Designated Heritage Properties

Buildings B12120, B12123, B12124, B12125, B12126, B12127, B12128,B12129 and B17901 of the St. Thomas the Psychiatric Hospital Complex were selected for their design and craftsmanship.

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. These three were reshaping the landscape of southern Ontario with major projects such as the QEW.

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.

Windjammer Inn: 324 Smith Street (Shepard House)
The beautiful house on the southwest corner of William and Smith streets was built in 1854 by Samuel Shepard, a local insurance agent and grain and produce merchant. Samuel Shepard's windjammers were considered by many to be the finest boats that ever sailed into the harbour. He began the tradition of awarding the first captain to arrive in Port Stanley after the spring break up a top hat. This tradition has continued and is known as the "Shepard Hat". The Shepard House stayed in the Shepard family until 1947 and much of the original character of the house remains.

Telegraph House: 205 Main Street   (Payne House) 
The Payne House was built in 1873 by Manuel Payne on the site of Col. John Bostwick's residence, and encompasses its original foundation. Built of yellow brick in the early Victorian style, it mixes the gables of Gothic Revival and the bay windows and quoining of the Italianate style. Manual Payne was a railway agent, telegraph and telephone operator, customs officer, express agent, issuer of marriage licenses, and the first postmaster of the village.

211 Main Street (Russell House) 
The Russell house was built in the early 1870s of locally made strawberry bricks by a newly arrived settler, John Sweeney. It was one of the first hotels in Port Stanley, and one of a number of similar inns required in the early days of lake, rail and stagecoach travel. Over the years it has served as a butcher and plumbing shops, and doctor's, lawyer's and insurance agent's offices. The building later became the Sterling Bank, and several staff members lived in rooms on the second floor. One of these staff included a young banker named Mitchell Hepburn, later became Premier of Ontario.

215 Main Street (Axford Building) 
This whimsical building be the oldest structure in Central Elgin. Typical of the early 19th century, the main level was used as a commercial space, and the upper level provided living space for the owner. The paneled pine doors and large display window are distinctive features of this long-serving commercial building. It has been a livery, a confectionary shop, a retail store, and a temporary the Village hall.

The Kettle Creek Inn was built circa 1849 by Squire Samuel Price, Justice of the Peace, who used it as a summer inn.  The two and a half story building is finished with wooden clapboard siding and corner boards.  A skirt roof wraps around the façade and part of the south wall. 

The Morrow House at 232 Colborne Street was constructed in the mid-19th century. It is built in a modest, neo-classical design, with impressive design detailing, and reflects the Quaker influences in the region. Its architectural style is visually linked to the nearby Christ Church and St John's Presbyterian Church. There is a gable roof line with returned eaves and deep but plain frieze extending across the front of the facade. The building may be plain, but the high quality craftsmanship involved in its creation is evident.

The building served as the community's first library from the 1870s until the early 20th century. Theproperty also housed the medical practice of Dr Clinton A. Bell, who served as the community physician in the mid-1900s.

While the building is not a landmark, it does have a significant place in the history of the community. 232 Colborne St is one of the oldest and best maintained residential properties in the Village of Port Stanley, and it represents the early period of economic and social growth and development.

194 Main St  (Harbour House) 
The building was constructed circa 1917 by the East Side Fish Company, although it was not completed until after the fishing industry began to decline. It was never used as a fishery but served for net mending and storage. The symmetrical design and the number of windows provide east, south and west exposure to both natural light and the sun's heat in a large structure that was originally heated only by small coal stoves.

183 Main Street  (Cork Kiln) 
Built circa 1915 during the boom of the fishing industry, the cork kiln was important for the drying of the cork used for floating fish nets. The kiln was built into the side of the hill as a natural way to maintain dry heat.

The Sanderson House was built between 1818 and 1820 by John Kipp, an early Quaker.  The home was used for Quaker meetings before the first meeting house was built.  The house was purchased by Dr. R.L. Sanderson in 1859, and expanded to include his doctor's office.  The house is one-and- a- half storeys high, with a full basement. It sits on a fieldstone foundation and measures 18.5m long by 11m deep. The building is a clapboard frame house with corner board detailing. The doorway features Doric pillasters and sidelights.  

Sparta House was built in the 1840's by David Mills, an early Quaker. It was a hotel built in the American Colonial style featuring a double veranda with classical proportions. Note the dentils under the eaves, eave returns, boomtown, plastered doorway, and clapboard siding. It has housed the first library, a general store, a furniture shop, a funeral parlor, a hardware store, a barbershop, a pub and a tearoom. 

Forge and Anvil Museum  was built about 1827 of clay and straw by a Mr. Kellar from England. It served as the village blacksmith shop until 1944.  Note the thickness of the walls, the protruding rafters, and the tiny window panes. When the shop closed, Edgar A. Smith purchased it and gave it to the Sparta Sorosis Women's Institute as a meeting place and museum. In 1995 it was turned over to the Sparta and District Historical Society.

The Louws' House was built in the late nineteenth century, reportedly by a member of the Fishleigh family. The house was originally constructed as a single dwelling farm house, and continues to be used as a private home. The structure sits on a fieldstone foundation and has a full basement. It is a two storey building and has an extension on the east side. It is made of brick and supported by a wooden frame. The brick at the corner of the exterior walls includes quoins, and the base of the walls project in the form of a plinth. The main section is roofed   by a medium gable. The building has projecting eaves, moulded soffits, moulded fascia, and wooded verges.

Temperance House was built in the 1840's by a Mr. Hitchcock as the Sparta Hotel. In 1851 it became the Elgin House owned by Isaac Moore, and later by John MacDowell. In 1872, it was renamed Ontario House and owned by Freeborn Taylor. It was Sparta's busiest hotel but its bar was closed by the Temperance Society in 1901.  They took it over and ran an ice cream parlor and reading room. Later it served as a dance hall, an apartment building, a factory, and shops.

The Baptist Parsonage was built circa 1855, and served as a residence for the ministers of Sparta Baptist Church until the mid-twentieth century. The Parsonage is constructed in the Greek Revival Architectural Style (with its returned eaves and plastered entrance with Doric capitals and entablature). The structure sits on a fieldstone foundation topped by several courses of brick and laid with bottom row headers and stretchers. 

The Martin House was built in 1855 and epitomizes the Provincial Greek Revival style. It has pilastered doorways with entablatures, side lights, and a solid frieze, similar to other houses in the village. The building is a clapboard frame house with corner board detailing. The roof is a simple, medium gable with projecting eaves and moulded fascia and soffit. Very few alterations to the exterior have been made.

The Abby was built in the early 1840s. It served as a residence for the Moedinger family, and a storefront for Louis Moedinger's furniture and coffin shop. It now serves as the private home and studio. 

The Abby is constructed in the Colonial Style. The structure sits on a sculptured cement block foundation and has a full basement. It is made of clapboard and supported by a wooden frame. The building has projecting eaves, wooded verges, plain fascia, moulded soffits, and plain frieze.

The Hiram Burley Tailor Shop was built 1846. It has a basic gable roof with projecting eaves, plain fascia and soffit, and a frieze decorated with projecting dentals. The facade is trimmed in wood, with projecting verges, moulded fascia and plain soffit, returned eaves, and a projecting dentals motif on the frieze.  The facade also has a small half-round window in the upper storey, and the sides of the building have blind windows, as well. Inside, the main salesroom still contains the original pressed-metal ceiling, as well as the original shelving and floors. The original sales counters are still present, including a cash drawer, and an embedded brass yardstick for measuring cloth and other goods.

The Davey House was constructed at some point between 1845 and 1855. The simplicity of the building epitomizes the Provincial Greek Revival style in which it was built. It also has pilastered doorways with entablatures, and a solid frieze, similar to other houses in Sparta that date back to the 1850s.

The building is a clapboard frame house with corner board detailing. The roof is a simple, medium gable with projecting eaves and moulded fascia and soffit. There are projecting verges on the house, which also have moulded fascia, soffit, and frieze; there are also returned eaves, as was common in the Greek Revival style.

The protruding bay on the west side was added in 1887. This bay features Italianate brackets on moulded fascia, soffit and frieze.  The upper windows are still the 6x6 paned, two being original and the other two were reproduced using old glass and wood.

The Davey house is an excellent specimen of its type, and the rear extension, added in the 1940s is sympathetic to the original structure being clad in clapboard.

The property on which the Davey House sits was originally deeded by the Crown to the Honourable James Baby. Baby sold the property to the Jonathan Doan in 1813, who then sold it to his son, Israel Doan in 1843. The Martin House in Sparta which is designated was also built by Israel Doan in the same style In 1850s. The Wade and Vera Davey purchased the house in 1990 and have made considerable effort to restore it.

The H. B. Smith (Martyn) house was completed in 1865. The house is a  three bay Georgian style building with a centre hall and balanced rooms on either side.  It features a centre door with three paned sidelights and a five paned Roman arched transom light above. 

The walls are three layers of strawberry handmade brick thick with a 6 layer pattern, 5 layers with the sides facing outward and one with the ends facing outward. The windows are 6 over 6 paned with Roman arches above in brick.  The details are of the Regency period with the original door recessed.

The Smith house is an excellent specimen of the Georgian type. Very few alterations to the exterior have been made. 

The Solomon V Willson Home is a stately yellow brick home constructed in the late Victorian period, circa 1890. It has fine bays and verandah, a steep roof, and gingerbread trim. It has been well maintained by a succession of responsible owners; it retains its charm. It is located at 6289 Sunset Road, just north of Union Pond.

This dwelling was constructed by Solomon Van Willson (1836-1922). He was the owner of grist and woolen mills which obtained their power from the harnessing of Beaver Creek, a main tributary of the Union Pond. Solomon married Hannah Haight (1861- 1905). They had two children, Hannah Marguerite and Charles Edward. Upon Solomon's death, the property that Soloman owned was divided between the two children. Hannah (1870- 1939) (nicknamed "Etta") married a distant cousin, Edgar Freeman Willson, in 1909.

This house is a fine example of the architecture of this period.