In partnership with the Aurora Historical Society and Town of Aurora Museum & Archives, AuroraToday brings you a regular series of columns aimed at creating awareness about the rich history and heritage of our community.
Main streets change.
One of the earliest views we have of Aurora’s main street, Yonge Street, dates from about 1875. It appears to show the Faughner Block (now number 15222) under construction: It was completed in 1875. The photo is no later than 1886 as the ‘skyscraper’ three-storey Medical Hall on the east side is not in place.
In March 1887, a tremendous fire destroyed most of the buildings on the west side of Yonge Street, north of the Methodist (later United) church and south of the alleyway that today leads to a parking lot. The replacement buildings favoured the commercial Italianate style then popular across Ontario: brick buildings with decorative features on the front façade, including a false wall hiding a more-or-less flat roof. This style was also followed in several cases on the east side of Yonge Street in the northern part of the block, as can be seen in the 1903/1908 photo.
The present number 15203 Yonge St. is one of the few cases where the popular Italianate frontage was applied to an existing structure. In the circa 1875 photo, this building is very close to the right side, with signs of damage to its south wall. In the later picture, it is third from the right, two doors north of the building with vines.
Let us look into its history.
Number 15203 loses just a bit of its dignity by having two little ‘ears’ sticking out beyond its elegant façade, as seen in the 2011 photo. The other commercial Italianate buildings in this block have more-or-less flat roofs and were built that way. The roof of this structure has two sloping sides, forming a triangular gable at each end, as seen in the oldest photo. Today, the gable is still there but has been hidden — almost — by the addition of the front brick wall topped by an ornamental parapet, which is higher than the peak of the roof.
As can be seen in the circa 1875 photo, the future number 15203 had a roughcast — somewhat similar to stucco — cladding over its wooden construction. In that image, the cladding on the south wall is quite badly damaged.
It was not until 1885 that the owner, Charles Butcher, came up with a permanent solution to the failing roughcast. In May of that year, the local paper reported Butcher would be putting in a new foundation and adding brick cladding. The new Yonge Street façade was in tune with the then-popular commercial Italianate style. It included the projecting oriel window on the second floor and, of course, that stylish parapet or false wall covering the existing gable and hiding the old roofline, or most of it.
Butcher had purchased the property in April 1871. The $1,200 price indicates there was a building in place.
Things get a bit cloudy, or smoky, as we try to take another step back in time. A fire in April 1865 destroyed several buildings on this part of Yonge Street. Unfortunately, potentially useful original materials such as assessment rolls and newspapers from the crucial period of 1865 through 1867 do not survive. They would tell us whether Butcher bought a building that had survived the fire, or one that was a replacement for a victim of the fire. At least we can feel sure that today’s structure certainly was standing in April 1871.
A final backward look takes us to Plan 68 of 1854, a plan of subdivision that showed existing buildings on Yonge Street. The future number 15203 is not there.
Let us now take a speedy trip forward through the building’s story after Butcher’s 1885 changes.
Butcher operated a grocery store here from the time of his 1871 purchase until 1904. (An 1872 addition provided space for a millinery department, managed by Rachel Butcher.)
From 1906 until 1952, the building accommodated banks. The Bank of Toronto (1906 to 1908) was followed by local businessman J.M. Walton’s private bank (1908 to 1917). The Imperial Bank purchased the business and the property in 1917 and remained there until 1952.
Another long occupancy then began: the jewelry shop operated by Allison McConnell and his wife, Corinne. The McConnells ran their business here for some 35 years.
For more than 30 years now, the building has not been a retail location but the administrative offices for York Professional Care & Education.
And that brings us up to date with the Butcher Block, one of the oldest buildings in Aurora’s old downtown — but not the oldest. That is a somewhat less elegant building, but it, too, has those giveaway ears: Look for them if you are stuck in traffic on Yonge Street.
From 1981 until 2006, Jacqueline Stuart served as the first permanent, full-time curator of the Aurora Museum, then operated by the Aurora Historical Society.
