Notice of Intention to Designate 115-117 George Street, Hamilton

Description of Property

The property located at 115-117 George Street is comprised of a semi-detached, two-and-a-half storey brick building constructed circa 1871. The property is located on the southeast corner of George Street and Queen Street South in the Central Neighbourhood in the City of Hamilton.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest

The two-and-a-half storey brick building located at 115-117 George Street was constructed circa 1871 as a semi-detached residential dwelling and was modified in the 1970s for commercial purposes. The property has design or physical value as a representative vernacular example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture, demonstrated by a side gable roof with two projecting front gables with pointed arch window openings below and paired wood brackets below the projecting roof eaves.

The historical value of the property lies in its direct association with entrepreneur and industrialist John Moodie (1832-1902), known as one of the ‘’Five Johns’’ celebrated for their role in bringing hydro power into Hamilton from the distant site of De Cew Falls, who was an early owner of the property. The property also has historical value due to its association with the growth and commercial prosperity of the City of Hamilton in the late-nineteenth century.

The property also has contextual value as it is physically, functionally, visually and historically linked to its surroundings, and helps define the character of the historic Hess Village streetscape, marking the entrance to George Street from Queen Street South. The building faces George Street and is an integral component of Hess Village, comprised of a number of low-rise buildings dating to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, many of which were successfully rehabilitated for mixed-uses in the 1970s. The building at 115-117 George Street is also a sister design to the adjacent semi-detached brick building at 107-109 George Street, believed to have also been constructed circa 1871 by John Moodie, which was designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 1985.

Key attributes that embody the design / physical value of the property as being representative of the vernacular Gothic Revival style of architecture include the:

• Front (north) and side (east and west) exterior elevations of the two-and-a-half storey brick building, including the:
  • Running bond brick masonry construction;
  • Side gable roof with projecting eaves and paired decorative wood brackets with drops;
  • Single-stack corbelled brick chimney located to the southwest;
  • Projecting front gables with pointed-arch window openings below;
  • Symmetrical front (north) elevation with three bays of flat-headed window openings in the second storey with shaped stone lintels and sills; and,
  • Segmentally-arched window openings in the side (east and west) elevations with brick voussoirs and stone sills.

Key attributes that embody the contextual value of the property in defining the character of the historic Hess Village streetscape include the:

• The setback, placement as an entrance to George Street from Queen Street South and orientation of the front (north) elevation facing George Street.

The modified first-storey front (north) elevation, south (rear) elevation, and rear wings and interior features are not considered to be Heritage Attributes.