This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.
Ardagh Cottages
Say hello — and goodbye — to the Ardagh ‘cottages’.
The simple, stucco multi-unit dwelling at the northeast corner of Owen and Worsley streets in downtown Barrie is being demolished to make way for new development.
Built in the 1860s on one Barrie’s original streets, the structure appears to be the earliest version of what we refer to today as "townhouses," although the term "town house" had a very different (think grand or elegant) meaning at the time of this construction.
The rental row house was built by lawyer and past Barrie mayor William D. Ardagh.
Born in Tipperary, Ireland in 1828, Ardagh came to Barrie with nothing, studying law under John Strathy, entering the profession in 1855 and working first in Toronto before opening a practice on Dunlop Street in 1856.
About the same time, the Bank of Toronto, founded in 1855, opened one of its first branches, right here in Barrie. Ardagh became an agent of the Bank of Toronto as well as the Monarch Fire and Life Assurance Company.
Ardagh worked hard in the legal world, joining a firm with James Patton and Col. Hewitt Bernard in 1857 and becoming senior editor of the Canada Law Journal. The following year, Judge James R. Gowan appointed Ardagh deputy judge of Simcoe County.
One month later, William Ardagh married his second cousin, Martha Ardagh, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Ardagh.
From about 1862 until 1872, Ardagh worked with his brother-n-law and cousin John Ardagh in an Owen Street law firm, Henry Hatton Strathy joining them in 1869.
William Ardagh was also the warden of Simcoe County from 1869 to 1872.
The Bank of Toronto had been located here and there around the downtown until 1872, when William Ardagh commissioned local architect Shearman Bird to build an impressive three-storey professional building on the east side of Owen Street, just north of Dunlop Street.
The building was fabulously stylish — standout white stone façades, tin-clad brackets, stained glass windows, and inside, built-in vaults.
In 1873, Ardagh leased the south side of the building to the post office, and the north side to the Bank of Toronto.
Ardagh’s own residence, known as The Hill, was built on Theresa Street in 1875, after the banker had returned from Europe where he had gone to convalesce in 1873 due to health issues. While geographically not that far from his Worsley Street rental properties, his new home was a world away in architectural comparison.
The Hill is still considered one of the most magnificent homes in Barrie.
Ardagh served as mayor from 1877 to 1881, but by 1879 was indebted to the Bank of Toronto for notes he had endorsed. He began selling off his assets, which included his building on Owen Street, Bayview Lumber Mill at the head of the bay and several properties on Ross, Lount and Worsley streets.
In 1880, he mortgaged several lots on the Berczy Block and Theresa Street, but not The Hill.
Following his term as mayor, Ardagh and his family moved to Manitoba in 1882, where William served as deputy attorney general. Ardagh played an important role in structuring the laws of Manitoba – he was appointed County Court Judge of the Eastern Judicial District in 1883.
The Hill was once again occupied by Ardagh’s wife, Martha, and their children by 1891.
In 1893, just as he stepped off a steamer in New Jersey, returning from a family vacation in Italy, William Ardagh collapsed and died. In his possession, among other things, was $40, a return ticket to Winnipeg and a well-worn envelope containing a dry, faded violet with a note that read it had been picked by 'Daisy' on May 25, 1890.
The Ardagh cottages are said to be log under the rough cast. I guess we’ll know soon enough!
