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Discover Oxford - Walking Tours - Vansittart Avenue - Woodstock
A brief history
- By 1833 Nathaniel Hill had cleared about 13 acres in the area where Vansittart Avenue meets Dundas. When a road was established and lots became available, Nathaniel Hill obtained the first Crown deed on the street. He built the Royal Oak Hotel, which burned down in 1852 and was replaced by a brick structure. Various cemeteries were established; the Presbyterian, Baptist and Episcopal cemeteries were at the north end of the street, and an early Methodist cemetery at Buller Street was sold off in 1885 to James White and then developed. Most of the big houses were built in the 1870's and 1880's, some replacing more modest structures and some built on undeveloped land. The trees that line Vansittart were probably planted in the 1880's; the Crown Attorney, F.R. Ball, was one of the street's residents instrumental in this project. At some point between 1886 and the turn of the century, and probably because of the trees, Vansittart became an avenue instead of merely a street. Vansittart Park, created in 1859, was at an early period the target of a strong campaign that proposed selling it off for residential use. In the 1970's, the Vansittart Avenue Association successfully fought off a scheme to widen the street, and established a beautification program. Vansittart Avenue was designed, and still remains, as a living monument to the Victorian ideal of gracious living. It seems particularly appropriate that this street named after Admiral Vansittart, who had immigrated to the area in 1835, has been thus preserved as a tribute to his dream of a town.
Points Of Interest
| 38-46 Vansittart (Peers Terrance) |
Peers Terrance was built between 1888 and 1890, and is a fine example of row housing with bi-chromatic brickwork and well balanced bay windows; the view from the alleyway behind is just as interesting. John Peers was an Oxford pioneer, born on the farm later purchased by Joe Boyle's horseracing father. He was Warden of the County in 1884, and his influence is commemorated in several Woodstock streets (Anne and Maud) named after his wife and daughter.
This Edwardian style home is characterized by a graceful arch at the entrance, the verandah and balcony supported by columns and turned posts, Palladian window, a steeply pitched slate roof and a centre tower topped by a decorative finial. It was built by Alexander Watson, owner of the Vulcan Foundry on Vansittart, at the time of his retirement. Another house built to the same plan is 113 Vansittart. The stained glass window decorations are original and typically Victorian.
| 84 Vansittart (Parker House) |
The Parker House at 84 Vansittart is one of the few surviving Italianate villas in Ontario, and is distinguished by small balconies, round-headed windows in groups, paired ornamental brackets supporting the roof, and a 3 1/2-storey tower with a decorative finial. It was built in 1864 by Thomas H. Parker, a grain broker and dry goods merchant, first President of the Board of Trade, and later Mayor of Woodstock. Newton Rowell lived here when he led the Ontario Liberal Party in 1911, and H.R. Henderson restored the house substantially when he acquired it in 1947.
Once called Venlaw House, this residence has a gable roofed tower 3 stories high topped with a finial and a steep-pitched trunked roof. The open brick porch protects the door, sidelights and transom. The house was built in 1880 by John Forbes, who owned the Commercial Hotel and a livery stable, and was one of Canada's foremost turfmen, dealing and breeding racehorses and making book on races. His funeral procession in 1886 extended along the length of Vansittart form Dundas Street to the Presbyterian Cemetery. After his death, the family of John White lived here for over 30 years. Twice Mayor of Woodstock, White founded the dry goods store John White Co. in 1860 that was a landmark in the city for so long. He was known as the (King of dry goods dealers) in southwestern Ontario because of his progressive ordering-from-source and discounting policies.
This is an Ontario vernacular-style frame 2-storey house built in the 1860's on the front of an older single-storey cottage. Alexander and James White, the builders, ere father and son, and both held the position of County Clerk in succession for almost 50 years, form 1859 to 1907. James was an early druggist and his sister Alice was teacher at Central School. In their whole lives, both James White and his wife Dorothy Jessie McLeod never lived more than three blocks from the homes in which they had been born.
The Regency cottage at 146 Vansittart was built in 1853, but follows the trend set by retired half-pay military officers in the 1830's. The French doors would have opened onto a verandah. The hip roof is topped by a lantern that originally would have provided the only light source for the upper storey. The house was built for Henry Izzard, a teacher at the old Common School and later principal of the West End School. A rear and side wing were added in the 1940's.
This is a stucco house of Spanish influence. It has a gracious entrance with twin peaked verandah and portico, windows arranged in groups and a red tile roof with deep eaves. It was built in 1926 by Kenneth Harvey, who came to Woodstock to establish the Harvey Knitting Co. (later Harvey Woods). On Richmond Street in London, ON, near St. Joesph's Hospital, stands the identical twin to this house.
This is a Regency cottage, although it has been greatly altered over the years. This house was built about 1840 by John Ford Maddock, a local barrister, to accommodate both his household and his office. In 1851 Maddock challenged Dr. Thomas Watt to a duel when he disputed Dr. Watt’s diagnosis of his daughter’s ailment as scabies. The house was sold to James Ingersoll (Registrar of the County) in 1852 when Maddock moved to Australia.
This home is an excellent example of a "shingle" style house, a variation on Queen Anne style, with an irregular roof, cedar siding and large chimneys with decorative brick openings at the top. It was built for John D. Patterson, who came to Woodstock with his new wife and his brother in 1890 to run the Paterson Works, a family farm implement firm whose contract with the town called for them to employ a minimum of 125 men. Patterson was one of the few in Woodstock to hire a full-time gardener, and the gingko tree in the front yard was one of a small number in this part of Canada. Patterson's second home was ranch in California, now the location of the town of Patterson.
Thomas ‘Carbide’ Willson built 210 Vansittart in 1895 for his mother at a cost of $90,000. It is a voluptuous house of irregular shape in Richardsonian Romanesque style using contrasting brick, cut stone and hanging tiles. It features an offset tower with balcony and verandah and an interesting portico at the front entrance. Willson was the inventor of the first commercial process for the production of calcium carbide used in the manufacture of acetylene gas. The house includes a laboratory, water was pumped into a huge wooden reservoir in the attic as a fire prevention measure. The interior included thick doors and fireplaces in most rooms, an elaborately painted ceiling in the music room, and three massive stained glass windows, including a Tiffany. Willson’s summer home at Meech Lake, Quebec had structures built in the same style, and is now owned by the Government of Canada and used as an official retreat.
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