Ancestral Roofs

"In Praise of Older Buildings"

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Past Life Regression

Dromore
same stop sign, same power lines
This is a 1960 photo of Dromore in Cobourg. It's from the amazing collection of 230 images of the city's historic architecture on the Cobourg Public Library's website.
Thought it might be interesting to see how the houses have fared over the years. This appears to be a classic fading Kodachrome of the era, which doesn't show this imposing house in the best light, but still...when I compare it with shots taken last week, I think the old place has had some sympathetic and aware owners.

The vergeboard, window and porch trims, hood mouldings and entry show more effectively with the current paint colours.
That slightly upturned roof is just as impressive, love how the owners have preserved the clustered chimneys.


On the other hand, looks like that imperious finial in the gable is squatter now.

This bit of house history  is from the library site: "In the 1840's Thomas Dumble and his son John Henry, surveyors, came to Canada to be part of a joint commission to settle the Maine-New Brunswick boundary dispute.Afterwards the family settled in Cobourg and in 1857 Thomas Dumble built this imposing house called 'Dromore.' The steep-pitched roofline, especially the mansard, is quite uncommon for the period. Of note are the roof brackets, with their stylish D - for Dumble."
nice early Gothic Revival bits

Beautiful fence, nice young trees, a special rock in the front garden all speak to somebody's good eye, and to the home's good luck with its people. Lucky us who get to appreciate its beauty, evident on even a dull, raw winter day.
Chatterton (1851) across the street
another Gothic Revival treasure

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