HomeMy WebLinkAbout296"Spiral bound book, 22 x 28 cm., 56 pages, [Toronto?] : Ian Macpherson Associates,
1978, 1977.
"
CLARENONT, ONTARIO:
A REPORT ON ITS HISTORICAL ANO ARCHITECTUR RESOURCES
February 1978
DICKERING PUBLIC LIBRARY
6. CENTRAL BRANCH
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CLARENONT, ONTARIO:
A REPORT ON ITS HISTORICAL ANO ARCHITECTUR RESOURCES
February 1978
DICKERING PUBLIC LIBRARY
6. CENTRAL BRANCH
"CLAREMONT, ONTARIO:
A REPORT ON ITS HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES
General Historical Context
In the years before Pickering Township was named part of the Home District, as designated
by the first Parliament of Upper Canada in 1792, the forests in that area were populated by
Huron Indians, some of whom settled near the present site of Claremont. In the first thirty years
after Pickering Township was designated, pioneers filtered into the wilderness very slowly,
encouraged only by government policies of homesteading and land grants, no taxes, free
passage from Europe, free rations over a short period of time and bargain prices on farming
implements. These policies sought to settle the four Districts of York County as quickly as
possible.
Joseph and Joshua Wixson, who were of British stock and were American colonists in
Massachusetts first and later in New York State, came to Pickering Township in 1797,
by making the journey north into the hinterlands along present-day Brock Road.
These pioneers were strong young men, had married, were devout Baptists and wanted to
start a new life in Canada. They each acquired substantial lands on either side of Brock Road
north of the 9th Concession. They built log houses for their families and started clearing the
land to farm. Joshua Wixson built the first grist mill in the township which stood east of the
hamlet.
Early settlers like the Wixsons struggled to be self-sufficient in order to survive.
They had chosen a place to live away from the trade routes and with no access to even the
most basic commodities. They had to build grist mills to grind
the wheat they grew into flour and they had to build saw mills to finish the timber they used in
their buildings. Because Claremont was located in the northern part of the townships away
from the Oshawa-Whitby trade link, it remained isolated and without stimulus for growth for
years longer than its more southern counterparts. The area evolved only, gradually from its
pioneer settlement phase
"
"Page 2
into an agrarian based economic community. In 1808, the population of the entire township
numbered 108 persons and had increased to only 575 by 1820.
Claremont's frontier years meant a demanding and austere lifestyle for those who had chosen
to live there. These settlers sustained themselves partly through a deep faith in God and,
as many of the original inhabitants were Baptist, regular services were held in an affiliated
Markham church. This liaison was broken in 1922, however, when Joshua Wixson proposed
that an excommunicated member be reinstated and refused his consent to pay a salary to the
pastor. He and his family were themselves summarily ousted for ""causing confusion""
in the church and a month later, sixteen supporters were dealt with similarly.
The rebels subsequently formed the Baptist Church of Christ and met in their various homes in
the Claremont area.
The decades between 1820 and 1840, were a time of significant growth and expansion
(in what is now Ontario County). Spurred primarily by the in-migration of disenchanted Scots
and British, settlement not only penetrated further north into the wilderness, but intensified in
previously settled areas. The regional economy was almost entirely agrarian and each
settlement within it was relatively autonomous, having evolved infant local crafts industries to
provide the farmers with the goods and services they needed to operate, such as h
arnessmaking and blacksmithing. The population of Pickering Township increased eight-fold i
n twenty years time to 3,450. Claremont itself was little more than a crossroads juncture s
urrounded by farms.
"
"Page 3
These decades were also the backdrop for a political and social drama that deeply affected
the farmers of York County. The Upper House of the Legislature was dominated by the Family
Compact, aristocratic Tories who, besides blatant patronage practices, imposed increasingly
repressive land policies and indiscriminate taxation on the communities in the outlying
districts. The settlers had little recourse against these unfair measures, as there was no
means to seek redress or change other than by petitioning.
The champion of the rural farmers' cause was William Lyon Mackenzie who, through the pages
of the ""Colonial Advocate"" and in the Assembly, exhorted the Tories to change.
He travelled extensively throughout the York County farming hamlets and spearheaded the
formation of local reform associations. Joshua Wixson and David and Peter Mathews
were leaders of this movement in Pickering Township. Mackenzie's enormous popularity is
documented in a re-election held after the Tories had unseated him as an insurgent.
He drew 628 votes to his opponents' respective 96 and 27 votes, a formidable victory
considering that most of the voters travelled great distances by sleigh and cart to the
Red Lion Inn polling place on Yonge Street.
The prosperity of the period collapsed with a depression and bank crisis in 1836-37,
which created a ""crucible"" situation. The government sided with the banks and enforced
foreclosure threats on the farmers instead of relaxing their policies. The unrest in the
countryside, their demands for an overthrow of British tyranny, provoked the Tories into
retaliation in an attempt to control the situation. Mackenzie responded by a call to rebellion.
A relatively large party of eleven men from Claremont travelled
"
"Page 4
to Montgomery's Tavern to fight, five of whom were surnamed Wixson. Despite the failure of
the rebellion, the small land holders and farmers of the area clung to their ideals of a egalitarian
society and upheld the reputation they had acquired for being rural reformists for many years
afterward.
The 1840's did bring a shift to more equitable government policies and a new period of growth
ensued that was to last until a levelling off in the 1860's. British and Irish immigrated
unassisted to Canada and brought with them new resolve and cultural diversity.
The first general store in Claremont was built in 1844, by W. H. Michell, about one-half mile
south of the four corners. In 1847, John Hamilton built a stone store on the southwest corner of
the intersection and almost immediately had a change of heart and sold the property to
Thomas Noble. The intersection came to be known as Noble's Corners, until in 1851 in order
to establish the first post office, W. H. Michell named the hamlet Claremont. Noble acted as
postmaster for several years, but in 1853 sold his store to two Scottish brothers named McNab.
In 1851, W. H. Michell moved from his store location south of Claremont into a new Brick store,
still standing, that he built on the southeast corner. In the early 1850's, the intersection was also
graced by a frame tavern (whiskey was 25¢ per gallon) which eventually burned to the ground.
In 1856-57, the McNabs bought the property north of their stone store and, incredibly, bought a
frame store in Greenwood and had the structure transported by sled many miles to the
Claremont site. The building still stands, although it has been heavily altered.
"
"Page 5
District councils were formed to represent the people in York County's four Districts in 1841.
For the next decade, there was much heated debate over the separation of the Home District
from York, a move violently opposed by representatives Joshua Wixson
and W. H. Michell because of the costs of duplicating administration and buildings.
The debate resolved itself in the formation of Ontario County in 1854.
Although these were prosperous years, with farmers' demand for goods and services
increasing and a budding lumber trade to the United States, trade inland was hindered by the
bad roads. The impact of this on a hamlet like Claremont was to isolate it from the central
market area and encourage a healthy locally-based ""cottage"" industry. By the 1850's,
Claremont had several stores, a tavern, shoe and harnessmakers, a saddler, two blacksmiths,
a saw mill, a tailor, a wagon-maker, a hardware store, a tanner, a cooper, an oat-mill and
several grist mills and was in many ways economically autonomous.
Life there was still rigorous by today's standards. The population probably did not exceed 200
and shopkeepers like the McNabs worked twelve- and eighteen-hour days. They hauled their
wares and produce between Claremont and Toronto by wagon or sleigh. Businesses operated
on a twelve month credit system. By 1865, the McNabs had accumulated enough capital to
purchase the Corner Store from W. H. Michell and operated it until 1899, making them
somewhat of an institution in the hamlet.
"
"Page 6
The closest railway was the Grand Trunk which ran through the Whitby-Oshawa end of the
county completed in 1856. Finally, in 1881, the Canadian Pacific Railway line through
Claremont was charted by the Ontario and Quebec Railway Company. It was
built by 1884, and immediately taken over by CPR for operation. This permitted settlement
much further north and opened up transport opportunities for shipping grain and livestock to the
communities fortunate enough to have a station. The former Claremont CPR station at one
time was flanked by two grain elevators and coal and lime sheds for storage of these
rail-handled commodities.
The impact of the CPR station in Claremont is still evident. A proportionately high number of
the hamlet's buildings date from around this period, especially in the northern sector near the
tracks, when a noticeable increase in population took place. The distinct north-south migration
pattern and settlements comprised entirely of people from one part of the British Isles or of one
religious faith appeared to change.
By 1891, Claremont had built its first library or Mechanic's Institute as they were called.
All of the churches standing today had been built and the hamlet had moved into its third school,
completed in 1888. Telephone service was connected in 1902, and in 1908, Claremont was
given the right to maintain its own local taxation as a Police Village. The population at this time
was approximately 300 persons.
The lack of repeated intensive growth periods in Claremont's history has been the ally to its
architectural resources. The hamlet has a very high percentage of the varieties in Ontario
vernacular architecture dating from the middle to end of the nineteenth century, as well as
some interesting earlier buildings.
"
"Page 7
The ""Four Corners"" have remained the focus of the village's
commercial activities and the pedestrian scale and intimacy of the streetscape have
weathered the years well, leaving the unplanned nineteenth century development in
Claremont readily apparent - the residential stock intermixed with the churches and
commercial and public buildings. The cohesiveness of the buildings, their materials and styles,
and the harmonious visual impact of the older development on the hamlet streets are important
assets in any long-range planning for the future of the village.
"
"Page 8
CLAREMONT, ONTARIO: SUMMARY STATEMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS
It should be noted that buildings included for architectural and historical descriptions were
chosen based on three factors:
1) Size and importance in ""fabric"" of the hamlet.
2) Potential historical value due to age, location and association
3) Architectural quality readily apparent to a trained observer.
Public and Commercial Buildings
1. Historical Name : Corner Store
Location: Southeast corner of 9th Concession at Brock Road.
The Corner Store has presided over the four corners since it was built by pioneer shopkeeper
and miller W.H. Michell in 1851. In 1865, the store was sold to the McNab brothers who
operated it for thirty-four years. It is an imposing two storey Flemish bond red brick building
with a gabled roof terminating in a pediment on
"
"Page 9
the facade. The Classic Revival store, otherwise austere in its design,
has colonettes framing the large six-paned windows and very deeply recessed doorway.
There is a fashionable use of polychrome brick at the quoins and in the window surrounds.
The building has arcading outlined in yellow brick along its street side and, although it has
been moderately altered over the years, still is a handsome focal building in Claremont.
2. Historical Name: Henderson's Shoe Store
Location: Southeast corner 9th Concession at Brock Road.
Adjacent to the Corner Store stands this one and one-half storey brown painted clapboard
store with a small one storey ""boomtown front"" sandwiched in between them.
This peaked Ontario cottage was the location of one of the many cottage industries that grew
in Claremont to serve the farmers in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. After 1902,
it was used as the telephone central for many years.
"
"Page 10
3. Historical Name: McNab Store from Greenwood
Location: Northwest corner of 9th Concession at Brock Road.
The McNab brothers bought the site and brought this frame store by sled from Greenwood in
1856-57. The building has been severely altered over the years. Nevertheless, it has a gabled
roof, has most of the original six over six windows and a boomtown front. Early streets in rural
Ontario often had commercial buildings adapted from houses, set gable end to street, with
windows cut out of the facade and sometimes given a boomtown front to make the building
look less like a house.
"
"Page 11
4. Historical Name: Dr. Eastwood's Office and Pharmacy
Location: Southeast corner Brock Road at 9th Concession.
The boomtown front building has fallen into sad disrepair. It dates from the third quarter of the
century, is clapboard and has typical segmental windows on the gable oriented facade.
Adjacent to it is an older building that was Beal's Undertaking Parlour at one time.
This building, not pictured, is clapboard, has overhanging eaves and returns on a gable
oriented facade and still retains its six over six windows. The building is badly neglected and
is almost entirely obscured from view by a high fence.
"
"Page 12
5. Historical Name: Claremont Public School
Location: West side of William Street at Henry Street
The schoolhouse replaced the original log schoolhouse and was likely completed in the third
quarter of the century. It was replaced by a brick school in 1888. The frame building was built
in the distinct Ontario peaked roof style at a cost of $2200. It is cross gabled in a T-shaped
plan and has an original chimney rising out of each of three peaks. There is a shed and
porches at the rear which have nine pane windows. The double door at the front may originally
have been separate boys' and girls' entrances but the school has since passed into residential
use as a double house. The house has been somewhat altered and covered with insulbrick.
"
"Page 13
6. Historical Name: Mason's Union Lodge - Brougham Union
Location: East side of Brock Road south of Wellington Street
This building is a curious combination of two building styles, leading to the conclusion that it
was constructed approximately mid-century as an austere clapboard Mason's Union and then
underwent a stylish remodelling of the ground storey and was given a board and batten
sheathing as well as segmental windows, in vogue in the third quarter of the century.
The building is essentially rectangular in plan, has double inset chimneys and gabled twin
storm entrances at the front. Althought there is a plain cornice, there is a smattering of dentil
moulding at the top of the facade suggesting even more strongly the later remodelling effort.
The name Brougham Union recalls the union of the Masons of Brougham and Claremont.
"
"Page 14
7. Churches and Church-Related Buildings
Historical Name: Early Church and Manse
Location: Old Brock Road at south end of Claremont
This building was reputedly the first Presbyterian church and manse in Claremont.
It is narrow clapboard, has one and one-half storeys and a gable roof. The building has six
over six windows and shutters and balanced inset chimneys. The house has a strong Regency
feel with deeply overhanging eaves and returns and a recessed doorway with top and
sidelights glazed with small panes and with narrow panes banding the toplight.
The door itself is four panel, two long vertical panels over two short ones which are repeated in
the architrave below the sidelights.
"
"Page 15
8. Historical Name: Primitive Methodist Church
Location: Northwest corner of 9th Concession at Dow Street
Although Primitive Methodism dates from 1829 in the area, this frame church was built in
1866-67. In Upper Canada there were six Methodist denominations until they all united in
1884. This particular building became a harness shop after that union which accounts for the
storefront underneath the even later porch. It was covered in stretcher bond brick at a later
date. The building is in a rectangular plan, has a gabled roof and central dormer and chimneys
at the ends.
"
"Page 16
9. Historical Name: Claremont Methodist Church
Location: West side of Brock Road north of David Street
This church was probably completed in 1889, although there is wide disagreement about a
date two decades earlier. It is constructed of stretcher bond brick and has arcading along the
sides outlining the round-headed windows, both familiar Neo-Classic details.
There are yellow brick string coarses running parallel along the sides and between which is a
textural decoration of inbrication. The cornice and gable also are adorned by inbrication and
there are buttresses at the corners and sides. The building was evidently very poorly
constructed as a major renovation had to be carried out in 1929, removing the spire and
massive dormers so that the building would not collapse under its own weight.
A cornerstone from the Bethel Church is mounted above the main doorway and is dated 1851.
"
"Page 17
10.Historical Name: Presbyterian Church
Location: Southeast corner of Brock Road at Wellington Street
This church, completed in 1876, is of stretcher bond red brick and has yellow brick buttress-like
quoins, window surrounds and labels as well as a fine yellow brick drops adorning the gable
cornice. It has very simple Gothic Revival details in the arched paired windows and buttresses
and has probably been shorn of a spire to adapt to its present use as a community centre.
The projecting foyer is a later addition. The base is of coarsed fieldstone with nine pane
windows lighting the lower storey.
"
"Page 18
11. Historical Name: Presbyterian Manse
Location: 4968 Brock Road
The Manse is stretcher bond yellow brick over frame construction and was completed in the
early 1870's. It is an L-shaped plan and has a one storey back kitchen and one chimney.
It has an offset gabled roof with a matching dormer which are carried by bays in the facade.
There is a fretsawn ornament in the gable end. The Manse is quite restrained in its
mid-Victorian decoration and styling as befits its function.
"
"Page 19
12. Historical Name: First Baptist Church
Location: North side of 9th Concession near Franklin Street
This charming Gothic Revival church incorporates a pristine bargeboard gable trim.
Completed in 1866, it is a one storey Flemish bond red brick building with a projecting foyer
and is decorated with yellow brick at the quoins and door and window heads.
The church has nine over nine windows with switchline tracery above them and above the main
doorway. Some early members of this church were the Gosticks, who held services on the 8th
Concession until they merged with Claremont Baptists in 1859. In 1870, their frame meeting
hall was moved to the rear of this church to become its Sunday School.
"
"Page 20
13. Historical Name: Baptist Parsonage
Location: South side of 9th Concession at Lorn Street
This two storey house was built about 1860, as a parsonage to the church across the street.
It is an offset gabled stretcher bond red brick structure with polychrome window heads.
The house has strong Italianate influences in the bracketing, the bay and the assymetrical
massing. Ths segmental doorway architrave has an etched double plane toplight.
In the gable ends are unstructural tie beams and kingposts dressed up with fretsawn ornament.
"
"Page 21
14. Individual Residential Buildings
Historical Name: Duncan McNab House
Location: Southeast corner Livingston Street at Wellington.
Surrounded by maples, this house was built by Duncan McNab, one of Claremont's
shopkeepers, probably in the 1860's. It is Ontario Picturesque in style with delicate
bargeboards ornamenting the gable and peak cornices and crowned by finials.
The house is L-shaped and has bays on both its west and south faces.
The original four panel main doorway has an etched glass toplight and there is one chimney.
The most remarkable feature of the house is its construction material. It is a frame building
covered in roughcast which was subsequently lined to resemble ashlar. This third quarter of
the century fashion of imitating stone arose from the cultural admiration for stone buildings
above those constructed of brick, wood or timber, in that order. Roughcast buildings that
imitate the stone are increasingly rare in Ontario, although Claremont has several examples,
the McNab house chief among them.
"
"Page 22
15. Historical Name: Linton Residence
Location: West side of Brock Road near 8th Concession
In keeping with the Regency style of the Linton farmhouse, the exterior is plainly treated and
has fewer and larger window openings than its stylistic predecessors. The windows are set in,
as is the door, to give a reveal and they have straight stone lintels with six over six glaxing and
wooden shutters. The house is constructed of squared rubble stone and on the facade
oriented towards the road the masonry has been highlighted with white between coarses.
The building is rectangular block with a single storey back kitchen annexed to it and each
gable end has an inset chimney. The house is raised on a ground level basement, is one and
one-half storeys and has a gabled roof of slate. The eaves are deeply recessed with returns
and the cornice is decorated with a restrained moulding. This house is reputed to have been
built in 1862.
"
"Page 23
16. Historical Name: Pearson Cottage
Location: Northwest corner of Livingston Street at Wellington
This modest L-shaped cottage is no longer in very good condition, but it has several
interesting features, unusual in the area the frame building has been stuccoed on the main
block and the roof extends saltbox-like to form the ceiling of a verandah on its west face.
The foot of the L has been covered in a pressed metal sheathing that imitates coarsed
rough-dressed stone. Again this was a latter century workingman's solution to having a
more elegantly executed house without spending a fortune in the process.
"
"Page 24
17. Historical Name: Linton Residence (in village)
Location: Southeast corner of 9th Concession at Livingston
This house, built in 1872 by the Lintons, is a typical one and one-half storey Ontario
Picturesque Cottage. It is an unusually well-built house, constructed of hand-pressed red
brick laid in Flemish bond. It has one exterior chimney and the porch at the main doorway is a
later addition, as is the clapboard annex at the rear. It has functioned as the office and
residence of physician Dr. N.F. Tomlinson for decades.
"
"Page 25
10. Historical Name: Dunn's Cottage
Location: 9th Concession east of Franklin Street
Built after 1869, this cottage has been altered by a contemporary siding.
It still has a handsome main doorway architrave, flat with round corners,
and with moulded trim repeated in the window surrounds. There is a three pane toplight above
the original door which is four panelled with Italianate round-headed arches in the top panels.
The one storey frame house is a saltbox with an annex at the rear and has two chimneys,
one centrally placed and one at the rear. The house has six over six double-hung sash
windows and is gabled.
"
"Page 26
19. Historical Name: Doctor's Residence and Office
Location: Northwest corner of 9th Concession at Franklin
This house has been so seriously altered over time that it warrants mention more for its
historical import in Claremont than its architectural merit, having served the community as the
physician's office and home for many years. The house is unusually massed however with two
joined gable-oriented blocks comprising the facade. There is an original eight over eight
window but most have been remodelled to a single sash and transom type.
A board and batten covering visible on rear portions of the building has been insulbricked at
the front. A doorway has been changed to a window at the front but the original wooden quoins
remain as do the plain projecting verges of the roof.
"
Page 3)
20. Historical Name: Hamilton Residence
Location: West side of Brock Fuad at Wellington
This house was built by pioneer landowner Hamilton circa 1870
and dates several years earlier than his construction of the
adjacent Nanse. It is an imposing two storeys and isssymetric-
ally massed with an L-shaped plan and back kitchen. The structure
is covered with stretcher bond brick and has a bay and quarter -
round windows placed on the gabled south face. The gable ends
are decorated with unstructural tie beams and king poste and
have additional turned and fretsawn ornament, typical of the
period. The main doorway is top lit and has a stained glass
panel. The porch is probably a later addition and there are
three chismeys, testifying to the builder's wealth.
"Page 28
21. Historical Name: Mrs. Annie Porter's Residence
Location: East side of Wixson Street north of Joseph
This house is the quintessential Ontario Picturesque cottage. It is built of stretcher bond yellow
brick and has red brick polychrome details at the quoins, window heads and foundation line.
The L-shaped plan house has a gabled roof with delicate bargeboards dressing the cornice
which the hipped porch repeats in its treillage. The four pane segmental windows are framed
by shutters and stone lugsills. The whole house is set on a fieldstone base and the owner has
the original Crown Grant for the land it is built on.
"
"Page 29
22. Historical Name: Fred Ward Residence
Location: Southeast corner of Brock Road at Joseph
Built by a retired farmer, this house is also a particularly well-executed early example of the
Ontario Picturesque style. Yellow brick outlines the quoins and window heads and proceeds
in a patterned stringcoarse around the building. The brick was laid in Flemish bond and the
windows still are the original six over six double sash. The peaked gabled house has a
shuttered Gothic window above an elaborate main doorway. The peak's bargeboards are
repeated in the treillage of the hipped verandah. The doorway architrave features a rectangular
twelve pane top-light and eight pane sidelights above moulded wooded panels.
"
"Page 30
23. Historical Name: Thomas Gregg House
Location: Brock Road north of Lane Street
Built circa 1900, this imposing and well-proportioned house is a collection of details from
many styles. It has Georgian dormers lighting the attic. It has a verandah that stretches
around two sides covering a five-sided bay and with a porch at the rear.
There is a pedimented Classicizing porch roof, Ionic columns, segmental windows
popularized by the Italianate, and the feel of a very large-scaled cottage with its truncated
hipped roof. It was built on the MacForsythe farm and is nicely sited and landscaped, raised,
as it is, on a fieldstone pedestal and with a splayed front staircase to welcome the visitor.
The execution of the house reflects the eclecticism of the period it was built in.
"
"Page 31
The Groupings of Residential Buildings
Claremont has a rich collection of latter 19th century houses, representing the variety of
building styles and local tastes. They are builder's houses that imitated pattern books and
prevailing architectural fashion. The builder and not the
client-owner was often the arbiter of the house design and this domestic architecture often
reflects the preferences and the place of origin of the builder. In addition, builders freely drew
on a variety of sources for inspiration in their work, and
houses therefore frequently became indistinguishable stylistically due to the hodge-podge of
details they incorporated. The following section demonstrates that wealth in the Claremont
area; the houses are loosely grouped and highlight only the most interesting details found in
the examples selected.
Ontario Picturesque
Influenced by the so-called Cottage Gothic, Ontario developed a vernacular style that is
characterized by a one and one-half storeys buildings, steeply gabled on a rectangular plan
with a broad central dormer or peak on the front facade. They are small-scaled and
ornamented frequently by bargeboards in the peak and may have a decorative main doorway
and a window above it. Dating from the third quarter of the nineteenth century, these houses
express the personality of the builder in their decoration, while the structure itself is usually
quite soberly Victorian. The details that distinguish these houses are Gothic Revival inspired
lancet and pointed arched windows, bargeboards and treillage on the verandahs.
"
"Page 32
24. Board and Batten House
Location: South side of 9th Concession at Lorn
Aside from its board and batten covering, this house features a pointed arch window and
bargeboards with a finial.
25. Frame Farmhouse
Location: Southeast corner of Brock Road at Lane
"
"Page 33
One of the oldest in the area, this farmhouse is of clapboard with moulded edges and has
three chimneys and a back kitchen attached.
26. Stucco Cottage
Location: South side of Henry Street at William
Built by a retired farmer, this house is of stucco over frame and has wooden quoins and a
wooden stringcoarse at cornice level.
"
"Page 34
27. Frame Cottage
Location: Northwest corner of Brock Road at Henry
This frame cottage has wooden quoins, finials and segmental window surrounds
dressing up its stark clapboard exterior. There is a hip-roofed verandah and a second storey
porch with no door leading out to it.
28. Roughcast Cottage
Location: Southeast corner of 9th Concession at Brock
"
"Page 35
A cruder mixture of gravel and cement than stucco covers this frame house, imitating the more
prestigious stone
building material.
2 9. Stucco House
Location: North side of 9th Concession at William
This house, probably stucco over brick, has unstructural tie beams and king posts in its gables
and an Italianate main doorway with round arched panels in the single leaf door below an
etched coloured glass toplight.
"
"Page 36
30. Young Residence
Location: North side of 9th Concession near Dow
Built circa 1870,this house features the bellcast roofed porch and treillage of that era.
It draws, too, on Neo-Classic inspiration in its dormer window and in the many-paned top and
sidelit Regency doorway.
Last Quarter of the Nineteenth Century
The last quarter of the century is marked by an eclecticism in architectural tastes.
Residential vernacular is difficult to categorize stylistically as a result and is further confused by
the applied decorations that graced many houses. Sawmills produced bargeboards, brackets
and treillage and turned verandah columns in profusion. Many prevalent styles were revivals of
historic tastes executed whimsically and romantically. The
"
"Page 37
completion of the CPR Railway through Claremont stimulated house building during these
decades and it is from this era of prosperity that the following houses date.
These are primarily solid mid- and high Victorian homes, designed with a bit of regional flair
but basically more restrained than their urban counterparts.
31. Tobias Castor House (builder)
Location: West side of Brock Road south of the CPR tracks.
This house has a veritable profusion of sawmill work and lattices on its, characteristic of high
Victorian times. The gingerbreak, however, ranges from a Regency verandah to
Swiss chalet-inspired bargeboards and it is said to have been built circa 1890.
"
"Page 38
32. John Gregg House
Location: West side of Brock Road south of the CPR tracks
This mid-Victorian house has the unstructural tie beams and kingposts seen elsewhere in
Claremont, Italianate brackets and polychrome quoins, window heads and stringcoarses
familiar in Ontario.
33. Leggitt House
Location: East side of Brock Road between Joseph and Lane
"
"Page 39
This solid house, built by a CPR man, has some Swiss chalet-inspired bargeboards but is
notable chiefly for its now rare roughcast covering.
34. Clapboard House
Location: West side of Brock Road north of Lane
This house's plan and massing characterize the next five examples with little variation.
The building has its original clapboard siding and has five-sided bays with overly narrow
windows at each gable end, indicating that the builder may have been a Scotsman who
favoured these bays.
"
"Page 40
35. Brodie House
Location: Southwest corner of 9th Concession at Victoria
This stucco over frame house was the residence of the first veterinarian and has some Greek
Revival porch details.
36. Brick House
Location: Northwest corner of Henry Street at Dow
"
"Page 41
This mid-Victorian brick house is nicely proportioned, has a window tucked under the eave and
a Greek Revival porch with wooden dentillation running along the cornice line.
37. Morgan Residence
Location: 50 67 Brock Road
This house was built by the blacksmith Morgan who brought the tools of his trade by boat and
horse-drawn cart from England. It is stretcher bond of a fieldstone base and has the
characteristic highlighting of the quoins and window surrounds as well as a patterned string
coarse around the building. The west porch has Greek Revival detailing and segmental
windows and doorways.
"
"Page 42
38. Brick Farmhouse
Location: North end of William Street
This farmhouse, said to have been completed in 1876, has bargeboards and a finial as well
as verandah treillage along the north facade, but has undergone some alteration of window
openings over the years. It was reputedly built by a man named Mantle, one of a trio of
Masons who were builders in the area.
"
"Page 43
39. Palmer House
Location: Southeast corner of Wixson Street at Joseph
Completed circa 1870, by an area builder named Leeper, this stretcher bond house is well
constructed and nicely proportioned. It is a Victorian house, restrained and austere,
with just the slightest hint of Italianate fashion evident in the brackets at the bays.
40. Underhill Residence
Location: South of 9th Concession at Dow
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"Page 44
This is another nicely executed stretcher bond brick builder's house with a bellcast roofed
porch. The main doorway has a stained glass toplight.
41. Brick Townhouse Location: North side of 9th Concession at William
This late century stretcher bond brick house is set on an ashlar base. The bay has two pairs of
narrow windows, one with a half-elliptical toplight, both characteristic of the period.
The Romanesque arch was coming into its own by this time and appears in several area
houses.
"
"Page 45
42. Brick House
Location: East side of Brock Road south of the CPR tracks
This house has a wealth of detail on it, probably the most richly eclectic in the area. T
he slate roof is both gabled and mansarded after the Second Empire style, there is a
Palladian window above the main doorway and half-round lights in the attic storey.
There is a Romanesque arched window and Greek Revival dentillation at the cornice of the
enclosed porch as well as pilasters flanking the doorway. The pane configuration in the porch
windows is Regency and there is even a bit of Victorian gingerbreak thrown in for good
measure.
"
"Page 46
43. Hugh Gregg Residence
Location: Northeast corner of Brock Road and Joseph
This turn of the century house is built of stretcher bond brick and has a truncated hip roof on
the main block with a projecting gable. There is a double porch and the windows are large
paned, wide and have a single pane transom.
"
"Page 47
CLAREMONT, ONTARIO: VALUE OF THE AREA AS A WHOLE
Claremont is a quaint and rural Ontario hamlet that has not suffered the loss of its architectural
resources over the years due both to the lack of intensive growth periods and resulting
redevelopment in its history and to the concern residents have shown in the past towards
external changes. These factors have preserved a high proportion of its old buildings
and have left reasonably intact the commercial district aroundthe four corners.
The intersection has been the focus of commercial activities for nearly one hundred and thirty
years and the grouping of buildings figures prominently in the visual identity of Claremont.
This assembly of buildings has grown organically, as it were, over the decades in response
to thespecific economic needs of the agrarian community. It presents a distinctly latter
nineteenth century visage and its character remains comfortably pedestrian-scaled.
While few of the buildings in Claremont, residential or otherwise, are remarkable on their own,
as a village, they present an exemplary array of Ontario vernacular responses to prevailing
architectural styles and decoration. In addition, there is represented a wide variety of
construction methods and materials in the building stock.
This collection of local responses to building style and method, the evolutionary nature of that
growth, the placement and interconnections between buildings all contribute to the
place-specific feel residents have towards Claremont and constitutes the hamlet's identity.
For vitality and aspirations for the future, a village can build on a firm and visible psychological
grounding in the past. This can be had by giving thought and taking action in protecting its
heritage
"
"Page 48
stock of buildings. Claremont has a closely-knit rural village character that boasts a strong
latter nineteenth century flavour, unique to its own historical and physical development.
It has some very unusual construction features used on a full spectrum of vernacular
architectural buildings reflecting the Canadian idiom of prevailing styles. It has a
pedestrian quality and more slowly paced lifestyle that is growing increasingly rare in this
century. Without the protection and concern for the architectural environment that these assets
deserve, Claremont risks losing an essential part of its own heritage as well as a precious
part of the nineteenth century.
"
"Page 49
SOURCE MATERIAL
Historical Material Drawn from the Following Sources:
""Claremont Past and Present"", an historical sketch for the Centennial Celebration, 1938.
Gauslin, Lillian, From Paths to Planes; A Story of the Claremont Area. Claremont, Ontario:
published by the author, 1974.
Interviews held with Dr. N. F. Tomlinson.
Johnson, Leo A., History of the County of Ontario 1615-1875. Whitby, Ontario:
The Corporation of the County of Ontario, 1973.
Ontario, Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Ontario. Toronto: J. H. Beers and Co., 1877.
Ontario, Provincial Archives, 77 Grenville Street, Toronto.
Wood, William R., Past Years in Pickering. Toronto: William R.
Briggs, 1911.
"
40
7 11 20
0
BUILDINGS OF HISTORICAL AND
ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE
m
"LEGEND FOR MAP OF HISTORICAL & ARCHITECTURALLY SIGNIFICANT BUILDINGS
1. Corner Store
2. Henderson's Shoe Store
3. McNab Store (from Greenwood)
4. Dr. Eastwood's Office and Pharmacy
5. Claremont Public School
6. Mason's Union Lodge - Brougham Union
7. Early Church and Manse
8. Primitive Methodist Church
9. Claremont Methodist Church
10. Presbyterian Church
11. Presbyterian Manse
12. First Baptist Church
13. Baptist Parsonage
14.Duncan McNab House
15. Linton Residence (south of Claremont - not shown)
16. Pearson Cottage
17. Linton Residence (in hamlet)
18. Dunn's Cottage
19. Doctor's Residence and Office
20. Hamilton Residence
21. Mrs. Annie Porter's Residence
22. Fred Ward Residence
23. Thomas Gregg House
24. Board and Batten House
25. Frame Farmhouse
26. Stucco Cottage
27. Frame Cottage
28. Roughcast Cottage
29. Stucco House
30. Young Residence
"
"- 2 -
31. Tobias Castor House
32. John Gregg House.
33. Leggitt House
34. Clapboard House
35. Brodie House
36. Brick House
37. Morgan Residence
38. Brick Farmhouse
39. Palmer House
40. Underhill Residence
41. Brick Townhouse
42. Brick House (South of C.P.R.)
43. Hugh Gregg House.
"
A PEEUIX
ME IOWN OF PICKERING PLBLIO LIEMN,
ROUGE HILL
"APPENDIX
GLOSSARY OF STRUCTURAL TERMS AND MATERIALS
Annex: An addition to a main or original structure.
Arcading: A range of arches carried on columns.
Architrave: The moulded frame surrounding a door of window.
Ashlar base: A facing made of squared stones.
Bargeboard dressing: An ornamental board placed along the edge of a sloping roof and
usually replacing a rafter.
Bay: A vertical division of a building marked by windows, arches, etc. .
Beam: A horizontal support element.
Tie Beam: A beam spanning the base of a roof.
Board and Batten Sheathing: A frame sheathing formed by boards abutting vertically with
internal battens covering the timber joins.
Boomtown Front: A false or added front of rectangular shape designed to cover gables or
other house-style facade features in order to create a commercial facade.
Bracketing: Small supporting pieces carrying an overhead weight.
Buttress: A mass of brick or masonry built against a wall to give it added strength.
Clapboard: A frame sheathing created by overlapping horizontally-placed boards.
Colonette: A small column.
Cornice: A projecting, ornamental moulding at the top of a building, wall or other structural
member.
Dentil Moulding: A square block pattern moulding.
Dentillation: A square block pattern.
Dormer: A window or wall placed vertically in a sloping roof and having a roof of its own.
Facade: The face or side of a building.
"
"A-2
Finial: A formal ornament at the top of a gable, etc..
Fretsawn Ornament: A geometrically carved ornament.
Gable: The triangular upper portion of a wall at the end of a pitched roof.
Inbrication: A decorative pattern of indented brickwork.
Insulbrick: A sheathing material made of asphalt impregnated tentest patterned to imitate brick.
Kingpost: The centre support reaching to the peak of a roof.
Lancet: Having a sharply pointed top or apex.
Latticed: Made of strips of wood or metal crossing each other.
Lintel: A horizontal beam spanning an opening, especially a door opening.
Palladian Window: A window with three arches, the central one being wider or larger than the
others.
Pediment: A low pitched gable above a roofed space forming the entrance or centre of a
building.
Pilaster: A shallow, rectangular column which projects only slightly from the wall.
Polychrome: Many coloured.
Quoins: Dressed stones used ornamentally to form the corners of a building.
Saltbox: A house with two storeys in front and one in back, have a double sloping roof.
Sash Window: A window formed with sliding glazed frames running in vertical grooves.
Segmental Windows: Windows whose panes are divided into segments.
Spire: A tall structure rising from a roof or tower and terminating in a point.
String Coarse: A continuous projecting horizontal band set in the surface of an exterior wall.
"
"A-3
Transom: A horizontal bar or window across a window or door opening.
Treillage: Latticework.
"