Time Walker

The former Montreal House at the northeast corner of King and Aylmer The building is at least 150 years old. It appears in historic photos and is depicted on historic maps. The structure itself, however, has now been declared simply, “Old” and will be removed from Peterborough’s Heritage Register. The plan is to demolish it and build affordable housing. Personally, this building has never been one of my favorites. It seemed a seedy, scary place in my childhood. And yet, it’s fate is particularly worrisome now that the Toronto real estate boom has thoroughly engulfed Peterborough. When I first heard about the plans, I felt pain at the usual short-sighted cries of progress. I’m the first to agree that Peterborough, like many cities, is in dire need of affordable housing. But that doesn’t mean you have to demolish historic buildings to create the space. Peterborough has several weedy vacant downtown lots, and plenty of space farther afield. The plans here are to integra...

William Metheral owned a substantial portion of land at the southeast corner of Aylmer and Murray Streets. Over several decades, the Metheral family expanded along with their business, and the four buildings they erected have all survived into the 21st century. In my research, I have often come across this type of progressive Victorian family land holding. I know of several other examples in Peterborough; it’s a common North American model. The patriarch purchased or received a grant of a generous parcel of land. On it they established their homestead and business. The family grew, and the sons helped build the business, which prospered along with the growing community. They built a slightly larger home. The adult sons, in turn, built prestige property; larger, more luxurious, status type dwellings on the land of the family compound. In this case, two of William Metheral’s sons each lived in one of the units, and the two other homes were rented out, generating additional income....

Looking good after lots of external work this year! Before...

220 is getting the brick painting treatment.  So awesome this house is being fixed up at last!

This lovely gothic style home was built c. 1887, about twenty years older than I thought.  It was originally a caretakers lodge for the George A. Cox estate, and was sold to William Morrow after Cox's death.  The gorgeous barge board trim is original.

Front porches updated on two properties.  Positive changes occurring slowly but surely. Brock Street:

Yet another house on a hill turned away from the street to face the view is the Robert Kingan House, built c. 1863.  Directly across Brock Street from Hutchison House, this beauty is currently getting a face lift.  Several months ago, a massive addition on the back was torn down in a matter of one day.  In the past few weeks, the original look of the brickwork has been being restored by a company called  The Brick Painters. I've watched them perform their magic on a few other properties in town, and they do a phenomenal job.  This is not the usual sandblasting but instead a method of faux finish that restores the appearance of the brick without risking potential damage from common cleaning methods.  You can't tell these bricks are painted!  The whole house used to be that awful yellow you can still see on the back where the addition was removed.  Just look at it now!  I also love the look of the new entrance porch; contemporary Arts &...

Another example of a house not facing the road, but situated to take advantage of a view, is the Jane Wilson House.  This unusual cottage, built circa 1880, was originally only one storey, but features two front projecting bay windows, a common feature of many larger homes of that era.  The house was just outside the original northern town boundary of Smith Street, now Parkhill Road.  At the time, it would have sat alone on the crest of a country hill overlooking Peterborough.  Newer houses and mature trees now block the view, although a glimpse of it can still be seen by looking south down the street.  This house changed hands a lot, but it was owned for over twenty years by the late Dr. Barclay McKone and his wife, Lorna.  The quirky position of this house and its large front garden, serene on this quiet little street, reminds me so much of England.

The breakthrough to this mystery building came when I found it on Google Street View.    On my iPad, I navigated around the building to the Bethune Street side where I saw an entrance door with a house number (hidden here by a tree).  Eureka.  It was in fact a house on Bethune Street, not a mystery building on Edinburgh! This house is another case of an unusual placement, with the property not facing the street.  Placing the house in this direction gave it the best vantage point for a magnificent view of Peterborough from this hill.  The house was built in the 1880s by James R. Donnell Jr., partner in the construction firm Donnell and Stabler.  The house backs on to Edinburgh.  Originally there was a good sized front garden that overlooked a Donnell Family compound, comprised of a modest 1870s brick house also built by James Junior, and his father James Donnell Senior's 1840s family homestead cottage to the south.  Both these houses ar...

Back in May I took this photo of a building I couldn't identify.  Quite sizeable, it sits perched on the south east hillside corner of Edinburgh and Bethune. I always approached it from the east, which shows a walkout basement made of stone. It reminded me of nineteenth century French country houses, but it reminded me even more of 1860s era schools.  The 1875 Romaine map shows an empty lot, one of two lots owned by James Donnell that comprised the east side of Bethune Street from Dublin to Edinburgh.  I wondered if it was some special private school.  I couldn't find any reference to such a place on Edinburgh, but kept it on the back burner in case I came across something. Mystery solved in Part 2...please read on!

Beside each other on Robinson Street, two large red brick, two and a half storey houses were built twenty years apart.  Both were owned by wealthy Ashburnham business families.  It's interesting to see how the popular architectural styles changed in just a few decades.  One hundred years later, houses built in the 1960s were much smaller than those built in the 1980s.  Not so different from Victorian times! The Henry Calcutt House, 1866 Victorian gothic with gingerbread style wood trim.  The house remained in the Calcutt family from 1869 until the late 1940s.  Calcutt owned a brewery on the Otonabee River, just west of his house.  Calcutt also owned a steamship line which ran along the river to Rice Lake.  His vessels provided a necessary waterway link for railway passengers, and also ran recreational excursions. Lakeview, the John C. Sullivan House, 1886 This Italianate style Victorian mansion originally also had iron cresting on the ro...

There is a dumpster in front of 220 Brock Street.  The front porch (not the original) and steps have been removed, which hopefully means there are positive changes in store.  I was beginning to lose hope for this former beauty, as it seemed to be falling almost derelict. The three Italianate style mansions on the north side of Brock, just east of Aylmer, were once part of a string of grand homes built along this block in the 1870s to the early 1880s.  Two more were located where the 1960s high rise Brock Towers now stands.  To the east, a large 1870s mansion is the only other survivor, and it now houses the Youth Emergency Shelter. The original roofs of these mansions were far more ornate, with wrought iron cresting, mansards, and faux turrets.  I imagine these features were high maintenance and only lasted a few decades.  Only 220 still has its faux turret look. Sadly, both 220 and 226 Brock Street were crudely broken up into apartments duri...

The former YMCA building at George and Murray Streets has been sitting mostly empty since 2006.  I've been inside only a few times during the past decade to view Spark photo exhibits.  It has sat unchanged but empty, a keeper of endless memories for those of us who grew up here and enjoyed the many facilities it provided our community.  Talk of refurbishment had been going on for so long it was almost a shock to see the partial demolition that is now happening. The original structure was built in 1896, officially opening in May of 1897.  Designed by Peterborough architect William Blackwell, the YMCA was built by funds bequeathed from Charlotte Nicholls, and further subsidized by George Cox.  Major additions occurred in 1930, and modern facilities continued to be added in the 1960s and 70s. The original 1896 exterior is largely being left intact.  The Murray Street side of the 1930 addition has been completely demolished, while the George Street ...

Now a burrito take out and apartments, the use of this century building on Simcoe Street has changed many times.  In the 70s, the second floor was a repertory movie theatre.  When the movie Harold and Maude  had been rereleased on its way to cult film status, I remember it played there for many months. The mosaic on the eastern side of the building adorned the exterior of the Gold Rush Room of the Empress Hotel during the 60s and 70s.  The hotel is now Empress Gardens retirement residence.  The mosaic was on the west, or George Street side of the first floor, outside what is now the Whistle Stop Cafe.  It was preserved by Aon properties and moved to this location in their Charlotte Mews.

Tucked away in a small valley amidst a residential area stands the City of Peterborough's largest example of Beaux Arts architecture.   The first time I came upon it, I turned the corner and was struck by the sheer size and magnificence of this imposing structure; totally unexpected to be found among this quiet neighbourhood of largely Edwardian houses. The Peterborough Normal School opened on September 15, 1907 as one of four schools opened at the time in Ontario for the purpose of training teachers.  The building was later renamed Teachers College, a name that is now used for the neighbourhood where it is now an apartment complex.

Originally a country house built on 100 acres, Dixon House was situated well back from the road, facing south toward what is now Parkhill.  Encircling the house was a two storey, covered veranda, accessible by French doors on both floors.  My first blog post was entitled, "The Suburb Surrounds the Mansion", and the William Dixon House is another example.  The house was owned by the federal government between 1941-1975, and contained the Peterborough branch of Wartime Housing Limited.  The house now has a Park Street North address and sits amid a neighbourhood of prefab World War II era homes. Built in 1837, the same year as Hutchison House and Clonsilla, Dixon House is also made of local stone, which is still exposed on the north side of the building. The John E. Belcher House was built in the mid 1840s and originally faced south.  City Engineer and architect Belcher leased the house from his relative, lumber merchant Mossam Boyd. By 1890, Belcher...