HomeMy WebLinkAbout294"Article coped from The Bay News, April 26, 1995, page 23.
Cook House reminder of where Pickering's been
By Henry M. Gawman
The house on Liverpool Road, just south of Old Orchard Ave. in Pickering, was old when Harry
and Monica Cook took possession in 1946. Having had a succession of owners dating back to
1875, or earlier, the house stands desolate and empty at last.
If the Cook house were only empty, other tenants could be found. Alone and unguarded,
the venerable structure is suffering from the vandalism of uncaring intruders. Where love reigned,
the voices of the undisciplined are obvious in the ruins of the interior. The pool at the rear, where
Monica taught handicapped children to swim, became a receptacle for debris, and had to be
filled in. The house will never again be as it was.
It was right for its time, a farmhouse in a rural setting. Now it is a rural house in an urban setting.
As nearby farmland was subdivided and built upon, so the land around the house will be
subdivided and built upon. If it is saved, it will be an old building surrounded by new. If it is not
somehow preserved, an era will have passed unnoticed.
The house faces Liverpool Road, and the road leads to the bay. Sailing ships and seamen;
horses and wagons; men of every calling must have passed by the door. The house was a silent
witness to everything. Whatever occurred within and without its walls shall not be remembered
so much as the virtues of the last occupants.
When the congregation of Fairport United Church sang, Harry was at the organ. When the
children took Sunday school Monica was the teacher. They worked for the good of the community,
and for children. The house that was the center of their lives, though not architecturally significant,
was raised above ordinary by good works.
The Cooks came from the city to the house in Pickering in a quieter time. They resided 47 years.
Harry died in 1987 at the age of 79. Monica died in 1993 at the age of 85. They purchased the
house and land from a woman - Douglas May Taylor.
Among the families who farmed nearby were those named Balsdon, Annan, Mitchell.
A 1951 topographical map shows streets such as Wharf, Commerce, and Front Road on the
east side of the bay in the old community of Fairport. Otherwise the area was all farmland.
Neither Old Orchard Ave. nor Krosno Blvd. existed. Cars were few and far between on Highway
2A which became the 401. From 1961 on, development was rapid. Where we are going
seems obvious; where we have been remains frozen in time in the Cook house.
There is a draft plan on the town books now to turn the Cook estate into a community of 30,
30-foot frontage, detached homes. The Cook home will probably not be preserved
(although Heritage Pickering has asked for an assessment of the home's heritage value)
but the developer has promised to install a commemorative plaque.
"