoining it was built in 1804 by Reverend John Bethune (1751-1815), the first Presbyterian minister in Upper Canada... -
C. Beck Manufacturing Company
The C. Beck Manufacturing Co. Ltd. operated from 1875 to 1969 with its centre of operations in Penetanguishene. The company sold wholesale lumber, shingles, lath, box shooks, pails, tubs and woodenware to firms in Ontario, Quebec, western Canada and the northern United States. It produced the special wooden tubs, boxes, barrels and pails that carried early 20th century Ontario food products to markets across Canada and throughout the British Empire. It was a family business... -
Fool's Paradise
This property sits on the ecologically sensitive, geologically significant Scarborough Bluffs that display sediments left by glaciers over 70,000 years during the last phase of the Pleistocene epoch. Aboriginal peoples may have inhabited this site as early as 8,000 B.C. Scottish immigrant James McCowan settled this land for farming in 1833, calling it "Springbank" because of the springs running from the ancient shoreline of Lake Iroquois (predecessor of Lake Ontario) to the north. In 1939... -
Kapuskasing - Garden City and Model Town
In 1921 the Kimberly-Clark and the Spruce Falls companies constructed a pulp mill in Kapuskasing that would employ many workers. To plan for Kapuskasing's anticipated growth, the provincial government commissioned the architectural landscape firm of Harries & Hall to create a town plan, which incorporated elements of the late 19th century Garden City and City Beautiful town planning movements. The first provincially-planned single resource town in Ontario, Kapuskasing's design focused on a healthy living environment... -
King Edward Hotel, The
The King Edward Hotel was built by George Gooderham's Toronto Hotel Company to meet the demand in the rising metropolis for a grand hotel. When it opened in 1903, the hotel, affectionately known as the "King Eddy," was embraced by the city. The fireproof, eight-storey building, designed by eminent Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb and prominent Toronto architect E.J. Lennox, provided luxury and service in dramatic settings. The 18-storey tower, with its top-floor Crystal Ballroom... -
Knesseth Israel Synagogue
The Junction Shul" was founded early in the 20th century in a building at the corner of Maria Street and Runnymede Road, with a congregation primarily of Polish and Russian Jews. As the congregation grew, construction of this building began in 1911 and it appears that services were first held here about 1913. Designed by the architectural firm Ellis and Connery, the exterior is simple and the interior evokes the splendour of Eastern Europe. Typical... -
Loew's Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres
Designed by architect Thomas Lamb for entrepreneur Marcus Loew as the Canadian flagship of his American theatre chain, these double-decker theatres opened in 1913-14. The 2,149-seat, lower theatre was decorated with classical details and red damask, while flowers, leaves, lanterns and garden murals embellished the 1,410-seat rooftop Winter Garden Theatre. Both theatres presented vaudeville acts and silent moving pictures until 1928 when the Winter Garden was closed and Loew's Yonge Street was converted to show... -
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
In 1874 the Trustees of the Toronto General Burying Grounds hired H.A. Engelhardt, who was in the forefront of landscape gardening in Canada, to plan the transformation of ravine and plateau farmland into Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Prominent in this naturalistic setting with its curving drives are E.J. Lennox's Massey Mausoleum, private mausoleums in classical temple style, the public Mount Pleasant Mausoleum designed by Darling & Pearson, and a wide variety of granite monuments. Rare trees... -
William and Susannah Steward House
William, an African American teamster, and Susannah Steward (also spelled Stewart) lived in Niagara from 1834 to 1847. The Steward home was part of Niagara's "coloured village", a vibrant community of former Canadian slaves, black Loyalists and African American refugees. Later, the Stewards divided their lot for sale to Robert Baxter, a local black resident. In 1837, William Steward was one of 17 local blacks who signed a petition asking Lieutenant Governor Sir Francis Bond... -
Wilfrid Laurier University
Founded in 1911 as the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Canada, and situated on land donated by the Board of Trade of Waterloo, this institution was originally established to train homegrown Lutheran pastors. It was expanded in 1914 with the creation of Waterloo College School, which included faculties for pre-theological education. In 1924, Waterloo College of Arts was established and the following year it became affiliated with the University of Western Ontario, thus offering its students... -
St. Thomas Canada Southern Railway Station
The St. Thomas Canada Southern (CASO) Station, financed by American railway promoters, was constructed between 1871 and 1873 to serve as both the passenger station for St. Thomas and CASO's corporate headquarters. During the 1920s, the station was one of the busiest in Canada. The Canada Southern rail route through southwestern Ontario ultimately linked Chicago and New York City, and was instrumental in the economic development and growth of St. Thomas. Designed in the Italianate... -
Royal York Hotel, The
Built on the site of the Queen's Hotel by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1928-29, the Royal York Hotel was part of its coast-to-coast chain of grand hotels. The skyscraper hotel, designed by Montreal architects Ross and Macdonald in association with Sproatt and Rolph of Toronto, was the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth and dramatically altered the Toronto skyline. Inside, attractive rooms – from the classicism of the 1928-29 interior to the 1957-59 extension... -
Old St. Paul's Church & Christ Church
With the assistance of local parishioners and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Reverend Richard Pollard began construction of St. Paul's Church in 1819. Located one kilometre from here on Stanley Street, St. Paul's was the first church in Chatham and the first Anglican church in Kent County, serving the local population which included members of the Black community and the British garrison. By the 1840s, the congregation had outgrown St. Paul's... -
"Old" City Hall
City Hall was designed in 1887 by E.J. Lennox to fit this central site at the head of Bay Street. In one structure, these municipal buildings combined a City Hall in the east portion, and Court-house in the west. The building, constructed mostly of Credit River Valley sandstone, was begun in 1889 but not opened until September 18, 1899. Massive, round-arched and richly carved, it is in the Romanesque revival style, then popular in expanding... -
107 Wellington Street West 1889
The oldest private club building in Ontario, 107 Wellington Street West was designed for the Toronto Club in 1888-89 by Frank Darling and Samuel Curry. Its design mixes different architectural styles and marks an important transition in Darling's career. The sandstone base, terracotta details, windows and capitals on the ground floor reflect the Richardsonian Romanesque Style. The second floor's Palladian-like windows, pilasters and capitals, frieze, cornice mouldings and the nearly-square attic windows are in the... -
Armadale Free Methodist Church 1880, The
One of the earliest Free Methodist societies in Canada was established in this area at nearby Ellesmere in 1874. The first services were held in a "Meeting House" provided by Robert Loveless, a former Primitive Methodist, who was largely responsible for the organization of this congregation. Within six years another congregation had been established here at Armadale with initial services being held in the home of Silas Phoenix. The growth of the congregation led to... -
Ball's Bridge
Ball's Bridge was erected in 1885 to connect Goderich, the county seat, with outlying areas to the east. The structure is an excellent - and now rare - example of a two-span Pratt design through truss, pin-connected wrought iron bridge. Its construction shows attention to detail through the 'v-lacing' located at various points on the bridge. Built during the horse-and-carriage age, it continued to serve as a major crossing point on the Maitland River until... -
Ball's Grist-Mill
By 1809, John and George Ball had constructed a four-storey grist-mill here on Twenty Mile Creek. Equipped with two run of stones, the mill provided flour for British troops during the War of 1812. It was expanded during the 1840s and by the end of the decade was part of a complex which included sawmills and woollen factories. About that time, George Peter Mann Ball laid out a village plot named Glen Elgin. His plans... -
Beaverdams Church 1832, The
Early in the 1790s, a group of settlers in this area had been converted to Methodism and formed a Class which, in 1795, was included in the newly established Niagara Circuit. Services were held in the home of a prominent local settler, Israel Swayze, and camp meetings took place on his property. This church, one of the oldest remaining Methodist chapels in the province, was built in 1832. The Reverend Egerton Ryerson, who later was... -
Bible Christian Church, The
Perhaps the most fervent of the Methodist sects, the Bible Christian Church was formed in southwestern England in 1815 and established in Upper Canada during the 1830's. Served by itinerant preachers, its small but loyal membership increased gradually, largely among British emigrants from Devon and Cornwall who had settled in rural areas in Northumberland, Durham and Huron Counties. In 1855 the Canadian mission, noted, as was the parent English body, for its emphasis upon lay-ministerial... -
Bishop's Palace 1818, The
On this site stood the "Bishop's Palace", residence of Bishop John Strachan (1778-1867), built in 1817-18 while he was the incumbent of St. James' Church. Born in Scotland, he came to Upper Canada in 1799 where he achieved prominence as an educator and churchman and was consecrated first Anglican Bishop of Toronto in 1839. He served as a member of the province's Legislative Council 1820-41and of the Executive Council 1815-36. During the Rebellion of 1837, the Loyalist forces that defeated William Lyon Mackenzie near Montgomery's Tavern assembled on the grounds of the Palace.