Intention to Designate 291 King Street West, Dundas

Description of Property

The 0.068-hectare property at 291 King Street West, is comprised of a one-and-a-half storey stone cottage constructed circa 1849, located near the northwest corner of King Street West and Peel Street North, in the community of Dundas, in the City of Hamilton.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest

The physical cultural heritage value of the property lies in its design value as a representative example of a vernacular stone workers cottage constructed circa 1849. The historical value of the property lies in its association with nineteenth-century businesswomen, immigration, and worker housing in Dundas. 291 King Street West was built as a worker’s cottage and was sold circa 1854 to Patrick Quinn (circa 1810- 1870) to be used as a rental property. Patrick Quinn was an Irish immigrant, grocer and notable community member who served as Dundas’s tax collector from 1855-1862. 291 King Street West is one of several Dundas rental properties Quinn owned over his lifetime. In 1864, the Town of Dundas brought forward a lawsuit against Patrick Quinn for having failed to appropriately collect property taxes, and this case had longstanding impacts on municipal government proceedings and politics until the late 1860s.

Margaret Conley (circa 1820-1887) was an unmarried woman, Irish immigrant and shop keeper who had business affiliations with Quinn as early as 1861. Conley is believed to have inherited 291 King Street West from Quinn in 1869 as a result of his legal dispute with the Town of Dundas. Conley managed several properties on King, Napier, Peel, Colbourne, and Hatt Streets in Dundas, and managed a grocery store on King Street West. Conley’s affiliation with 291 King Street West offers insight into working women’s history in industrial-era Dundas. Throughout the nineteenth century, tenants of 291 King Street West, including a papermaker and agent, give insight into the growth and immigration of working-class people in Dundas.

The contextual value of the property lies in its role in maintaining the historic working-class residential character of downtown Dundas. The property is historically and visually linked to its surroundings, located along the prominent historic transportation corridor of King Street West, and having been historically rented out to local tradespeople in the nineteenth century. The building’s shallow setback grants it a high degree of visibility in the immediate streetscape. As one of several buildings in the area owned by Patrick Quinn and later Margaret Conley, 291 King Street West has additional historical and contextual connections with similar properties in the area. The building is also significant as the first to have been erected on its block, and as one of few buildings on King Street West to have been constructed prior to 1851.

Description of Heritage Attributes

Key attributes that embody the design value of the property as a representative example of vernacular stone workers cottage, and its historical associations with nineteenth-century businesswomen, immigration, and worker housing in Dundas include the:

• Front (south) and side (east and west) elevations of the circa 1849 stone cottage, including its:
  • One-and-one-half storey massing;
  • Side gable roof with flanking brick chimneys and returning eaves;
  • Three-bay symmetrical front façade with central entrance and flanking windows;
  • Even-course cut-stone whirlpool sandstone front façade with corner quoins;
  • Broken-course field stone side elevations;
  • Front entrance with wood door with original doorbell hardware; and,
  • Flat-headed window and door openings with cut-stone voussoirs and stone lug sills.

The front gabled dormer and rear addition are not considered to have cultural heritage value or interest.
Key attributes that embody the contextual value of the property and its role in maintaining the historic residential character of downtown Dundas include its:

• Location fronting onto King Street West; and,
• Shallow setback from the public right-of-way.