Bright spot

Still in Moira.

I turned off Moira Road onto Carson Road (which led to a brush with Fuller a few clicks on) the better to park and have a good look at the 1854 Wesleyan church, now the community centre.

As I was about to turn into the parking lot, something drew my attention. Like the bright flash of an oriole in the forest canopy, this eye-catching place, well, caught my eye.



I first noticed the shadows cast by impressive cornice mouldings above doors and windows on the neat symmetrical front of this clapboard house. Although the house is well-screened with bushes (it would be invisible in summer) I saw enough to make me fall in love.  

Pilasters with capitals flanked the blind panelled sidelights, and the oversized Regency windows with their panelled dado below. Deep roof cornices lead to returning eaves on the side elevation. Then an Italianate front door.

And all picked out in wonderful cream and gold, with a dusky blue highlights and roof.

The proportions, and the wide roof cornice lead me to think it's an early house. The wealth of detail on the front, with some vernacular treatment, have me puzzled. The house actually makes me think of some of the richly moulded frame houses of Lunenburg or Mahone Bay.

I checked the Belden's 1878 atlas. There's a D. Vanderwater listed at Concession III Lot 13; I think this house may lie on part of that lot. The Ketcheson's were among the first settlers in the area. Could well be a very early house. Hope someone at Moira's Facebook sees this query and puts me out of my misery!

The Fate of Moira

east of town 

I paid a visit Wednesday to a stone village we've often admired but never photographed (and even then, this set of images doesn't do it justice - we'll need to wait for some green.) The residential hamlet is Moira, in Huntington Township, north of Belleville. Moira Road runs west to east between Highways 62 and 37, and is a lovely roller coaster of a country drive.

Incidentally, let's not  confuse this spot with Moira Lake or the Moira River, as it doesn't sit on either. Nor with Moira village, which was one of the early names for Belleville.

fixed up

There is an outcrop of stone houses in the area - doubtless demonstrating the "make do with what you have" ethic of the early settlers - for the land is rolling eskers of gravel and stone lying ready to harvest.

 From Moira's  fascinating Facebook page I  learned that the village was settled 1827. The fine stone homes are attributed to Scottish stonemasons, who had immigrated to work on the Rideau Canal. Their legacy graces so many communities.

fixer-upper

Do visit this homegrown FB testament to the early settlers and the enduring history of this tiny stone village.

Church (1854) now Moira Community Centre

Gerry Boyce, in  his wonderful 1967 area history Historic Hastings writes (and with authority I might add): "Moira was a typical country village in the mid nineteenth century. Samuel Ketcheson operated a butcher shop, while F.M.Brenton ran a general store and a tailor shop. Alexander Irvine and his wife wove and sold homespun, and Mr. Irvine also made coffins, which he retailed for the modest sum of five dollars. Wool carpets were made by Mr. Clapp.The McTaggarts operated a fanning mill to clean the grain. The Dean family operated a furniture factory and kept a tavern, while Ira Hoskins made carriages, sleighs, farm wagons, buggies, cutters, and other vehicles. By 1870, the Moira Cheese Factory was opened." (page 288)

Another invaluable local resource, Orland French's 2006 Heritage Atlas of Hastings County (don't leave home without it) shows Moira on the long list of  former of local post offices -  1841-1968.

Later I learned that the General Store burned in 1991 (it had been closed years before, only used for Christmas craft sales.) And so, like so many former communities,  the commercial core of the community was lost. Fortunately, new life has been breathed into the former Wesleyan Church; it lives as the Community Centre.

Henry Ketcheson house 

Now to the houses. Here is "one of Moira's oldest houses, built by Henry Ketcheson who came to Moira in 1829. It was also owned by Vanderwater and Thompson families." (from Moira's Facebook page)   A 1954 photo appears there. Seems the house was uninhabited at that time. Sure glad someone had a second look before we lost this beauty.

There's so much to appreciate about this house.

The side placement of the kitchen tail. The three bay section of that wing suggests it might have been an early stage of the home. The large chimney makes me want to look for a cooking fireplace. I love the frame insert in the woodhouse section, with double doors and sidelights with panels below.

The regularly coursed stonework, that looks pretty good even today.

Then there's the main house. Finely detailed door-case. Verandah. One of two gable end chimneys.

in town farmhouse

Moira

At the corner of Phillipston Road and Moira Road stands this graceful farmhouse and sturdy barn. Across the road is the former stone township hall (1850), later a blacksmith shop, now the home of a pair of dogs who preferred not to have their home invaded by an admiring photographer.  Next visit.




Thanks to Moira resident Darlene for getting in touch with AR and providing some additional information.

Thankyouverymuch, Tweed

For years I've been aware of a rumour, an urban legend that began in the 1980's, about Elvis Presley. And Tweed.

There is even an Elvis Sighting Society.

 Really. And I note one of the most recent entries on their site describes a brush with the great one at the Tim Horton's in Tweed.



Because that's where Elvis is purported to be living out his retirement in obscurity. Relative obscurity. As there are Elvis festivals there - impersonators. Maybe.

 Now I was in Tweed yesterday, at the Tim's actually, but just for a coffee to add to my muffin lunch, after I spent the morning doing some research at the Tweed Heritage Centre,

The Tweed Heritage Centre! Now that is an Ali Baba's cave of Hastings County history - a portal to time travel, definitely.

Go. For research, browsing the artifacts, visiting the art gallery, the bookstore. Buy a china teacup or two. They're hard to get rid of these days.

unusual roofline

Evan Morton, self-confessed 60 hour a week volunteer and archivist extraordinaire, found everything I wanted and more in his overflowing archive room.

Before I left, I picked up a little Tweed Walking Tour Guide - introductions to 56 local homes and buildings of interest. Well, I ask you.




So. This is the Tweed Heritage Centre. It was the Houston house (1897), then a medical clinic, and in 1994 became the Museum/Archives/Genealogical Centre and Visitor/Promotion centre.

There's a railway right of way (now a recreational trail) running beside the property. The artifacts on display are CPR, but I expect this was the old Bay of Quinte Railway that travelled along south of Stoco Lake, where Marbank Road now runs.

So, Evan. For the great help and the warm welcome. Thankyou, thankyouverymuch.

Can one have too many favourite houses?

I am speechless.

Yesterday I managed to find one of the most impressive homes in my (admittedly small) world.

Well, in truth, I had found it many times, easy enough as it stands on Victoria Street, the main street of Tweed, Ontario.



What I can say is, I managed to find it when the sun was shining on it, and a vehicle (which to my mind always detracts) wasn't parked in front



So, since I claimed to be speechless, for now, here is my favourite Moderne house.




 I'll pop back later to talk more about the style, or you could just check out Shannon Kyle's Ontario Architecture website for her chapter on Art Moderne or Machine Age architecture.


 I believe you'll notice that she found the place, also.

STELLA!!!

We all remember that scene in 'Streetcar Named Desire.' The clash between the crude but compellingly sexy Stanley and his wife's sister, the delicate if slightly mad Blanche - a clash of such opposite energies that the end was sure to be destruction.







Yesterday we observed something of the sort, in a totally different way (and the similarity may be incomprehensible to you, AR visitor, but it resonated with me.) We spent the afternoon, a cold, windy, brilliant late-winter afternoon, on Amherst Island.

Pentland Cemetery

Before we left home, I checked on-line for what I knew (from my visits to the island tour photos posted on Frontenac Heritage Foundation's website) was a lovely, time-forgotten spot, with deep roots and history.







I knew also that the island community is embroiled in one of those heart-breaking battles with big wind companies, which are dividing communities around the province, for a not-very-convincing alternative to other sources of electrical power.

three Ontario farmhouses on the south shore

Amherst Island has been placed by Heritage Canada The National Trust on their Top 10 Endangered places list. Here's a link to the battle being waged against Windlectric, in defense of the island way of life, and its natural and built heritage.



One of the most unique and beautiful built heritage features of this island are the drystone walls, the legacy of Irish-Scottish stonemasons. Nine of them have been submitted for heritage designation, to add to the three structures already designated.

We had a walk through the village of Stella, a photo drive along the south shore road, and made our promises to return in balmy spring - our first experience of Amherst Island. Another unforgettable place in the cross-hairs of IWT developers.


Enough of this. Let me show you the photos...and you be the judge.

love this building!

the spot to catch up on the news in  Stella, I'm guessing

We plan to revisit in May. I hope we see the island triumphant in its struggle by then.

When we get a chance to walk through the front doors of Neilson's General Store (now a museum) we'll acquire the means to let you know more about the history of these wonderful buildings.

Victoria Hall and 1873 church - stories to tell

Neilson's General Store

You Can't Beat City Hall

A friend sent along a link to a newspaper clip recently, about doings at our city hall. Now I'll admit, I usually turn a deaf ear, as council wrangling is not my favourite way to waste time. But something about Bev's note suggested I have a read.

And this was good Quinte News! I learned that our Belleville City Hall (built 1873, retrofitted 1988) has won an award for the visionary project which modified the building in 1988.

And in this city known for its demolitions during the progress years, this story is a terrific story of  the adaptive reuse of a heritage building.

Belleville City Hall (and architect William R. White) earned this recognition from the Ontario Association of Architects for a wonderfully creative project which saw the building's two interior levels, which had become woefully inadequate for an increasingly complex municipal bureaucracy, expanded to four. I don't have any interior shots, but  the City Hall website contains a terrific 20 minute documentary featuring interviews with Bill White, former mayors and local historian Gerry Boyce. At about minute 12:00, you can see the reworked interior, capitalizing on the amazing original roof trusses, and lots and lots of light.

 I particularly like one of the meeting rooms, where we gathered for municipal heritage committee meetings, which has old brick walls and knee height windows like portholes, created from the top of the Gothic arched windows. Interestingly, Belleville's choice of Gothic revival style for its city hall was unusual; most municipal architecture is based on Classical precedents - the thought seems to have been that all those columns and pediments added a certain dignity to town business. But I think the building, and especially the towering clock tower, does the trick.

I'll leave you with the imitable Marion Macrae's thoughts on the building, from Cornerstones of Order: Courthouses and Town Halls of Ontario 1784-1914: "[John] Forin's turn to build in the Gothic style came in 1872, when a town hall was planned for his home town, and an overgenerous posterity has given him credit for the design as well. John Forin was a good contractor with many sound buildings to his credit, but the designers of the few Gothic public buildings in Canada West were a more unusual group, and John Evans, the actual designer of the Belleville town hall was not an exception to that rule.

Canadian-born John Dunlop Evans was an engineer-architect and surveyor by training, but an entomologist by choice. He is better remembered for his discovery of a minute insect, whose very long name terminates in the complimentary "evansii", than for the design of the Belleville municipal building and its surprisingly regal,Gothic furniture. Forin, watching over the construction of the red-brick Gothic box - with its un-Gothic bell-cast mansard roof - was moved to protest the shortness of the tower as planned. Public opinion swayed with him and the town council asked Evans to lay aside his butterfly net and give them a campanile worthy of the county town of Hastings. Criticized for designing council room furniture that was too elaborate and a town hall that was not fine enough, Evans went back to the drawing board, and in the spirit of his godfather, Tiger Dunlop, gave them more than was expected. He strengthened the  lower stages of the Belleville clocktower with octagonal buttresses, and in the newly designed upper stages the buttresses were clasped by blind arcades of little Gothic columns, and capped by candle-snuffer roofs. Above the four clock faces the tower rose steeply to a dizzy platform garnished with a cast-iron railing and four weathervanes. The clock faces were gaslit so that all might see and bless the corporation. Belleville's sparrows were grateful too, riding happily on the big wooden minute hands until by sheer weight of numbers they defeated the driving mechanism." (pages174-5)

Tough skin, tender heart

Isn't this little cottage adorable? I hope to see her again this summer in Lindsay when we plan to camp in the area, to explore further the area's history and nature.
A while ago I did a post on concrete architectural elements. The 'is it stone or is it concrete?' question arose around the turn of the last century when the material became popular both for decorative and utilitarian functions.

The service side-walk at Glanmore NHS, for instance, was reinstated during exterior restoration - it was the newest thing in paths when JPC Phillips had it poured for the servants in the late 1800/early 1900's.

Concrete block construction, which is today largely hidden behind other cladding, or used in foundations, was often selected as a practical and economical material for homes around the turn of twentieth century. There are a couple of concrete Edwardian four-square houses in my neighbourhood that I have just never gotten round to snapping. Somehow the colour makes them look so dreary.

St. Mary Magdalene Church, Picton (1914)

St. Mary Magdalene Church in Picton (1914) was built of concrete block, and a particularly fine looking rock-faced block was used on an addition to the mill at Glenora.

But this curious little house, with its optimistic curved portico, its grouped windows low on a tall wall, its perky little dormer, and its cheery yellow door topped by a Federal style  broken pediment, is anything but dreary. I would love to know its story.

Glenora mill addition