The Clerk's List of Heritage Properties includes 32 properties of interest because of their cultural or heritage value.
If you would like to add or remove a property's Heritage Designation, please see our Heritage Review Process Guidelines and the Heritage Application/Correction Form.
Belmont |
Belmont United Church (247 College Street, Belmont) The United Church was built on land donated by Thomas Nugent, and served the members of the Belmont Circuit. The original church was a small, white frame church, but by the late 1880s, it
Former Knox Presbyterian Church (231 College Street, Belmont) This church has been in existence since 1855, when early Scottish settlers in the area built a small brick church on the site. When the congregation outgrew the original building in the late 1880s, it was torn down and replaced with a newer, larger building that could seat 500 people. Knox Presbyterian Church, as it now stands, was constructed in 1889. It features a beautiful trefoil window with a memorial stone beneath it on the facade. Its symmetrical, lancet-shaped, leaded stained glass windows, corbelled walls, and spirelet-capped buttresses epitomize the Simple Gothic Revival style in which the church was built. The church has since has been converted into a day care.
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Lynhurst |
Transformer Station
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Norman-Lyndale |
St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital Complex Pavillions and Ancillary Buildings
The complex owes its origins to a collaboration between architect William Lyon Somerville; Minister of Highways and Public Works T.B. McQuesten; and Premier Mitchell Hepburn. Of the many buildings and institutions Sommerville designed, the St. Thomas the Psychiatric Hospital Complex stands out for its scale, the sophistication of its plan and design, and the quality of its materials. The complex is one of the best surviving and most intact examples of Sommerville's work. |
North Central-Elgin |
Yarmouth Town Hall (Talbot Road, East of St. Thomas) Yarmonth Centre was a small but thriving community located on Talbot Road east of St. Thomas. Settlers began to live in the area in 1811-12. The Town Hall was built in Yarmouth Centre in 1904.
Van Patter Home (10343 Yarmouth Centre Road, Northeast of St. Thomas)
Erikson Home (45560 Edgeware Line, Northeast of St. Thomas)
Gilbert Hall (45122 Edgeware Line, Northeast of St. Thomas) These three homes are excellent examples of the style of houses build in the north of Yarmouth in the 1870's and 1880's. They are all Italianate with different features, such as Roman arch windows, side lights and eve brackets and are made of yellow brick, an important regional building material. They reflect the affluence of the period of settlement of this part of our municipality.
St. James Presbyterian Church This Church has been in existence since 1838. The original site at Kilmartin Cemetery held a small log church, followed by a wooden frame church in 1858. By the late 1890s, the congregation had outgrown the site, and they moved down the road to their current location. The church was established by the early Scottish settlers to the area, including the Fergusons, Campbells, and Giles. Many of these families still attend the church today. In 1905, architect Neil Darrach (designer of the St Thomas City Hall and Courthouse) designed the brick structure that stands today. There is no ornamental brickwork or woodwork, aside from a stone containing the name and date of the church. The foundation wall is built of stone-mimicking concrete blocks, and similar brickwork forms the continuous headers and sills of the windows. There are several stained glass windows, many of which were donated by local families. The church features the original curved wood benches, and a unique counter-weight partition that can separate the sanctuary from the fellowship hall.
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Port Stanley |
Alma Villa, Harrison Place
Christ Church (283 Colborne St., Port Stanley)
The congregation was established in 1834 and by 1837 were strong enough to be holding worship services in the newly built school on Francis Street. In 1844, they decided to build their own edifice under the capable leadership of Major John Ellison. Its soaring steeple and white clapboard construction epitomize the best of New England ecclesiastical architecture. Bostwick and his wife are both buried beside the church, as are many of the founding families of Port Stanley.
McManus Cottage (201 McClary Avenue, Port Stanley)
Smith Mill (181 Brayside, Port Stanley) The magnificently restored mill on this property is one of Port Stanley's historical treasures. It was built as a grist mill in the very early 1800s in the settlement of Selbourne. In 1949 the mill was purchased by the Smith family and moved to an area east of Orchard Beach. Threatened by lake erosion, in 1955 it was moved to its present location and has been preserved ever since by the Smith family.
In 1883, the first summer cottage in Port Stanley was erected on Orchard Beach by two clergymen, one from London and one from St. Thomas. In 1907 it was sold to John Darch, a prominent London businessman. This cottage remained in the hands of the Darch family until 1989 when it was sold to the present owners. As erosion ate away at the shoreline of Lake Erie the cottage was moved repeatedly, but there is remarkable photographic evidence that the present home is little changed from the cottage of 1907.
Bostwick Home (190 Cornell Drive, Port Stanley)
Situated closer to the lake was a large tract of land developed in 1897 by a St. Thomas barrister by the name of John Robinson. Calling this area the Liberty Hill Club (shown below), he built a clubhouse which stands to this day. Photographs from the very early 1900s indicate that the exterior of this structure has been preserved virtually intact.
The next eight properties are situated in the central village area, and complement the six Heritage Designated buildings in this area of the village.
Traction Line Office (208 Main Street, Port Stanley) The very well known London and Port Stanley Railroad was not the only important transportation link for Port Stanley in the early years of the last century. The Traction Line, running up Main and Colborne streets in Port Stanley, provided direct electric street car access to St Thomas and London. Their office and station on Main Street is a little recognized feature of the historical streetscape. The facade is almost identical to that which existed in 1907.
Mill Warehouse (207 Main Street, Port Stanley)
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Sparta |
Cobblestone House (6738 Quaker Road, north of Sparta)
The stone quoins (corners), the transom light and the very thick walls with window ledges are distinguishing features of this early Canadian style of construction. The current owners have maintained all the original exterior walls.
There are two stained glass windows in the front of the nave dedicated to early pioneers and the remaining stained glass windows are typical of early Methodist churches. The doors are replicas of the originals, and the ceiling is a fine wood panelled one.
The congregation struggled for its first few years and then grew by the 1880s. It continues to serve the community of Sparta today. The original church structure was a white frame church, but in 1898 it was raised on jacks, had a basement hand dug beneath it and a stone foundation put in place. The surface of the building was covered in red bricks and the buttresses were added. The church features corbelled brick work, and coloured and patterned glass windows in Gothic style spaced between symmetrical buttresses. These features are typical of the Rural Gothic style in which the church was built. It also features double entrance doors with a three teardrop window above on the front gable.
The building was designed by well-known architect John Finlay of St. Thomas. The school closed in June of 1963, and was handed over to the Sparta Community Society by the Sparta School board in 1965. The building is a red brick structure that housed two classrooms, a library and a recreation auditorium. The structure features large windows with two smaller ones flanking a large central window in each classroom. The roof is a flat one with a raised parapet. |