Bylaw: (2011)-19272
Legal description: Lot 20, Plan 38
Designated portions
The following elements of 344 Woolwich Street are to be protected under Part IV, Sec. 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter 0.18:
- All exterior walls of the original building, including the roofline and T-shape footprint;
- All original door and window openings;
- The stone surrounds of the front windows and door;
- The projecting rock-faced quoins in the front façade of the building;
- The stone chimney on the northwest wall.
It is intended that non-original features may be returned to documented earlier designs or to their documented original without requiring City Council permission for an alteration to the designation.
Property history
The house at 344 Woolwich Street is located on Lot 20 of the Peter McTague Survey. Built between 1866 and 1867, this single-storey house is an excellent early example of Ontario cottage style built of local Guelph limestone. The front façade is squared, pick-faced limestone with one regular, ashlar course corresponding to each projecting front stone quoin. The front face of each front quoin stone projects from the wall and is rock-faced. The foundation walls, side and rear exterior walls are of limestone construction that has been covered in smooth, cementitious parging leaving only the sides, the front corner quoins uncovered. The cottage features a medium pitch hip roof (with the ridge parallel to Woolwich Street), a symmetrical 3-bay front façade. The front door and windows are notable for their stone lintels carved with an egg-and-dart pattern and rest on carved stone consoles. The building, in conjunction with three other stone cottages (340 and 348 Woolwich Street and 12 Mont Street), has become a local landmark to those living in the area.
The home is associated with the McTague family, one of the original pioneers to the Guelph area, and remained in the family until the late 1918. The property is also historically associated with 12 Mont Street, which has been passed on through the family of Ralph Gore (who married Bridget McTague, one of the daughters of Peter McTague) since Gore bought the lots in 1858.
The building has undergone minor renovations over the years. There was once a small shed at the far west portion of the lot, demolished to accommodate parking. The side and rear facades have been entirely parged – the only renovation of its kind among this group of four stone cottages. These renovations have not altered the overall symmetry of the earlier building and as such do not detract from its physical value. The property has potential to provide important evidence about the kinds of houses built for pioneers of early Guelph society.
The subject property is worthy of designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act as it meets three of the prescribed criteria for determining cultural heritage value or interest, according to Ontario Regulation 9/06 made under the Ontario Heritage Act. The heritage attributes of 344 Woolwich Street display: design or physical, historical or associative and contextual value.