Bylaw: (1981)-10832
Legal description: Pt Lot 128, Plan 8
Designated portions
The façade of the building, facing Gordon Street, is designated by this by-law, including location and type of upper floor windows and central door, the four monolithic pillars and the carved stone cornice. It is understood that the front main floor windows may revert to a design closer to the original and that additions are possible against the other three walls.
Property history
Built in 1845, this three-storey structure was the first major stone building constructed in Guelph. The carefully-dressed ashlar limestone of the façade, with a crowning cornice of carved stone, is a notable example of the craftsmanship of our early stone carvers and masons. Four large pillars framing the former main floor shop-front are each single blocks of stone. The side and rear walls, of random-coursed rubble stone, have had limited alteration. The interior has been extensively remodeled.
This was the site of Guelph’s second log house, built by John Lynch, in August 1827. The first Catholic mass and the first marriage took place in that dwelling. F.W. Stone, pioneer businessman and noted cattle breeder, erected this building as a general store in what was the town’s business centre. The store was closed early in the 20th Century but remained with the Stone family’s heirs for another fifty years. It was occupied by the Pentecostal Church for about 10 years before it was purchased in 1960 by the Guelph Imperials and Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans, Unit 344, who now plan to preserve the structure and restore its façade.