Gothic Revival Cottages

As I explored Nelson Street here, the road I ride down most frequently, I realized this spring that there were 5 small original farm cottages, in among some 30 houses altogether, in a style labelled 'Gothic Revival'.  This was the most common style of residential houses for 100 years, right up until 1950 here in Ontario.  Let me explain.

Straight down at the end of the street is this house which illustrates the style, a door in the centre with two downstairs windows, and a small door into the attic.  In this case there's also a wide front porch.  Now see if you think these five houses have a similar style.

This house also has a decorative 'finial' at the peak oft the roof and nice stone caps over the windows and this tiny attic door.

And if you look around the side you'll see there are two symmetrical windows both upstairs and down.  It was actually a lower tax rate that inspired the story and a half design in the late 1800s, because with this you got a lower tax rate, even though there was still usable space upstairs for bedrooms.

This is another house, right across the corner, though this one has an attic window rather than a door.  But it also has the stone window caps, and the front door side panels, just like the first one.

 A close look at the front door which has the same side panels and glass over head as the first house.  You can see there used to be a porch roof here, though today's porch needs a little work!

A third nearby house is the same style - dormer in the roof, centre door with symmetrical front windows.  In this case there's a central porch with the top serving as a balcony, as well as a tiny triangular window over the upstairs attic window, a common feature in these houses.

There's also a one-floor extension out behind.  This was part of the original design of these houses and was used for the kitchen, washroom (if there was one in the original house) and wood storage, as all these houses would have had wood stoves.  You can also see the decorative corner stone work, common to  many of these homes, sometimes done in brick rather than stone, and now often painted.

A closer look makes me think that this is an attic door, rather than a window, opening onto the porch roof.  As well there's another decorative finial, his one just hanging down from the peak of the roof.

A fourth house nearby is similar, but has a different style of attic dormer which makes a big difference in its appearance.

However, this house is the only one that still has the decorative 'gingerboard' under the dormer, and at the tops of the porch pillars.

The last house of the five is further east down the street and you can easily see the similarity.  It has the peaked attic dormer, in this case with a triangular top, and the symmetrical door and windows downstairs.  In this case the window and door caps are made of brick.

Hope you enjoyed this tour of five 'gothic revival' cottages here in Meaford.