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HomeMy WebLinkAbout948Duotang bound report of the Woodruff-Mackenzie Residence (Stonecroft), 12 pages,prepared by Unterman McPhail Associates, dated 1999. "DRAFT Woodruff-Mackenzie Residence (Stonecroft) 2935 Brock Road, Concession 4, Lot 18 Town of Pickering September 1999 Prepared for: Heritage Pickering Prepared by: Unterman McPhail Associates Heritage Resource Management Consultants" "TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 2.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1 3.0 ARCHITECTURE 3 4.0 SITE CONTEXT 7 5.0 SUMMARY OF HERITAGE INTEREST 8 SOURCES APPENDIX - Historical Maps and Photographs " "Heritage Assessment Woodruff -McKenzie Residence Page1 Concession 4, Lot 18, Town of Pickering --- 1.0 INTRODUCTION Heritage Pickering retained the services of Unterman McPhail Associates to prepare an architectural report on the Woodruff-MacKenzie House {Stonecroft), 2935 Brock Road, Concession 4, Lot l8, Town of Pickering. Unterman McPhail Associates conducted a site visit on July 2, 1999, with John Sabean, Heritage Pickering. This report incorporates historical research material on the property and Woodruff family provided by John Sabean. This report does not include a description of the interior of the house. The report is divided into four key sections. Section 2 provides a brief history of the property ownership and the Hawkins Woodruff family. Section 3 describes the architectural attributes of the house. Section 4 describes the site context. Section 5 provides a summary of heritage interest. 2.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Woodruff Family Hawkins Woodruff, son of early Pickering settlers Noadiah Woodruff and Charity Powell, was born in Pickering Township on April 16, 1812. He grew up at his father's home on Lot 17, Concession 2. In the early 1830s Hawkins Woodruff married Mary Tool. She was born in Whitchurch Township circa 1817/18 and later moved to Pickering with her parents John Tool and Catherine Wurtz. The Tool family were noted early Pickering settlers. The Woodruff family was closely related to the prominent Lynde and Post families of Pickering and Whitby. The children of Hawkins and Mary Woodruff included: Elizabeth (ca. 1837); John (ca. 1838); Jemima (ca. 1840); Zelotus H. (ca. 1842); Jerusha C. (ca. 1844); Noadiah (ca. 1848); Mary M. (ca. 1850); and Emeline/Emma (ca. 1859/60). The Woodruffs were noted as adherents of the Friends Religion in the 1861 Census. Walton's Directory (1837) listed Hawkins Woodruff as an occupant of Lot 17, Concession 2. He bought Lot 18, Concession 4 in 1849 and according to --- Unterman McPhail Associates September 1999 Heritage Resource Management Consultants " "census and assessment records he lived with his family on Lot 18, Concession 4 by 1851. Hawkins Woodruff died in 1878 and was buried in the Friends Cemetery, Pickering Village. His wife Mary continued to live on the family farm until the mid-to-late 1880s. By 1890 she had moved with a daughter to a quartet acre site on Block B, No. 5, south half Lot 23, Pickering. She died in 1906 and was buried with her husband in the Friends Cemetery, Pickering Village. Property History The Crown granted a patent in 1798 to Mrs. Mary Elmsley, wife of Chief Justice Elmsley, for all 200 acres of Lot 18, Concession 4, Township of Pickering. Robert Isaac Dey Gray owned the lot from 1799 until his demise in 1804. At that time the property title reverted to the Elmsleys. Although land records indicate that Toronto lawyer John Simcoe Macaulay bought all of Lot 18 in 1832, Hawkins Woodruff bought fifty (50) acres of Lot 18, Concession 4 from John Elmsley in 1849. He had previously purchased the adjacent fifty acres of the north half of the south half of Lot 17, Concession 4 in 1845. The Assessment Roll (1851) notes Hawkins Woodruff as the owner and occupant of 100 acres of parts of Lots 17, and 18, Concession 4 and the Census Return (1851) notes that the Woodruff family lived in a log house at that time. Ten years later the Census Return (1861) noted the Woodruff family were the occupants of a one and-a-half storey stone house. Seventy acres of land were cultivated with fifty-eight acres in crops, ten in pasture and two in orchards and/or gardens. The cash value of the farm was given as $4,000. The Agricultural Census (1871) noted that Woodruff was the owner of a village lot as well as the 100 acres of which ninety-four acres had been improved. A house and a barn or stable were also noted on the property. The illustrated Historical Atlas (1877) notes a house on Lot 18 with A. Woodruff as the owner/occupant. It is believed that the Woodruffs operated a woollen textile cottage industry from the rear addition to the house sometime in the nineteenth century. An early water supply system was developed with the source located up the hill " "to the east of the house. It was fed from the source by a lead pipe to the textile production area. After Hawkins Woodruffs death in 1878 his family farmed the property until approximately the late 1880s. Then they leased it in the 1890s and early 1900s, Tenants on the property include: Walter Neal in 1890; R. A. Carpentar from 1892 to 1896; John and James Aicken from 1897 to the early 1900s; and Thomas Knox in the early 1900s. After the death of her mother in 1906, Catherine Woodruff leased the property until she sold it in 1911 to Thomas Reevely. Francis Simpson of Thornhill bought the 50 acres of Lot 18, Concession 4 in 1912. A right-of-way across the southern part of the property was sold to the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway the same year. The Simpsons appear to have leased the property to various tenants throughout their ownership. They sold the property to Allan and Elizabeth Mackenzie in 1939. The Mackenzie family owned the property from 1939 until the Ministry of Housing of the Province of Ontario expropriated it as part of the North Pickering development project in 1974. After expropriation Robin Mackenzie leased the property from the Ontario Government. During their ownership the Mackenzies sold an easement for a transmission corridor to Hydro-Electric Power Commission in 1947 and sections of property for aggregate extraction to Standard Paving in 1941 and Cooper Concrete Aggregates Ltd. in 1953. Trans-Atlantic Pipe Line company took out an easement on the property in 1952 for a pipeline. The farm raised Aberdeen Angus Cattle and later Scottish Highland cattle introduced by son Robin Mackenzie. Robin Mackenzie, a noted Canadian artist with many works in major collections such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, used this site as the inspiration for much of his artistic work. 3.0 ARCHITECTURE This building comprises a small vernacular stone house built circa 1850s that was considerably enlarged latter in the nineteenth century by two additions on the east end. The original house is rectangular in plan set on a high basement wall. The masonry work is split and squared rubblestone regularly " "coursed. Large stone quoins accent the corners. Stone voussoirs with keystones are located over the window and door openings. It displays a flat arch of an earlier Georgian tradition over the front entrance with a simple rectangular transom set within the door frame. The transom is divided into three rectangular panes of glass. The low truncated hip roof has a plain boxed cornice. A fascia board overlaps the top edge of the stone window voussoirs. A large stone chimney is located slightly off-centre on the hip roof of the original house. Originally built as a one storey house, the interior roof area has been converted to a half story living space. On the north elevation one narrow gable roof dormer has been added to the roof of the original house while two are located on the roof of the middle addition Stone was a less commonly used building material in Pickering than frame or brick in the early-to-mid nineteenth century. The Woodruff-Mackenzie residence also has a hip roof that is atypical for the area. The more common early-to-mid nineteenth century roof type found in Pickering is a shallow-pitched front or side gable roof. Two contemporary examples of other stone houses with hip roofs in Pickering include the former Tool house (circa 1830s, now in a derelict and ruinous state) and the Dillingham-Lamorie house (circa 1850s). The Seneca Palmer house (circa 1840) also has a hip roof, however it is of brick construction. The stone, side gable, addition located on the east side of the house - now the middle section - was built after the original house. This assumption is supported by the fact that the north-south stone wall of the addition butts against and partially obscuring the voussoir of an earlier exterior window opening on the east elevation of the original house. The addition forms a continuous stone wall with the original house on the north side. The south elevation of the middle section is set back from the south elevation of the original house creating an ""ell"" plan. The regularly coursed stone masonry of this addition is similar to the original house. A second, smaller inset stone chimney is found at the east end of the middle addition. Another addition of rubblestone masonry was added to the east end of the house in the nineteenth century. This addition housed the cottage textile industry operated by the Woodruff family. The gable roof, which was rebuilt " "at some point, has a sheet metal covering and the roof ridge is slightly offset to the north of the masonry wall peak on the east elevation. West Elevation (Original Front Elevation) The front or west elevation of the circa 1850s house is divided into three bays with a centre door and two window openings, one on each side. The above ground level basement windows are located directly underneath the first floor windows. A flight of straight stone steps leads up to the front door. The centre six panel door is accented by a rectangular transom divided into three glass panes. The simple door frame is set flush to the exterior wall without a surround. This door has not been used as the front entrance for many years. The window openings are flat with stone voussoirs and keystone. Each has a simple wooden lug sill. The wooden window sash is divided into six over six glass panes. Each window has a wooden storm sash with four over four panes. The window frame is set close to the outside wall creating deep window wells on the interior. The basement windows have a single sash divided into 6 glass panes. Photographs from the 1970s show louvered shutters on both west elevation windows. The initials ""H W"" (Hawkins Woodruff) are scratched into a bottom quoin of the northwest corner of the elevation. Above these initials the following inscription was chiselled into the stone by the Mackenzie family, ""Allan Hugh Mackenzie Stonecroft Farm, Obair a Lanmh, the work of his hand"". North Elevation The north elevation is one continuous stone wall incorporating the original house and the two later additions. It has undergone several alterations and changes. The original house has two first floor window openings and two basement window openings identical to those described for the west elevation. The window openings and sash in the middle addition are also the same as the original house. The juncture in the masonry wall between the front house and the second addition is not clearly visible on this elevation. However, there is a marked " "change between the regularly coursed and squared masonry work of the original house and the middle addition and the rubblestone wall of the rear addition. A one storey stone entranceway to the basement is located at the juncture of the front house and the addition. A former door opening has been blocked in to the east of the basement entrance. It's location corresponds to the location of interior staircase to the attic rooms. Large connecting stones and a change in masonry work mark the juncture between the masonry walls of the middle addition and the rear addition. The window openings of the rear addition are lower than those of the front house and middle addition. South Elevation (Present Main Entrance) The arrangement and configuration of the ground floor windows on the south side of the front house are the same as the north elevation. Unlike the north elevation there is only one basement window which is located under the east window. The middle addition is set back from the south wall of the original house. Its roofline extends beyond the exterior masonry wall over a verandah to create an umbrage effect along the length of the addition. The main entrance to the house is located on the west end of the elevation while a window opening has been enlarged and altered on the east end. The south elevation of the garage addition has several window and door openings that have been altered over the years. The stonework has been repaired in some areas over the years. East Elevation The east elevation of the original house appears to have had a middle door opening with two flanking windows before the middle addition was built. The masonry wall of the south elevation of the middle addition partially hides the stone voussoir of the one exterior window opening still extant on the southeast corner of the east elevation of the original house. " "The middle addition had an exterior window on the south end and a door on the north end before the garage addition was built. The east elevation of the garage is divided into a centre door with two flanking windows. It has undergone several alterations in relation to its window and door openings. Three wooden pipes run through the upper masonry wall on the north side. It has been suggested that they are associated with the cottage textile industry that the present garage area once housed. 4.0 SITE CONTEXT The character of the associated landscape of the property (i.e., within the present property boundaries) is relatively unaltered. Set back from the east side of Brock Road the property is screened from the road by trees and vegetation. It is approached by a winding, tree-lined, gravel driveway that leads to the south side of the house. A row of trees running north-south from the end of the house to the driveway separates the front and side lawn from the area in front of the garage. The south elevation of the house has foundation plantings. Two overgrown yew trees obscure the Original front entrance of the house while other trees have been allowed to grow up along the north elevation of the house. An extensive lawn area is situated around the house and east to the barn. The remnants of a herb garden established in the 1960s by Elizabeth Mackenzie can be found on the north side of the house within a brick garden wall. This herb garden is purported to be the first herb gardens established in Ontario.1 Behind the house to the southeast is a large bank barn with a gambrel roof. The earthen ramp to the upper floor is located on the north side while the remnants of a barnyard and outbuildings are located on the south side. To the east of the house near the barn there are scenic vistas across the surrounding fields, valley and to a high rise of land behind the barn which has been marked by gravel extraction. The right-of-way for the former " "Northern Ontario railway line abandoned in. 1942 runs along the southern part of the property. 5.0 SUMMARY OF HERITAGE INTEREST The Woodruff-Mackenzie House was built circa the 1850s during a formative period of the agricultural settlement of Pickering Township by early settlers Hawkins and Mary Woodruff. The Woodruff family owned the property from 1849-1906. Both the Woodruffs and Tools were early and important settlement families in Pickering Township. The Woodruff family were closely related to the prominent Lynde and Post families, early settlers of Whitby and Pickering, respectively. The property is also associated with noted Canadian artist Robin Mackenzie. ""Stonecroft"" was the source of much of his artistic work in the mid-to-late twentieth century. The Woodruff-Mckenzie house represents an excellent example of a mid-nineteenth century, one and-a-half storey stone house in Pickering. It is a visually attractive building with heritage merit in its composition, construction detail, craftsmanship and stone building materials. The hip roof is atypical for the area. The visual quality of the stone masonry, the simple early Georgian style front entrance and six over six panes in the window sash are important elements in establishing its heritage quality. The house has undergone some exterior alterations primarily on the middle and rear additions. However, they have not diminished the overall mid nineteenth century heritage character of the building. The rear addition of the house is noteworthy for its association with a nineteenth century cottage textile industry. The rural agricultural setting and character of the house and property have not undergone extensive changes. Traditional relationships and historic linkages within the farmscape such as the barn, fields, fencings and treelines have been maintained. " 1 Donna Jean MacKinnon, "Stonecroft Miscellany", City& Country Home, April 1984, pp. 87-98. Further documentation should be undertaken to support this claim. "R.D.H.P. Conservation Report: Rouge, Duffin, Highland, Petticoat Valley Conservation Report. Ontario Department of Planning and Development, Conservation Branch, 1956. Ontario Land Record Index, Ontario Archives. Sabean, John. ""The Woodruff Family of Pickering"". ""Wood ruff -MacKenzie House (Stonecroft), 2935 Brock Road, Concession 4, Lot 18"". Walton, George. The City of Toronto and the Home District Commercial Directory and Register, with Almanack and Calendar for 1837. Toronto: T. Dalton and W. J. Coates, 1837. Wood, William R. Past Years in Pickering. Sketches of the History of the Community. Toronto: William Briggs, 1911. Maps Map of Pickering Township, Centennial Souvenir, 1967. J. H. Beers & Co. 1877. National Topographic Map Series. Markham Sheet 30M/ Pickering, Ontario County, Province of Ontario, Toronto: Map & Advertising Co. Limited, circa 1917. Tremaine's Map of the County of Ontario, Upper Canada, Drawn by John Shier, Toronto: George C. Tremaine, 1860. " I