I love historic and older homes. The trees grow up around the houses and the brick ages and weathers with each advancing year. Homes and neighbourhoods develop an almost indescribable nostalgic character. The downside of course is that the older structures generally have higher maintenance costs and the materials used to make them can have drawbacks compared to the current hardware offerings.
The office building in Guelph sits on land that was originally granted from the Crown in 185__ by Crown Patent. The land was later severed off from the beautiful Italinate style home with the impressive three storey octagonal bay widow that sits immediately to the north.
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The house itself was built between 1912-1913. It has expansive ten foot ceilings on the main flooring and was originally a four bedroom home. The original narrow hardwood flooring is still in place and the oversized baseboards and trim are all original. The historic flooring survived for many years hidden under shag wall to wall carpet.
The original dining room has a replica tin ceiling that was installed about ten years ago. Tin ceilings were quite common in 19th century homes as a way to assist in reflecting light into living and dining rooms. These rooms would also often feature a large mirror to provide additional assistance in reflecting sunlight into the common living spaces of the home.
The house itself served as both the home and office of a local physician. The smaller door set back from the main entrance was the doctor's office entranceway. What was once the examination room now serves as our photocopy room. It was converted from a home to an office around 1983 and has been used commercially since then.
If you enjoy architectural history there are two self guided downtown walking tours that you might be interested in.
I have decorated the main floor of the office with canvas reproductions of images from the Guelph Archives and would be happy to take you on a mini tour when you visit the office.
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