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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 ��Q�����������IIIIEIIVI�I��������� C 1 3 3081 NK17Wl 1 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 " "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. "