Tags
Ameliasburgh, architecture, Canada, Center Hall, country, Georgian, House, Limestone, Ontario, PEC, Prince Edward County, Real Estate, Restoration, ruin, Rural, Stone
The trouble with seeing your renovation plans take shape is seeing the potential of the blank slate disappear. Don’t get me wrong – I’m confident in our plans for the Gorsline house, but sometimes I need a break from fretting over architectural schematics and thinking about where electrical outlets should be placed in each room. MLS can give me a quick fix by throwing up the occasional handyman special but it’s the ‘untouched’ pre-confederate houses that make my imagination run wild. The early houses in Prince Edward County don’t come up for sale very often, hence my interest in houses like 272 Victoria Road in Ameliasburgh.
Listed at $229,900 this house would make for an amazing restoration project. Those early 20th-century Craftman windows would look much better with 12-over-12 replacements, not to mention some TLC for that punky roof. However, the interior is particularly enticing considering so many features look to still be in place.
One of the ground floor parlours could have had a lighter touch in previous renovation. The window fenestration design is too late for the age of the house, and the casings look like they have been striped of their fielded paneling (or grossly simplified from what would have been simple board paneling). The radiator looks a little large and awkward – but those wide plank floors are gorgeous. The deep casements accommodate the thickness of the limestone rubble walls.
I covet this fire door. This looks to be a cooking hearth given the extended width of the mantle. The two smaller panels to the left might cover a bake oven. It may seem odd being in one of the principal spaces on the main floor, but the narrowness of the house’s footprint would mean no space for a kitchen out back. The plain mouldings may appear utilitarian, but notice the simple low chair rail too.
Comparing the blue parlour to the one with mustard trim, either the details in this room are more substantial to show off for guests, or this hints at what the other window casements would have looked like.
The quality of the finishes indicate this parlour was a reception space. The chair rail profile is nearly identical to what was in the Gorsline house. The fireplace mantle also reflects the Regency/Neo-Classical character of the mouldings in the Gorsline entry hall.
People’s ingenuity will surprise you – notice the fielded door behind those shelves? I’m not sure what is behind it, but smaller rooms on the main floor in Georgian houses were often private spaces, usually an office for the patriarch or bedrooms for frail family members.
Another interesting detail – the staircase railings are identical to those that used to be in the Gorsline house. Notice the narrow rectangular profile of the rail and end posts that meet at a mortise joint. The simple window casements are the same as those in the kitchen parlour, but it’s anyone’s guess if they are original (these are not my photos).
The house may have made it through the 1870s unscathed, but the 1970s were clearly not as kind.
Although the house sits on an acre lot severed from its original larger property, it’s beautifully situated on a gradual slope overlooking fields to the south.
I’ll have to consul The Settler’s Dream to see if this place has a listing, but in the meantime I should get back to my own project.