Intention to Designate 634 Rymal Rd W, Hamilton

Description of Property

The 1.44-hectare property municipally addressed as 634 Rymal Road West is comprised of a one-storey brick school building originally constructed in 1927 with additions made in 1954 and 1957. The property is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Rymal Road West and Upper Paradise Road in the former Township of Barton, in the City of Hamilton.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest

The 1927 single-storey brick structure located at 634 Rymal Road West has design and physical value as it is a representative and rare example of a rural Ontario schoolhouse with Tudor Revival influences which displays a high degree of craftsmanship. The historical value of the property lies in its association with the historic Union School Section No. 3, which provided education to farm families living in three townships in the County of Wentworth as early as 1810, the current structure being the last incarnation of that School Section. 

Contextually, this property is visually and historically linked to its surroundings, being in its original location near the border between the former Townships of Barton, Glanford and Ancaster on the historic Rymal Road West transportation corridor. As a large and visually distinctive structure set well back on a prominent corner lot, this highly visible building is considered a local landmark.

Key attributes that embody the physical value of the property as a representative and rare example of a rural schoolhouse with Tudor Revival influences displaying a high degree of craftsmanship, and its association with the historic Union School Section No. 3, include:

• The front (south) and side (east and west) elevations and roofline of the one-storey brick 1927 building, including its:
  • T-shaped plan;
  • Truncated hip roof with projecting eaves and cedar shingles;
  • Central bell cupola;
  • Brick facades laid in Stretcher bond with a soldier course above the foundation;
  • Decorative checkerboard bond in the central front façade with half-timbering;
  • Decorative brick parapet with stone accents and date stone reading “UNION NO. 3 A B G 1927”;
  • Flanking covered porches on the front (south) elevation supported by square chamfered columns with decorative brackets and stucco and half-timbering in the gables;
  • Paired wooden doors with six-pane glass windows;
  • Flat-headed window openings with stone lug sills; and,
  • Paired four-over-four hung windows on the western side elevation.

Key attributes that embody the contextual value of the property that is visually and historically linked to its surroundings near the border of the historic Townships of Barton Glanford and Ancaster, and it being a local landmark, include its:

• Location fronting onto Rymal Road West with a deep setback from the public right-of-way and open views to the front (south) elevation across the grassed front yard.
  • Proximity to Webster’s Falls and Spencer Creek.