Streets & Stories
2022 House Tour
History, Life & Architecture
Explore our homes from yours.
Get an in-depth virtual tour of 11 historical properties in Port Hope, including several well-known landmarks on King Street.
Experience the personality, renovations, art, decor, and stories of these properties. The videos not only show you the nooks and crannies of each property, but also share home owner interviews about the buildings, interior design and decor, lifestyle, art, and more!
The 2022 Virtual House Tour is now over, but you can get another chance to watch it when you purchase the Bluestone + House Tour bundle. The bundle will available to view December 15, 2022 - January 31, 2023, and makes a great holiday gift!
House Tour Guests Say:
Oh my goodness! We were mesmerized by the home owners and their treasures.Helen E.
I enjoyed the extra features that you would not get in a normal house tour; the interviews with the owners, the historical photos, and personal videos that linked to their conversations.Bruce W.
Most impressive and way beyond our expectations. Wait till someone watches this 100 years from now.Bonnie G.
It was absolutely fabulous, so professionally done. I was really impressed and loved it.Fionna B.
It was just like being there with all the hosts and home owners.Paul C.
Amazing. I've done the in-person tour before, but this surpassed all expectations.Christine M.
11 Historic Properties
51 King Street - St. Mark's Anglican Church
St. Mark’s Church, in its present state, is an attractive example of the early Gothic Revival churches of Upper Canada.
The church is noted for its high square tower with crenate top. The entrance is a composite of three doors in a more Gothic style with Gothic arched heads and panelled doors under a sloped roof portico. The centre door is deeply recessed. The church is clad in shiplap siding and the paired Gothic arched headed windows have diamond panes. One set has been replaced with a pair of stained-glass windows.
This church has undergone many changes over the years, all of which add to the charm of this national treasure.
57 King Street - Clemes Duplex
This building is one of the few local examples of the Second Empire Style which was very popular in Canada in the latter part of the 19th Century. This style was also popular in France and became known as the “Second Empire”.
The most distinguishing aspect of this style is the steeply pitched cedar shingled Mansard roof named after Louis Mansard, a French architect during the period of Louis XIV. This roof provides a practical way to utilize third floor spaces. The roof is punctuated by elaborate dormers with large eave returns.
Moulded pilasters frame segmented arched windows. The central dormer shared by each side, boasts slender lights and is topped by a bracketed pediment. The large 2-story bay window is trimmed with band courses and decorative panels in brick. It is topped with a dentilled cornice and paired brackets on either side. The entrance is a double door with a three panelled arched transom.
The colossal 3-story scale of this house is all the more impressive due to the semi-detached arrangement and its placement on a rise from the street.
21 Dorset Street East - The Bluestone
The architecture of the Bluestone is typical Neo-Classical-Georgian with strong Greek Revival influence. It was built of rubblestone and finished with smooth stucco, scored to resemble an ashlar surface. The hue gave the house its name.
The wide deep eaves with decorative architrave, dentils and return eave conceal an internal gutter system with rain hoppers. The Greek portico entrance supported on Ionic columns, has a six-panelled door surrounded by sidelights with fine tracery and a semi-elliptical fan transom light.
All the six over six windows are double hung. One of the windows on the west façade is false in order to provide a balanced appearance. A large semi-circular fanlight on the west gable provides light and air to the attic.
The more recent kitchen wing addition extends to the east and connects to a frame two-storey coach house, a replication of the original. Both are well-crafted and well-proportioned.
The home reflects the elegant style of life from Port Hope’s earliest days.
117 King Street - The Little Bluestone
This house is a smaller version of the “parent” house, The Bluestone. Constructed of limestone covered with stucco, it displays the Neo-Classical Greek revival elements such as simple gable roof with an ornate arched entrance framing the door with sidelights and an arched transom with radiating tracery muntins.
The entrance has a wide elegant wood stair and the door is flanked by twelve over twelve double hung wood windows. On the gable is a semi-circular attic window with elegant radiating tracery consistent with the front door transom. The gable has wide fascia trim and return eaves at the corners.
The raised cottage allows the basement to have large generous windows. An orchard once separated the Little Bluestone from the Bluestone.
92 King Street - Smith House
This house is an excellent example of a Georgian Town House with Classical and Greek Revival detailing.
Its windows are symmetrically placed six over six, with authentic shutters and shutter stays. An elaborate Greek Revival door, replete with Chinoiserie patterned glazing, graces the east side and creates a delicately laced transom and sidelights.
Note the side walls of the house have a minimal number of windows. The presence of the neighbouring house to the north demonstrates the idea of row houses with extended parapets and high chimneys. This technique was used to protect against the spread of fire.
22 King Street - Hume House
This is a Georgian Revival style. Note the six over six pane windows, the height of the chimney and the simple doric columns gracing the doorway.
In true Georgian style it is symmetrically arranged with a central front door but, typical of Revival houses, the proportions and detail are playfully exaggerated to let us know that it is not a “real” Georgian house of early vintage.
The studio building in the garden was converted from a two-gabled, two-car garage and tack room. The brick was salvaged from an earlier Hume house on the property that was demolished in 1936.
8 King Street - Robert Mitchell House
This house is Victorian, sometimes known as Regency Gothic style. The symmetrical composition is centred by a high peaked dormer flanked by two smaller peaked dormers, each containing pointed windows with geometrical framing. Below are elegant window bays with two vertical windows and panels, originally French doors, typical of the Regency period.
The front door repeats the pointed arch motif with its ogee transom light divided by muntins in a sunburst pattern popular in Victorian architecture. The porch originally extended across the entire front façade. The trim detailing on the exterior is restrained, more typical of Renaissance Revival with the exception of the porch which exhibits decorative filigree associated with Victorian architecture.
33 South Street - The Grange
The house can be described as Neo-Classic with a balanced three-bay façade. It is of masonry construction covered with stucco to resemble an ashlar finish.
Dominant corner quoins accentuate this Neo-Classical style characteristic. The windows are elegantly proportioned eight over eight windows with working shutters.
The house has a grand verandah added at a later date, likely in the Victorian era. Original photos indicate shaped columns and decorative trim. The current verandah has much simpler square columns with decorative capitals.
The roof is a cottage style roof visually anchored by two corbelled brick chimneys. The cornice and eaves have a Neo-Classical design of dentils and a broad frieze and internal gutters.
45 Dorset Street West - Rochester House
Once semi-detached, this single edifice was built as a saloon hotel. It was also known as Blackham’s Hotel and the sign painted on the east elevation is still evident. West of the Dorset Street entrance there are traces of the old doorway which once led to the tap room.
The two-storey Georgian style brick home was constructed to fit the odd-shaped lot and therefore there are no right angles in the house. The north-east corner of the house resolves the acute angle of its adjoining walls with a circular inset brick bay.
The Flemish bond red brick building has a large central entrance. The four chimneys of the structure, the parapet details, originally stepped, and the carefully placed six over six windows complete this formal composition.
46 King Street - Caldwell House
This lovingly restored house, built between 1910 and 1914, is a mixture of turn-of-the-century styles. One is Queen Ann Revival Style, exemplified by a multitude of gables, in this case four, a shingle finish at the gables and a wrap-around elegant porch supported by decorative columns. The other style is known as Edwardian, and is a more stolid, robust style, noted for its simple forms; in this case, a cross axis plan, large picture style windows headed by arched stained glass transoms and elegant brick arches, as well as large overhanging eaves. The red brick construction is laid up in a common bond suggesting a brick veneer.
Originally, when built, there was a second street to the west, and many houses on King Street had their front door on that street. In this case, a coach house was located on this street. Careful examination reveals remnants of a sidewalk, originally on this now-abandoned street.
The interior plan of the house begins with a side entrance to an entry containing the main stair. The plan is an odd layout with many doors, but lovely, generous rooms. The owner has restored the finishes and has painstakingly researched original wallpapers and other finishes. Of special interest are the light fixtures, which had a combination of gaslight and electric light, since in 1910, it was still uncertain which light source would win out. A new addition containing the family room, and a new porch, make access to the back yard and patio more direct.
59 Walton Street - Meredith Block
This 2-storey brick building was constructed in 1855 by Henry Howard Meredith who had, five years previously, built the 3-storey buildings immediately to the east. This building has many similar details on its upper floor to its easterly neighbour. Mr. Meredith subsequently constructed the buildings to the west in 1860.
The upper floor is notable for its 3-bay façade with high windows separated by brick pilasters. The original windows were likely double hung with a glass transom light, but have been replaced with 6 over 9 double hung small paned wood windows.
Originally, most store buildings in Port Hope had unheated 2nd and 3rd floors. Even stores were seldom heated. The upper floors were often used for storage of inventory for the activity below. Some were used for men’s social clubs, such as Oddfellows, the Masons and even the Mechanics Institute and the original Library.
The ground floor is new and is a classically inspired front entrance, with classical columns and an indented storefront providing a covered entry. This configuration is unusual for Port Hope downtown buildings, but a welcome event on the street. Upon entry, one is in a large, open space, focusing on a grand curving stair leading to 2nd floor offices. Exposed brick walls and lofty ceilings give this new law office use a particular charm.
