Bylaw: (2009)-18707
Legal description: Lot 6, Plan 244
Designated portions
The following elements of 60 Manitoba Street are to be protected under Part IV, Sec. 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter 0.18:
- L-shaped front elevation of the original one storey and one-and-one half storey sections facing Manitoba Street;
- Open gable roof lines;
- Original door and window openings on the front elevation facing Manitoba Street, in particular the centre door and symmetrically placed windows on the one storey section, including their wooden casings;
- Front verandah, including its shed-style roof, turned wood posts and decorative brackets (excluding the railings);
- Cobblestone foundation; and
- Building’s setback/location relative to Manitoba St.
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
Built c. 1878, the residence at 60 Manitoba St. is an L-shaped one and one-and-one-half storey wood frame structure built in a vernacular style. The one storey section has a front verandah, central door and two symmetrically placed windows on either side of the entrance, making a modest reference to the Victorian Regency style. The residence, with its unusual setback and setting on its original one fifth of an acre lot, provides important information about the urban development of St. Patrick’s Ward.
The residence was used by Samuel Carter as a small scale knitting factory from 1882/83 to 1893. Carter was a successful businessman, prominent politician, pioneer of the Canadian co-operative movement, and influential member of the local Methodist community in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As a new immigrant to Guelph, Carter established a knitting factory at 60 Manitoba St. in 1882/83 employing seven or eight people in the manufacture of gloves, mitts, and hosiery, etc. The knitting factory was the forerunner to the Royal Knitting Company he established with Thomas Wootton located at 41 Norwich Street which employed around 75 – 80 workers by 1908.
The property’s significance is in it’s historic connection with the city’s early industrial growth; association with a prominent citizen, Samuel Carter; and its contextual value in defining, maintaining and supporting the character of St. Patrick’s Ward. Specifically, 60 Manitoba contributes to our understanding of cottage industries in the later part of the 19th century and the local character of St. Patrick’s Ward as a working class neighbourhood with a long history of mixed uses.