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Newcastle
England
The proportions and layout of
this building, the windows and the placement of the chimney
are exactly the same as that found in Westfield village below.
Cottages were well known in Europe
(see above) and it makes sense that the first homesteaders from
Europe would have recreated a well established, indeed classic,
style.
The Loyalists had developed some
tricks as to how to make this cottage style more practical for
North American winters.
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Newcastle England
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Westfield
Village
Made out of vernacular materials, log, this early
homestead now situated in Westfield Village, has the same proportions
as the small cottage in Bexley above. The floor plan of 15'
by 16' is found so frequently in small cottages that the size
is significant. The placement of the chimney and the size and
placement of the windows is also similar to that above.
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Westfield Village
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The Cummins House 1837- 38
As can be seen above, the design is not far removed
from the traditional log house. The door on this building is
more ornate than in the log cabin. It is facing west. The windows
on the south side of the house are large to emit the sun.
The owner of the property, Daniel Cummins, was
of Scottish origin. He moved to New Jersey, then up to Flamborough
Ontario in 1794.
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Athens
Another log cabin style can be seen in this log
house from Athens Ontario. The chimney has been removed, but
the design is similar to the log cabin above.
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Bexley
England
It is not surprising that the
cottages and small buildings in Canada follow the pattern set
by those in England as there were plenty of pattern books available
to help decide on styles and proportions.
Given the opportunity, most people
choose to follow an accepted pattern. They build what know.
This little place in Bexley is the same format as the Ontario
Cottage. Sadly we never developed the nack for the thatched
roof.
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Cruck with brick London England
The cruck was a tree cut in half lengthwise used
to create a roof. Two crucks were used on the early cottages
forming the back and front gable of the house. Here the cruck
forms a portion of the wall. It is curved outward instead of
inward.
Cruck construction died out in England in the
15th century and was never brought to North America, but the
cruck within the walls, as shown here, was used frequently in
half timber and 'Tudor Revival". The idea of two pieces
of wood extending from the ground and terminating in the ridge
of the roof, however, was used in the A-Frame of the 20th century.
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The
Worker's Cottage
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Most large estates in England had a few cottages
on the property for the workers. The great bulk of these
cottages, built for the rural poor, were merely hovels until
the mid 18th century when it became socially unacceptable
to have your worker's cottages noticeably less habitable
than either your stables or your kennels. One of the first
to articulate these sentiments was Nathanial Kent in his
Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property (1775). The
social revolution had started.
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In Ontario, worker's cottages were built by
farmers who had large tracts of land. A family, if they
were very competent, would take over residence in a cottage
on the farm. The husband would help with the farm and the
wife would work in the large farm estate house.
In towns, factory owners built rows of worker's
cottages which were preferred living space for good workers.
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Dundas
These small worker's cottages formed the basis
of the Ontario Cottage. Two rooms in the front, two smaller
rooms in the back and a small kitchen cooking area out the back
provided shelter for anywhere from 4 to 10 workmen.
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Dundas Ontario
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Dundas
Dundas is a perfect place to study the worker's
cottage since there is a very large variety and they are scattered
around this very well preserved little town. Many worker's cottages
on Witherspoon Street were built by MR. Witherspoon for the
workmen who worked in his factory.
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Dundas Ontario
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Dundas
These stunning, quaint little places were taken
over in the 20th century by small families. They were sturdily
built and have largely remained the same. New roofs and some
new exterior woodworking is usually all that is needed to maintain
them.
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Dundas Ontario
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Dundas
The worker's cottage is surprisingly spacious
inside. A kitchen was usually added onto the back of the building
during the late 20th century. The interiors are usually fitted
out with a nice fireplace, large baseboards and lovely window
and door moldings.
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Dundas Ontario
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Dundas
This small cottage is like
many along Hatt Street. Charming and delightful in every way.
The astute owners have resisted the dreaded vinyl replacement
salesman and have maintained the original stone finish and the
basic shape of the old windows.
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Hatt Street
Here is another cottage
with a brick facade.
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Hamilton
Small worker's cottages
can be found scattered around large cities. They are excellent
smaller homes usually in lovely neighborhoods.
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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.
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Georgetown Ontario
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The
Ontario Cottage
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Anne MacRea, in her excellent book "The
Ancestral Roof", has illustrated the wide variety of
what is known as the "Ontario Cottage". Simply
put, these are one or one-and-a-half story buildings with
a cottage or hip roof. The cottage roof is an equal hip
roof where each hip extends to a point in the center of
the roof. The hip roof has a long hip in the center. The
Ontario Cottage is the vernacular design of the Regency
Cottage which generally has a more ornate doorway and a
partial or full verandah surrounding it. The roof can have
a dormer, a belvedere, and generally two chimneys.
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Settlers arriving in British North America in
the late 18th, early 19th century would have been leaving
a building culture in Europe, particularly Britain, that
was gravitating towards a well appointed, up market version
of the worker's Cottage. John Nash and John Soane were championing
the quaint cottage look, sometimes disguising huge houses
as cottages with thatched roofs and decorative bargeboard.
Jane Austin lived in a cottage on her brother's
estate. In her books it is usually the widowed mother who
moves her marriageable daughters to a charming cottage from
which to launch their careers.
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Galt
For enthusiasts of older Ontario architecture,
Galt is one of the best towns to visit. The main street is crammed
with great buildings, the people of Galt have gone to great
trouble to restore the buildings along the waterway, the Grand
River, and the back streets have loads of wonderful older cottages.
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Galt Ontario
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Port
Hope
Port Hope has the largest collection of small
cottages in the province. It is also unusual in that the "Ontario
Cottages" have an equilateral triangle above the front
door. The cottages are more akin to the Regency look than the
Gothic Revival look. This cottage, for example, has the French
Doors that are generally associated with the Regency Cottage.
This style of gable is almost unique to Port Hope.
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Port
Hope
This cottage has the Port Hope Gable, a large
Georgian style transomed door and two windows almost as large
as those in the Erin Mills Regency below.
The cottage is very upscale with stone quoining
and a lovely lunette above the front door. The large circular
portico is also unique to Port Hope on the Ontario Cottage.
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Port
Hope
The large portico gives the cottage a lovely formal
look. This is similar in style to those above.
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Port
Hope
The layout of this cottage is the same as the
above. It also has a transomed front door with a lunette. Instead
of the classical portico this has a large front verandah with
delicate trellising.
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Port
Hope
Another beautiful old cottage has been updated
to the 21st century colour scheme and landscaping but still
maintains the charm of the original building.
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Port
Hope
This doorway is drawn in the MacRae/Adamson book
The Ancestral Roof. The building is raised above street
level and has what is clearly a large lower floor but still
looks like a 'cottage'
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Waterdown
This Ontario Cottage is the same as those above
but without the central equilateral gable. The roses help to
give it a cottage look.
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Simcoe
This beautiful little house also has the central
gable. It has a barrel vault over the front door as well.
For anyone interested in adding the barrel vault
look to their cottage, there was one for sale last week (July
2013) at Legacy in Cobourg.
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Oakville
This beautiful cottage was built by a United Empire
Loyalist family in Oakville. Additional space has been added
onto the rear of the building, but the cottage has been preserved.
The Ontario Cottage is a vernacular version of
the Regency Cottage.
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The
Gothic Revival Cottage
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In 1864 the Canada Farmer newspaper promoted
the Small Gothic Cottage which was more along the lines
of an Ontario Cottage with a hip roof and only one story.
Later in the same year, Canada Farmer came out with plans
for "A Cheap Farm House". This is the design that
became known as the Gothic Revival Cottage.
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Leaving any community in Ontario, driving along
any road, within two miles of the center of town you will
find a Gothic Revival Cottage. This is the most prevalent
style of residential architecture in Ontario prior to the
suburbs of the 1950s.
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Canada
Farmer
An article in Canada Farmer, February, 1864, describes
a cottage that could be built for a small family. It is built
on a center hall plan with the central hall being 6 feet wide.
On the left is a living room, on the right are two bedrooms,
11 by 13 ' in size. The kitchen and pantry would be in the back
of the house, almost separate. The kitchen would also have a
bedroom. There was no bathroom in the house.
Directions on building the house are provided.
In building, the stipulation is that "None of the ceilings
of the rooms should be less that 10 feet high.
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Canada Farmer
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Canada Farmer
Another article in Canada Farmer, November, 1864,
describes a design for a cheap farm house that could accommodate
a large family.
The exterior is to be covered with board and batten.
Instructions say that this covering should not be painted. The
house should cost between $600.00 and $800.00.
"It is rather by attention to the aggregate
of inexpensive details than by large outlay on one particular
object that the comfort and attractiveness of a county house
are secured. We are persuaded that a little more regard for
what many consider trifles unworthy of notice, would yield a
large return of real enjoyment and satisfaction."
Canada Farmer
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Canada Farmer
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Peterborough
Peterborough should be proud to have one of the
best examples of drip mould in the province. Ann MacRae described
this as being like pull toffee, made with little buttered hands...
The style is similar to those in Port hope, but
the gable is at a sharper angle and the roof is not a hip roof.
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Peterborough Ontario
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Erin
Many people lived on their land for a year or
more before the real house was built. They were not distracted
from the natural world by televisions or games, so when it came
to placing the building on the property they usually "got
it right".
It is hard to imagine a better setting for this
lovely little house.
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Erin Ontario
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Burrits
Rapids
The stonework on this house is extraordinarily
good. There is a window with a Venetian arch on the upper level.
This is an equilateral triangle much like those in Port Hope,
but here there is another floor behind it.
Notice the beautiful workmanship above the jack
arches sin the windows as well as the quoining on the corners.
The owners of this house should be congratulated
for maintaining the original windows.
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Burrits Rapids Ontario
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Cobourg
The house has casement windows instead of the
more usual sash windows. A decorative finial is found above
the gable on the front door and there is a lot of bargeboard
(sometimes mistakenly referred to as gingerbread) along the
front facade. The front porch is a nice addition to an overall
very pleasing design.
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Cobourg Ontario
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Fergus
Fergus and the surrounding area is well known
for the brilliant Scottish stone masons who lived there during
the 19th century.
A lancet arch within the gable is masterfully
framed. The quoins on the corners of the building and around
the door are effective but discrete. The mix of stone is just
lovely.
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Fergus Ontario
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Fergus
On the outskirts of Fergus is a house made with
slightly different proportions and a very different approach
to the stonework.
This is called 'pointed stone'. Large stone pieces
are laid in a pattern with smaller stone making a pleasing decorative
finish.
The lancet arch in the doorway is cut from much
larger stone pieces than that above.
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Fergus Ontario
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Ancaster
This beautifully maintained building is made from
local limestone. The setting is as beautiful as the house itself.
Like many Gothic Revival Cottages there is an
addition onto the back which was probably an early kitchen.
The owners of this house have been careful to
maintain the original finished both inside and outside.
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Ancaster Ontario
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Fergus
Impeccable
craftsmanship was standard in most of the Gothic Revival Cottages.
Here the brickwork is distinctive.
The doorway is smaller than many
of those above and has neither sidelights or a transom. There
is a lot of dichromatic brickwork along the decorative quoining
as well as above the door and windows. This building was most
probably built after 1867 when the railway went in. Prior to
that time bricks would have been made on the property and only
one colour of brick would have been possible.
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Fergus Ontario
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Kleinberg
Notice that the colour of this brick is slightly
different than that of the above. The doorway has the older
door design with a transom and side lights.
Like most Gothic Revival Cottages there are two
chimneys on the house and it is a gable roof. The porch gives
a nod to Regency Cottage porch design.
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Kleinberg Ontario
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Caledon
This cottage has the dichromatic brick found in
those above as well as the lancet arch design found in the stone
cottages from Fergus. Again the porch is delicately and masterfully
done.
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Caledon Ontario
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Hamilton
This example from Hamilton Ontario is currently
in a very well populated residential area downtown. It could
well have been the original farmhouse for the area.
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Hamilton Ontario
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Orono
This Gothic Revival Cottage as siding as the exterior
finish. Wood siding was popular during the 19th century. If
painted with milk paint or linseed paint it will not need to
be repainted for 50 years.
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Orono Ontario
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Puslinch
The Gothic Revival Cottage generally housed a
large amount of people - one family usually had an average of
six children.
This example in Puslinch has an unusual second
floor balcony exiting from the large window - or door - over
the front entrance. The interior is most probably MUCH larger
than it appears from the outside.
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Puslinch Ontario
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Stratford
This Gothic Revival Cottage in Straford Ontario
has a set of lancet arches within the front gable that are almost
equal to the size of the front door. They are beautifully framed
with an almost Victorian flourish. The side quoins are elegant
and tasteful. The jack arches above the first floor door and
windows are made from yellow brick as is the quoining.
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Stratford Ontario
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Belleville
This
house was probably the original farmhouse for the area. It is
now surrounded by 20th century houses. The shape of the Gothic
Revival Cottage is unmistakable still, and above the doors and
windows is a slight classical cornice treatment found much more
in Hastings County and in Prince Edward County than further
west.
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Belleville Ontario
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Merrickville
Merrickville
has a similar door and window surround with clapboard finish.
This finish is usually associated with Neoclassical.
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Merrickville Ontario
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Cobourg
The
two bay windows may have been added later to this classic Gothic
Revival Cottage in Cobourg.
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Cobourg Ontario
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The
Regency Cottage
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By 1793 even the great Sir John Soane had written
a book and published drawings of pretty little cottages
that would enhance the British landscape and provide a picturesque
background for travel between estates.
By the time John Nash started adding smaller
cottages to his 'Architecture of the Picturesque" the
cottage had become the fashionable weekend retreat for wealthy
'townies'.
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When British naval officers and higher officials
were given their pensions from the British government, they
sometimes made their way to Ontario where they build beautifully
appointed upscale 'cottages' that were quickly becoming
the fashion in Britain.
These are the opposite of modern architecture.
The exterior look quaint and compact but the interiors are
huge.
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The
Gryphon Consecon
The Regency Cottage was once in Ancaster Ontario.
It was taken apart and rebuilt in Consecon, Prince Edward County,
and is currently available for rent on a nightly basis, or a
weekly basis.
For special events or a quiet country getaway,
this private country location close to beaches and wineries
may be perfect.
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Consecon Ontario
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The Gryphon Windows
This is a five bay Regency Cottage. The ceilings
are 10' 9" high.
The Regency Cottage was not built to be worked
as a farm as the Gothic Revival Cottage was. Instead the lands
were to be made into decorative gardens for the owners and their
guests. It was made in the style of George IV otherwise known
as the Prince of Pleasure.
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Consecon Ontario
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Odessa
This small Regency Cottage is situated beside
a beautiful stream. The verandah, extending around the whole
exterior of the house, is an integral part of the design.
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Odessa Ontario
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Bowmanville
This long, low example of a Regency Cottage (also
an Ontario Cottage) has the original elegant verandah.
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Bowmanville Ontario
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Sophiasburgh
This five bay Regency Cottage has two small dormers
on the roof. The front verandah has been removed. Tall French
Doors allow access to the gardens.
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Sophiasburgh Ontario
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Erin
Mills
This Regency Cottage has two HUGE windows along
the south facade. Two dormers allow light to the upstairs rooms.
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Erin Mills Ontario
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Dundas
This is another five bay Regency Cottage.
The building is of local stone. It has French
Doors and an elegant door. The new owners are currently adding
a front covered verandah.
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Dundas Ontario
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Consecon
Across the lake from The Gryphon this lovely Regency
Cottage has the original Monitor Roof as well as French Doors.
The interior is spectacular.
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Consecon Ontario
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The
Mid Century A-Frame, Viceroy and Kit
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Summer Homes along the many wonderful lakes
in Ontario were popular with the wealthy at the end of the
19th century. The 20th century saw the beginning of the
appreciation of the summer cottage.
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Mid-century Modern cottages. Ironically, looked
back to the very first cottage designs where one single
structural member extended from the ground right up to the
roof ridge. Like the cruck designs, the A-Frames were simple
designs to build and provided a quick and relatively easy
construction..
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Veradero,
Cuba
The A-Frame is used around the globe as an elegant
but small beach house. This one in Veradero, Cuba shows the
classic triangular windows and some beautiful shuttering.
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Veradero, Cuba
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Elicotteville, New York
The A-Frame is generally all windows on one side
as in this example from Elicotteville, New York.
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Elicotteville, New York.
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Wolfville, Nova Scotia
The front of this A-Frame opens onto the parking
area, so there are no windows. The back opens onto the lake
and the whole wall is windowed.
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Wolfville Nova Scotia
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Melville
Other easy to construct summer cottages include
the Viceroy designs that became popular both for cottages and
for homes along the lake sides.
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Melville Ontario
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The
Webmistress - shannon@ontarioarchitecture.com
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Cottages
Extra Reading and Films
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Books
Blumenson, John. Ontario
Architecture A Guide to Styles and Terms.
1978
Downing, Andrew Jackson, Cottage
Residences,,Toronto: Firefly
Books, 1836.
MacRae, Marion,
and Anthony Adamson. The
Ancestral Roof: Domestic Architecture of Upper Canada.
Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1963.
Rempel, John
I. . Building
with Wood.
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1972..
Soane, Sir John, Cottages
and Villas,London: Firefly Books, 1793.
William-Ellis, Cottage
Building in Cob, &c,,Toronto:
Firefly Books, 2000.
For
information on cottage architecture in specific areas
within Ontario there are some very good books listed
under the About page.
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Films
Beyond the Forest
1949 - Bette Davis
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