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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.
Woodlawn — 96 Sunnidale Road
At the corner of Sunnidale Road and what used to be Oliver Street, stands one of the most magnificent estates in Barrie – Woodlawn.
Urban legend has it that Oliver Street was named for Dr. Llewellyn E. Oliver, who had subdivided the area known as the Oliver Block. Oliver and his family came to Barrie from England in 1853. Richard Jose Oliver, the father, owned the Northern Advance from 1854 through 1862.
Oliver Street ran between Sunnidale Road and then unnamed Anne Street. It was changed to Shirley Avenue in 1910 to avoid being confused with the other Oliver Street in the east end of town.
Dr. Oliver actually started out in life with a more modest job, as a ticket seller, in Allandale, for the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad Company. This was a short-lived career – Oliver began medical studies in Toronto, then in 1859, he was off to Harvard University, ultimately attaining his degree from the Western Homeopathic College in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Oliver was practicing in Barrie by the early 1870s in his office on Dunlop Street, married George Burton’s widow in 1872. Llewellyn Oliver was a partner in the steamboat business, Burton and Oliver, and was Barrie’s medical officer of health, coroner of Simcoe County and surgeon for the Barrie jail for many years.
On a nearly parallel timeline, Duncan J. Murchison and his family came to Barrie from Hamilton in 1854. Murchison, a dry goods merchant, bought several acres of the Oliver Block from Oliver in 1873 for the sum of $1,350. The builder of Woodlawn is unknown but the house is believed to have been built between 1874 and 1876 (records are sketchy). Duncan John Murchison lived at Woodlawn until he died of pneumonia in 1900.
The Murchisons, Duncan and Rebecca, daughter of former Toronto City Commissioner W.H. Stotsbury, had five children. Duncan Jr., a lawyer with McCarthy Boys and Murchison, was Town Treasurer in 1897 and was married to builder George Ball’s daughter Minnie. When his father passed away, Duncan Jr. inherited Woodlawn.
Today, Woodlawn is every bit as magnificent as it was 145 years ago, standing stately and majestic on its wooded ravine lot. It still retains so much of its showy Gothic Revival woodwork, gracious balcony and verandah, under that dramatically steep roof. Definitely worth slowing down to have a look at this beautifully maintained mansion!
