Winchester

Along the beautiful country roads between Ottawa and Kingston you will find many farmhouses like this. The exterior finish is rusticated stone. The shuttered windows are either semi-circular or segmental arches. The roof is not intricate, but has gables decorated with vergeboarding (gingerbread). Along the front of the house is an extended veranda, a necessity before central air conditioning and computers when people would spend their evenings together on the front veranda watching the sun go down. While this building style is being copied rather frequently, for obvious reasons, you can tell it is the original model because of the chimney by the front parlor and another by the kitchen.

Barrie

Red or orange brick are certainly standard in Victorian buildings. This L-shaped house is very much in the style of the Ontario Farmhouse. Most farmhouses had a veranda of sorts, but this one shows no sign of one.

The dichromatic brickwork adds a Gothic flavor, as does the vergeboarding. The lozenge pattern in the high gable was a common decoration. The windows have eyebrow lintels with coloured keystones that seem more Italianate than Gothic.

Like many Victorian buildings, this is a very pleasant mixture of styles.

Lynden

Here is another example of a Victorian Farm House. The paired cornice brackets, vergeboarding (or gingerbread) on the veranda and the front porch details make it look a little Gothic.

Vergeboarding on Gothic Revival buildings has finials, pendulums, and other translations of Gothic stone detailing and tracery. On Victorian buildings, vergeboarding is ornate but doesn't always have the same historical precedent. The free flowing design on the veranda trim looks more like tasseled drapery than carved stone.

Paris

This is a large house in the countryside, built before central air conditioning; the large veranda would have been used regularly to cope with the summer heat.

The front door is intricately carved and must be an absolute joy to paint.

Markham

This is the most fabulous porch in Ontario.

Markham is an extra-ordinary town just north of Toronto where several enlightened individuals have taken the time to preserve a large section of the downtown core. This fabulous example of Ontario decorative woodwork can be enjoyed from the well kept terrace where drinks are served daily. The interior has been preserved with similar care and is now a fine dining room. If this were a Michelin site, it would warrant 'worth a side trip' to see this monument to Victorian painted wood. It is north of the 401 in the center of downtown Markham.

There should be medals for the people who restore, maintain and paint these buildings.

Markham

The upper exterior porch in many old Victorian homes was the 'breakfast' porch. Here the woman of the house, possibly her daughters and sometimes her husband would relax to enjoy a tea and toast in the privacy of an upstairs room with full morning sun before the arduous task of donning her undergarments, corset, stockings, dress, apron and lace detailing.

Port Dalhousie

Victorian homes come in various shapes and sizes. This house, built in the 1850s, is painted with Henley Blue with white trim, (after Henley England, the sight of a very famous boat race). The house is situated just yards from the Royal Canadian Henley Ragatta Course.

The front door is new, but the door surround has brackets, a cornice and a stained glass window. The bay window has an ornate cornice and small window cornices. The gable end is decorated with a geo-metric vergeboard patternwith alternating circles and diamonds terminating at all corners with a five-point star. Again, there is no historic precedent; the vergeboard is not representing crockets or finials as they might be in a Gothic Revival building.

Millgrove

The original windows of this residence have been replaced by picture windows in modern glass which destroy any period charm it might have had, but the decorative woodwork on the gables has been maintained in all its splendor.

On the right is a sunburst pattern and on the left is a starburst. The gable designs in many Victorian homes are really folk art. Each builder would have his own favorite designs, and these would be varied from project to project according to the client's requirements. The sunburst pattern is a popular pattern in the London area, particularly on the Queen Anne style cottages such as the following image, but it is rarely this large or this open. This treatment is found in smaller form in the Guelph, Hamilton area.

Waterdown

Anyone who has ancestry in Ontario dating before 1900 has farmers in their family tree. The family farm was the important staple of most people's lives. Some of the children would go off to college or take up some retail or manufacturing enterprise, but the family farm was the rock of their existance through bad times and good. These farms had many porches; some were for sitting and relaxing at the end of the day, others were working porches where the peas were shucked and the corn was husked. This double bay still has many of it's original porches beautifully maintianed and painted.

Georgetown

The Victorians added wood trim at every possible opportunity. Here is a fairly simple worker's cottage. Unlike the cottages built for mill or factory workers, this was intended for a family hired to care for the cattle belonging to a large farm. There were 12 such cottages built.

True to Victorian standards, however, the porch on this house is an ornate as could possibly be managed.

The owner of the house (in 2009) has lovingly restored the house to it's original splendor. A skilled carpenter, he rebuilt the porch and painted the house perfectly.

London

Any modest house that had some detailing and could be called picturesque was considered a cottage in the 19th century. These two gable details illustrate how the triangular shape on cottages offered the most challenge and the most opportunity of expression to the Victorian fretworker or wood detailer. Because the gable finishes sometimes resemble medieval decoration, these are often referred to as Queen Anne Cottages.

The upper example has an elliptical lunette over paired windows with an elaborate cornice held in place with brackets. The gable is finished in fish scale shingles, and has a circle pattern trim with large side brackets.

The second image is a darker colour scheme, but many of the elements are the same. The actual fascia board design is the same on both gables suggesting that it was the same builder. This example has a sunburst pattern on the small door gable that is much different than the Millgrove example.

Cobourg

Individual housing took a variety of forms in the 19th century, but row housing or terraced housing was also popular.

In Cobourg is an example of red brick units with white trim. Each unit has a different porch design, but similar gable decoration and bay windows. The vergeboarding in the gable has a central king post and a floral pattern. The bay window has a large, but not ornate, cornice. The windows have flat arches and wooden sills.

Guelph

Guelph has a similar set of row houses with a more Gothic flavour. Each unit has a frontispiece with a large bay window. The corners of the frontispiece have dichromatic quoins. The frontispiece itself has a gable with vergeboarding, a small gable window and a finial. The front door and the two remaining front windows all have elaborate surrounds with agraffes. Above the front doors are large, single pane transoms. Each unit originally had at least one fireplace as can be seen by the chimney.

Hamilton

Hamilton was a much more impressive city in 1890 than the other Canadian city on the TH&B rail system. Sarah Burnhardt played in Hamilton on her way through, not Toronto. The theatre, know as The Palace, had a large central staircase with small crystal waterfalls on either side. This set the scene for whatever was to be presented on stage. Some myopic morons were allowed to tear the building down in the 1980s; it was one of the first major casualties in the late 20th century demise of the city.

The tables have turned with regard to the economic success of Hamilton versus Toronto. The good news for Hamilton was that many of the oppulent neighborhoods have been left as they were in 1900. A series of fabulous buildings, well maintained and meticulously cared for, can be found on the south side of town under the escarpment.

Toronto

This is a rounded bay.

Toronto

Bay and Gable

Ancaster Double Bay

Ancaster

Ancaster Double Bay

Ancaster

Ancaster Double Bay

Ancaster

Waterdown

Anyone who has ancestry in Ontario dating before 1900 has farmers in their family tree. The family farm was the important staple of most people's lives. Some of the children would go off to college or take up some retail or manufacturing enterprise, but the family farm was the rock of their existance through bad times and good. These farms had many porches; some were for sitting and relaxing at the end of the day, others were working porches where the peas were shucked and the corn was husked. This double bay still has many of it's original porches beautifully maintianed and painted.

Brockville

This villa is similar to the Italian Villa in that there is a central towerwith a balconnette. That, however, is the only similarity.

Brockville

Brockville is absolutely dripping with fabulous Victorian Villas. This one has Gothic Revival accents such as the trefoils and high ointed gables. It also has roundels, cornices and a Queen Anne style veranda.

Brockville

This villa is closer to the downtown area.

Brockville

Westover

Westover is about 25 miles northwest of Hamilton, on top of the escarpment. The town was started as a resting place for those travelling between Kitchener - then called Berlin - and Hamilton; it was the half way point. The owners of the Westover General store have painstakingly returned the store to its original shape and colour scheme.

The building is a simple gable end plan with vergeboarding of the pierced solid variety: sturdy and practical but decorative. The large front veranda has two large, fixed windows on the street side with multiple panes of glass. The store front faces south, so it would have been heated by the sun on winter days.

Belfountain

Like the general store in Westover, this was the heart of the Belfountain community.

Port Dalhousie

This doorway is from the Port Mansion of 1857, and it's what most people think of when they hear the term Victorian.

The glass is ornate with loads of stained glass and muntin bars. The doors are also ornate with multiple panels, molding, and large brass door knobs.

Port Dalhousie has been a perfect, small, Victorian village for over 100 year. Over the past ten years they have been trying to preserve their town, a working carroussel, a summer beach location, a waterside retreat. The developers applied to put in high rise apartments. The Ontario Municipal Board in their infinite ignorance has allowed this. Our hearts go out to Port Dalhousie and all the wonderful people who tried to save it.

Jerseyville Train Station

Belfountain General Store

The general store was the center of the town during the Victorian age.

Markham

Here is a lovely train station that has been restored and is now a pavillion in the town of Markham.