Bylaw: (2003)-17240
Legal description: Pt Lot 5, Plan 427
Designated portions
The designation applies to:
All exterior stone walls. Specific features covered by this designation are:
- The walls of rubble coursed fieldstone and informal limestone quoins;
- All original windows and window openings; and
- All limestone window sills and lintels
The interior features included in this designation are:
- The original window and door openings;
- The interior exposed stone walls;
- All original woodwork and trim; and
- The original pine floors on the second storey.
It is intended that any non-original features may be returned to their documented original form without requiring City Council permission for an alteration to the designation.
Property history
The house at 8 Glenhill Place is a good example of a farmhouse in the Neo-Classic style. It is a symmetrical two storey stone structure set on a hillside and is in excellent condition. Built in the 1850’s, it is one of the earlier remaining stone farmhouses in Guelph, and as such is worthy of heritage designation through the Ontario Heritage Act.
The first record of this property comes from 1834, when John Mitchell was granted a large tract of land from the Canada Company, then known as the Mitchell Survey. It is estimated that this house was built in the mid 1850’s. The first occupants of the house appear to be John and Elizabeth Robertson, along with their eleven children, who lived there from 1857 to 1874 as tenants of John Mitchell. The Robertsons purchased the house and five acres of surrounding land in 1874, and then ran a small dairy on the farm for a number of years. They remained there until 1908 when the property was sold to Henry Billings. From 1913 onwards, the property changed ownership several times and its condition deteriorated until 1948, when it was purchased by Harold and Evelyn Williams who gradually restored it and lived there until 1987. It was then sold to the present owners, Antonia and Richard Andrews, who have further renovated and restored the house to its current excellent condition.
All exterior stone walls on the house are original and thus included in the designation. The stone is mixed, with some informal limestone quoins and fieldstone ruble coursed walls. It is unusual in that there are some very large fieldstones in the structure at higher elevations of the building. Also of note is the stone addition on the east side of the structure, thought to have been a dairy at one time. Other exterior features designated are all the original windows and window openings, as well as the limestone lintels and sills surrounding them. Modern additions to the west and north sides of the house are not included in the designation.
Inside the house, the designated features include the window openings, the interior exposed stone walls, all original woodwork and trim as well as the second storey pine floors which are original.