BRAMPTON -
In the past five years, the City of Brampton has doubled the number of historically significant buildings and sites in the city designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. The most recent list of 14 properties was approved by city council. In 2003, there were 31 designated properties in the city. With the 14 additions, there are now 62. Also, there are another 12 properties and 19 cemeteries waiting on the pending list for designation. City staff and Brampton heritage board members are spending hours documenting the heritage sites and preparing for designation. Several of the 14 most recent to be approved for designation are located in the downtown core and include the old Hewetson Shoe Factory on Mill Street North, which was extensively restored a few years ago. Heritage designation is a formal public recognition that a property has value and is worthy of ongoing care and protection. It is intended to encourage property owners to preserve and maintain the existing heritage elements and character. The 14 properties just recently approved for designation are: • 62 John St. This home is well built, has Gothic Revival influences, and shows a high degree of craftsmanship, according to the city staff report. The home is a familiar building on the street. It was built by James Packham, the owner of a brick factory at the end of John Street that later became Brampton Brick. James Fallis lived in it after immigrating to Brampton from Ireland in 1856. He worked as a teamster with Haggert Brothers and later went into the cattle business as a partner with George Armstrong, eventually becoming the vice-president of the Union Stockyards. • Grahamsville Cemetery. Located on Airport Road just south of Steeles Avenue East, there are close to 100 pioneer settlers buried here, including members of the Graham, Steele, Walker and Shaver families. The cemetery is 165-years-old and the land used to be owned by Thomas Graham. The Shiloh congregation used the cemetery until it closed in 1962. The early tombstones and grave markers feature ornately carved motifs and symbols. The property helps identify the location of the "crossroads" hamlet of Grahamsville, which at one time boasted a hotel, tavern, store, post office and fairgrounds. There is nothing else left of the old hamlet. The cemetery also has associations with Primitive Methodism, at one time a strong religious movement in Peel. The city wants to preserve sections of a metal wire fence with wooden fence post and gate, which are intact on three sides of the property. • Genesis Lodge, 21 Church St. E. This Greek Revival and Edwardian style home was built circa 1850, making it amongst the oldest homes in the city. The Greek Revival façade of the house is a rare find in Brampton, according to city staff. Inside the Edwardian portion of the house, the woodwork is intact on staircases, door surrounds and elsewhere. Inside the kitchen, Greek Revival-style characteristics include wide angled architraves over the windows and doors. Walking through the home is like walking through time, because the interior features reflect both the 1900s and the early 1850s, according to the staff report. John Vodden, president of the Brampton Fall Fair from 1855-1857, owned the home at one time. Vodden Street was named after him at least 131 years ago. The rear of the home was possibly once the front, facing Nelson Street and overlooking the Etobicoke River. Other homes on Church Street East have similar characteristics and also likely fronted onto Nelson Street at one time, according to the city's research. • 7715 Kennedy Rd. S. This Greek Revival stone farmhouse, located south of Steeles Avenue East, was built in the 1840s out of fieldstone. Field stone houses and Greek Revival-style houses are rare in Brampton, according to the report. The main entrance is architecturally sophisticated, with sidelights around a paneled front door, a transom, fluted wood pilasters and other key features. One of Peel's original settlers, Joseph Graham, is connected to the home. • 18 and 20 Ellen St. This is a rare example of a 19th century semi-detached row house. Few were built in Brampton, and few survive, according to city staff. Its Vernacular Italianate style was predominant from the 1860s to the 1890s. The most notable of its design elements are the very decorated eave brackets. • 1 Isabella St. This home is designed in the Regency Ontario Cottage style. Carpenter John Pickard built it in the mid-1850s and lived there with his wife, Harriett Scott Pickard. It is located in one of the first residential subdivisions ever built in Brampton. • Zion Cemetery on Conservation Drive. This is a Euro-Canadian Christian cemetery and many of this area's early pioneers are buried there, including members of the Vodden, Goulding and Clark families. The property for the cemetery was donated in 1815 and the first recorded burial was in 1843, with the last in 1951. It helps identify the location of the former hamlet of Snelgrove. • 15 and 25 Main St. N. This is a 19th century commercial building that was home to Blain's Hardware, one of the city's earliest businesses. The building was also home to the Orange Hall and Golden Star Lodge. The rear wall of the building is noteworthy because it was built on an odd angle to form the back wall of the Etobicoke River bank. A door, which is now closed in, was used to let water out of the building after floods. It dates back to the building boom of the 1860s to 1880s. • 247 Main St. N. Jesse Perry, a well-known Brampton builder in the 19th Century, built this home, which is in the Queen Anne style. The decorative brickwork and shingles, projecting gables, and craftsmanship make it notable, according to city staff. It is also significant that Benjamin Justin, a lawyer and judge who also served as mayor of Brampton between 1903 and 1905, once lived in it. • 193 and 195 Main St. N. This is a rare Brampton example of a well-designed Italianate duplex, according to city staff. It is associated with James E. Cooper, who was the assistant manager of Dale Estates, the superintendent of Grace Methodist Sunday School (1916-1932), secretary-treasurer of the Brampton Fruit Grower's Association (1914-1915) and served on the financial committee of the Boys and Girls Camp in 1920, according to the staff report. • 57 Mill St. This building was once the Hewetson Shoe Company, a major employer in Brampton for more than 65 years and dates back to the early 20th Century. It has connections to former Ontario premier Bill Davis. • 12 Victoria Terrace. This is a well-designed late 19th Century masonry home with Queen Anne influences and a high degree of craftsmanship, according to the staff report. It has intricate woodwork, eclectic wall surfaces and coloured glass windowpanes. William McCulloch built this house and several others in Brampton. It is believed the house was once heated by the Dale Estates' greenhouse operation, which was close by, according to the report. • 87 Elizabeth St. This home is designed in the Gothic Revival Cottage style, which is predominant in Brampton and Ontario. The property on which it is built was originally owned by John Elliott and was eventually sold to Peel's sheriff, Robert Broddy. The land was subdivided into several smaller lots over the years, and it illustrates the process of settlement undertaken by Elliott.
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