Another old photo from the Library Of Congress collection. Today’s photo is looking south on Kildare towards today’s Willistead Park. Rarely enough, everything here is still standing. The photo is mislabelled as “Mr. Kilgore’s residence, Delvonshire Road, Walkerville, Ont.”
The photo does show the Ridout B. Parson home at 873 Kildare, designed by Albert Kahn in 1906
Also the designated Stephen A. Griggs at 889 Kildare. This one was also designed by Albert Kahn, was built in 1908.
Interestingly enough, in this shot of the sidewalk you can see the slab with the street name. Some of these fragments still exist today.
Here’s the same view today. The trees are a little bigger now.
Nice research Andrew. Well done!
I have always liked those homes very much.
An aside. You are correct about the street names in the concrete. However the city in their infinite wisdom out some back in upside down or backwards. Oh Windsor…you can’t even do that right.
That’s fantastic that you were able to pick up on the sidewalk picture with the street name and date. As a kid in the late 1960’s I remember being fascinated with the one at the north/west corner of Victoria and Ellis. It was dated 1907. I would stare at and think about what had passed over this sidewalk in those many years. The City ought to really keep these individual dated slabs in place when putting in new sidewalk cement, they are a piece of history.
Anybody notice that the small shrubs that were there in front of the house 100 years ago are still there today! what’s the lifespan on those?
I love Walkerville… too bad this type of development is now illegal…
Shane. Can you elaborate. What about this development is illegal?
Modern zoning bylaws mandate minimum parking requirements for both residences and commercial properties (onsite). Many of the residences in walkerville don’t have driveways (illegal now). By removing driveways and putting parking on the road you compact the neighbourhood and create the quanit walkable atmosphere we have in walkerville. All streets in walkerville have alleys where we hide garages and off street parking (illegal now). If the garages are up at the front of the site, the house looses its connection with the street. Most of the time the front porch is first to go. All the shops, restaurants, cafes, etc on Wyandotte, Ottawa and Erie streets use on street parking instead of having massive parking lots in front (illegal now) as well as zero lot lines (illegal now). This brings the store to the sidewalk and makes the street feel like a room (the buildings make the walls). It creates a pleasant walkable environment. Walkerville is also a mixed use community. Pubs And shops on the corner, Commercial uses adjacent to homes and offices as well as industry, schools and churches, all together in the same area. All these mixed uses are now illegal with modern single use zoning by-laws on the vast majority of new delopement. What I’m saying is it would be next impossible to develop a new area in the fashion of walkerville. Modern zoning makes it illegal.