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Building Styles

Italianate (1850 - 1900)

Origins --- Italianate Architecture

Italian Precedents ------Italian Palazzos in Florence___

Residential Italianate in Ontario --- Bloomfield--- Picton- -- Dundas (Foxbar)--- Stratford (Mornington)--
-- Stratford----Erindale-- Ancaster-- Simcoe---- Saint Catherines---- Mount Vernon
----
Bowmanville- -- Kitchener---- Oakville- -- Cobourg

Commercial Italianate in Ontario --- Dundas--- Picton--- Toronto- Cobourg- Hamilton

Background

The rich, mouth-watering aroma of olive oil saturated with onions, garlic, ripe cherry tomatoes and tinglingly fragrant basil rarely wafted through the 19th century Canadian home. Pumpkin pies, apple fritters, wild turkey with plum gravy, could all be found in abundance, and of excellent quality to boot. But a diligent search for such modern staples as bruchetta or gnocchi would have turned up precious little. The reason for this is that the Italian population in Canada between 1850 and 1900 was less than 5 percent. Why is it, then, that every city, town and village has at least a few and often many magnificent buildings considered by ‘those who know' to be Italianate? Where do architectural elements like the belvedere and the balconnette come from? Italy, certainly, but why? The answer is quite simple. It's not so much what they were as what they were not: Classical Revival or Gothic Revival.

By 1860, the Classical Revival (temple front, grand columns) was firmly established as the required style for government buildings, law courts, and libraries. This visual style embodies the air of solidity, of purpose, of stability, that was needed to enforce the authority of the growing government. In contrast, most churches at the time were Gothic Revival. This was a direct result of English critics who convinced the world that Gothic craftsmanship, derived from northern Europe, expressed the ethos and spirit of divine architecture. The "heathen" temples of Greece were dismissed as pagan. Only Gothic represented the full flowering of the Christian faith.

 

So if you were going to build a home for your family to enjoy, or a store where your goods would be sold, would you want it in Classical or Gothic? Neither. Why not look to the Italian Renaissance in Florence? That magical time in the 15th century when the first independent entrepreneurs and businessmen of the western world took their fates into their own hands and started empires that established themselves at the center of their own universe.

Internationally, the Italianate style saw an application of stylized Classical elements in regularized patterns, generally of cast iron, applied to commercial or high density urban settings. In Ontario, Italianate designs can be found on almost any 19th century main street. Mass-produced window surrounds using exaggerated cornices, capitals, triglyphs, and metopes were applied to façades of commercial and residential buildings.

 

Italianate Architecture

Italianate architecture in Ontario is an eclectic style derived from the palazzos of the Italian Renaissance and the subsequent European styles of Mannerism and Baroque.

Arabella magazine, October 2008 issue, has an in-depth article on Italianate architecture in Canada.

Italian Precedents

The Italian Renaissance was a magical time in the 15th century when the first independent entrepreneurs and businessmen of the western world took their fates into their own hands and started empires that established themselves at the center of their universe. This was the beginning of independent business empires. These empires provided the patronage for the art, literature and architecture that became known as the Renaissance. Though Humanism was quickly supplanted by the machinery of nobles and religion, the philosophy of the time allowed not only for the flourishing of the arts, but also the scientific ideas that lead to the European discovery of the new world.

The Renaissance embraced ideas, be they artistic or scientific, regardless of the nationality of the thinker. It was a period of great political, intellectual and religious upheaval, when thinkers were attempting to create a united body of knowledge: a history that united the Judeo-Christian traditions with the Classical Greek philosophies that were awakening the ideas of Humanism. Radical thinkers advanced the idea that the world was

round instead of flat, thus leading to the search for the orient across the western seas. By 1600, those holding these kinds of radical views, like Galileo, were incarcerated or killed, but the seeds of change had been planted.

It was the middle class whose interest in business, enterprise and trade spearheaded the exploration of new trade routes, particularly over water. The rise of the banking industry extended the option of power and influence to all levels of society. Those with enough gumption to arrange a loan for business purposes and enough intelligence to see the enterprise through to a successful end were given unprecedented access to possibilities heretofore unheard of. The cult of power through riches replaced the idea of posthumous glory through devotion to the church.

The wealthy entrepreneurs of Upper Canada were well versed in Classical literature and history. The philosophy of the Renaissance and the idea of taking charge of your own fate was certainly something they were familiar with. The Italian palazzo, while affording an elegant visual design, was also representative of their ideals and their aspirations.

Click Hotpoints for descriptions of terms in both text and images.

Crest Cornice Crest Pediment Balcony Quoin Cornice Fenestration

Palazzo

Banking was frowned upon by the church during the middle ages, but by the 15th century it was an accepted practice. In Florence, banking and trade were the basis of a strong economy. With money comes power. The nobles were soon ousted by the banking families such as the Medici, the Strozzi, the Rucellai and the Pitti whose commercial empires spread through Europe. In Florence these families built palazzos like this one from which to rule.

The palazzo form is square with a high first floor where the carriages and horses of friends could enter. The second floor was the public area where the family would greet and entertain their guests. The third and top floor was reserved for the bed chambers. The square shape is always crowned by a large cornice.

Palazzo

Palazzo Strozzi

1489 - 1539

Here again is the classic palazzo design of large first floor with a huge entranceway for carriages, a more elaborate second floor with regularized windows, and a more refined third floor capped with a large cornice.

The interior of the palazzo has elegant tiered columns while the exterior has uniformly rusticated blocks The entrance has a Florentine arch with heavy voussoirs. The cornice projects 7 feet (2.1m) from the building. Underneath it is a astragal frieze. An astragal is a molding that is convex, and resembles a string of beads.

Palazzo Strozzi

Italianate in Ontario

So, how do you recognize an Italianate building? When you spot a friend from a distance, you recollect not the colour of the eye or the small lines around the lip, but the overall silhouette. Eatons College Street in Toronto, the former Right House in Hamilton, the Dominion Building in Halifax, now the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, all have the silhouette of a Renaissance palazzo. They have a three or four story façade with a huge cornice held up by decorative brackets. This silhouette is the signature feature of the Italianate.

The original owners of Italianate homes would often have been third or fourth generation Canadians, probably descended from United Empire Loyalists. The Loyalists were refugees. They left the newly formed United States because they disagreed with fundamental policies of the new republic, one of them being slavery. Many of the Loyalists left beautiful properties, large homes and good lives with only the belongings they could fit on their backs or in a wagon. They would have been pleased to see their descendants living in comfort. In addition, they would have been happy to see that their descendants had maintained the same moral principles that forced their own migration.

In some of the large Italianate houses from Sarnia to Wolfville, there are small rooms in the basement with no windows and no external egress. These were not wine cellars, though they are often used

as such now. They were rooms that could be neither accessed nor detected from the outside, so no escaping light or heat could betray the precious contents within. These were rooms used to house people escaping in the Underground Railway. Few records were kept, there was no website, no listing in the Yellow Pages, but a peculiarly detailed room, with a hidden entrance and possibly an undetected air source is usually a room set up for escaping slaves.

Unique to Ontario is a design for a two story square residence with projecting eaves and ornate cornice brackets promoted by The Canada Farmer journal in 1865. This residence provided a classical alternative to the Gothic Cottage. Italianate residences often have a frontispiece, large sash windows, quoins, and ornate detailing on the windows and roof brackets. Classical elements are used, but in a secondary role.

Also important are the many Italianate commercial buildings found on almost any street in Ontario. The next time you are stopped at a stoplight, or someone else is driving, take note of the lovely cresting and elegant window surrounds, all cast iron, that were built in the Italianate style.

All buildings below are in Ontario.

Bloomfield

This is one of many Italianate houses built according to the plans set out in The Canadian Farmer 1865. People wanted a large, many- bedroomed house that had some interesting detailing. A two story rectangular building with a mild hip roof, a projecting frontispiece, and generous eaves with ornate cornice brackets was the basis of the style. There was no pattern book for details or any main architect promoting the style; this was simply a fashion that took hold. As this building currently a fine restaurant, we have the opportunity to see the interior, unlike the case with many Italianate buildings,

Italianate House

Picton

Picton is only 14 kilometers up the road from Bloomfield. This is probably the same builder. The front verandah is different, and there are bay windows, but the footprint is the same.

Once you recognize this style of house, you will see it everywhere. The reason is that it was one of a handful of house styles circulated through the province in a popular magazine called The Canada Farmer.

Italianate House in Picton

Canada Farmer 1865

This image is taken from the April 15 1865 issue of Canada Farmer magazine, now thankfully digitized by CIHM. It shows the elevation for a Two Story Farm House. Plans are shown below.

The design was printed in response to a request from a reader. The writer provides the plans with this salutation

"Having received the desired information, we have had plans prepared which we trust will meet the case, or at least form a useful study for the intending builder and his good lady, who will of course have the chief voice in the affair" p. 116

Some things don't change.

Foxbar

Canada Farmer 1865

Wedged between information on the new, improved milking stool and how to cultivate Concord grapes, are the plans for the most prevalent design within the Italianate category. Note that there are enough bedrooms for a large extended family and servants. This central hall plan was the basis for most residences prior to the ground breaking work of the Arts and Crafts movement who built rooms according to access to sunlight and interior space.

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

Like many buildings in the Hamilton area, Foxbar is the product of Scottish stone masons. Above the door is a set of paired, round-headed windows with shutters, the same motif seen on a door at Mornington (below). The cornice is generous and equipped with ornate brackets.

This lucky property was originally owned by two wealthy families and then sold to the Reigel Home, a foundation for severely handicapped children.

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

Restoration of historic properties is a daunting, though rewarding, task. It is often difficult to find woodwork or iron work that matches the quality of that done in the 19th century. With bathrooms, however, you are fairly free to make as many changes as necessary because there were no bathrooms per se in 19th century houses. A bath 'tub' was placed in the kitchen close to the stove and water was drawn form a well and boiled on the stove, then used to fill the bath. In more affluent houses, the tubs were transferred to private parlors or even the bedroom area, but they were seldom a permanent fixture. Lady Recalmier

 

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

Whatever genius was in charge of the refurbishing the property to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers decided to cover the original wood floors and wainscoting with plastic finishes rather than replace them or have them accidentally ruined.

The current owners, Liz and John Heersink were able to restore the gorgeous wood finishes to their original glory. The front hallway is a masterpiece of tasteful design.

 

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

Whatever genius was in charge of the refurbishing the property to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers decided to cover the original wood floors and wainscoting with plastic finishes rather than replace them or have them accidentally ruined.

The current owners, Liz and John Heersink were able to restore the gorgeous wood finishes to their original glory. The front hallway is a masterpiece of tasteful design.

 

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

Even the scroll decorations on the staircase have been lovingly refinished. The rest of the house is similarly restored.

 

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

Another scroll is found on the mantel in the library. Flanked by built-in bookcases, the fireplace is incorporated into the room primarily for warmth, but is an important design feature.

Interestingly, the marble is actually a faux marble finish! This is exactly the type of finish used today in many restoration projects, and some new homes as well. It is traditional, but it has certainly stood the test of time.

This room, found on the north west corner of the house, backs onto a south facing parlour that has no fireplace. There are two ducts in the ceiling that provided warm air from this fireplace to enter the parlor.

There is no disguising the fact that the owners of Foxbar know what they are doing when it comes to antique furnishings and details. John Heersink takes this one step further. Here is a man who spends his spare time tirelessly wandering through antique shops and garage sales in search of fine craftsmanship fallen on bad times.

 

Foxbar

Foxbar - Dundas

In a windowless room in his basement can be found a selection of leaded windows, lunettes and handcrafted doors waiting to be placed in a good home. These are refugees of the Home Improvement Craze. Heersink has ingeniously placed some of these elements in unexpected places throughout Foxbar. For example, two leaded glass ‘picturesque' windows were salvaged from a renovation and placed in a hallway to add light to the coat closet. Heaven has a special place for such people.

Foxbar

Mornington - Stratford

Many of the owners of historic properties in Ontario open them up to distinguished guests as an excuse for properly restoring them. A plastic door pediment might be acceptable from the street, but if you expect people to pay to stay, you must restore the wooden one so that it is indistinguishable from the original.

Brian and Susan Fox have done just that at Mornington. Both the exterior and all of the interior finishings are as accurate as they could make them. This takes some doing. Any architectural elements that are left suspended in the process are quickly placed in a new context.

Italianate in Stratford

Mornington - Stratford

Like most brick buildings found west of Cambridge Ontario all the way to London and beyond, the house is made of yellow brick. This is a particularly beautiful brick made with clay rich in lime.

The door of the house has been completely altered: a broken pediment supported by fluted pilasters crowns a segmental arch opening. The original single door was replaced by two doors, thus eliminating the side lights. Other than that the door façade is relatively unchanged. The weather marks forming a line across the front show where an extensive veranda once was.

Instead of a frontispiece, the door is accentuated by two pilasters of plain brick. Bricks are also used to provide a dentiled frieze under the cornice. It is also evident that most of the support modillions have been removed. Those that remain are classic scroll shaped.

Italianate in Stratford

Mornington - Stratford

The staircase on this house is much simpler than that found at Foxbar, but the newel post and bottom return are almost identical. It is a perfect perch for the ferocious guard dog.

Italianate in Stratford

Mornington - Stratford

This beautiful paneled door with paired, round-headed arches is taken from a pantry and used on the upstairs bathroom. It wasn't placed there originally because the bathroom did not exist, but one can quite comfortably assume that the original owner's wife would have approved.

The two panels with rounded tops seems to be a common motif. The bathrooms at Foxbar have the same design as does the central window found on the Oakville house below.

Italianate in Stratford

Mornington - Stratford

Great pains have been taken to make sure that all remaining detailing is well preserved and in good working order. This original sash window is in perfect order. The owners did not succumb to the fake loooking products of the dreaded vinyl replacement salesman.

Anyone enthusiastic about saving architecture can do no better than give such establishments their custom. It is not self indulgence. It is a service to the community.

Italianate in Stratford

Stratford

This grand residence of the 1860s was the residence of the local doctor ********** *******. He built a relatively humble building, still standing next door, and then with his increasing affluence, created this Italianate home to house his growing family.

The house has the basic rectangular plan with a frontispiece and a well- restored verandah. The front door and curved door surround are absolutely spectacular. Atop the entrance is a balustraded balcony. Eyebrow window cornices and large cornice brackets on exaggerated eaves balance the lower level extravagance.

Italianate in Stratford

Erindale

The Hammond House was built in 1866 by Oliver Hammond and his wife Sarah Ann Carpenter. It is a vernacular example of the house of an affluent farmer as outlined in The Canadian Farmer (1865). Like the Bloomfield example, this is a symmetrical plan with a large frontispiece, but rather than being rectangular, this has a Gothic-like gable with ornate vergeboarding. Most of the detailing on the frontispiece is new, including the door and upper window, but it has been done with great sensitivity to the original design.

Italianate House

Erindale Ontario

Cobourg

The most outstanding feature of this classic Italianate house is the fanlight on the door of the second floor balcony. Above it is a lunette on the third floor within the gable and under the generous eaves. Modillions hold the roof cornice in place and add character to the overall design. The front portico is held in place by Corinthian columns and an unadorned architrave. Above it is an iron railing on the balcony. There is a band of dentils above the second story . The house is painted in discreet colours that reflect the period.

Italianate Cobourg

Simcoe

Here is another example with a few changes. There are side dormers in the hip roof, the cornice is not as large as in the above example, and the cornice brackets are paired. These are not the original windows, but the shape is the same, and they complement the keystone and voussoirs of the flat arch. The sill is small and refined. On the lower level are paired bay windows with small cornices.

The most outstanding feature of this house is the large, circular portico with Ionic columns, a curving architrave, and a set of sturdy red stairs.

The house is beautifully situated at the top of a hill on a large, well-kept lawn.

Italianate House in Simcoe

St. Catherines

Situated on the ridge of the first Welland Canal is the Merritt House, built in 1860 by William Hamilton Merritt, one of the founders of the canal. It was originally a single family home, but, over the years was a military convalescent home, a brewery and an inn. Currently it is the home of CKTB radio station. The house also has the distinction of being haunted. http://www.haunted hamilton.com has that story.

The house follows the Italianate plan without the frontispiece; the pedimented first floor windows, roundel and large roof brackets are pure Italianate.

Italianate House in St. Catherines

Mount Vernon

This beautiful house is situated outside of town in a large fielded area. The walls are constructed with local field stone kept in good plumb with oversized concrete quoins, lintels and sills.

The cornice follows an undulating line over the three bas and is adorned with dentils and paired modillions. The window over the central bay is a Venetian arch. The ground floor has a central door flanked by two French Doors.

Italianate House in Mount Vernon

Ancaster

This formal and symmetrical composition follows the Canadian Farmer prototype to the letter. The central frontispiece has a large broken pediment with paired cornice brackets. The second-storey central window is round-headed and multi-paned. The door has a handsome transom and two ornate side lights. The front façade windows are six-over-six sash with shutters.

It is a shame that all historic buildings are not as beautifully kept as this one.

Italianate Ancaster

Dundas

This formal and symmetrical composition follows the Canadian Farmer prototype to the letter. The central frontispiece has a large broken pediment with paired cornice brackets. The second-storey central window is round-headed and multi-paned. The door has a handsome transom and two ornate side lights. The front façade windows are six-over-six sash with shutters.

It is a shame that all historic buildings are not as beautifully kept as this one.

Italianate Ancaster

Ancaster

This formal and symmetrical composition follows the Canadian Farmer prototype to the letter. The central frontispiece has a large broken pediment with paired cornice brackets. The second-storey central window is round-headed and multi-paned. The door has a handsome transom and two ornate side lights. The front façade windows are six-over-six sash with shutters.

It is a shame that all historic buildings are not as beautifully kept as this one.

Italianate Ancaster

Troy

This formal and symmetrical composition follows the Canadian Farmer prototype to the letter. The central frontispiece has a large broken pediment with paired cornice brackets. The second-storey central window is round-headed and multi-paned. The door has a handsome transom and two ornate side lights. The front façade windows are six-over-six sash with shutters.

It is a shame that all historic buildings are not as beautifully kept as this one.

Italianate Troy

Simcoe

The Italianate style was not so much concerned with imitating a recognized style as embellishing a building with exaggerated features such as the window cornices and the roof cornice and brackets in this example. The second storey windows have ornate curved hood molds with label stops. The first floor has segmental cornices over the windows and a lunette with an exaggerated molding over the door. The side porch is ornately decorated and includes a keystone. All of these details were made in wrought iron. The plan of this house is straight- forward: a rectangular main house with a rectangular bay and a rectangular side entrance.

Italianate in Simcoe Drip Mold or Hood Mold Label Stop Label Stop Keystone Lunette Bay Window Cornice Keystone

Hamilton

The Italianate style was not so much concerned with imitating a recognized style as embellishing a building with exaggerated features such as the window cornices and the roof cornice and brackets in this example. The second storey windows have ornate curved hood molds with label stops. The first floor has segmental cornices over the windows and a lunette with an exaggerated molding over the door. The side porch is ornately decorated and includes a keystone. All of these details were made in wrought iron. The plan of this house is straight- forward: a rectangular main house with a rectangular bay and a rectangular side entrance.

Italianate in Simcoe Drip Mold or Hood Mold Label Stop Label Stop Keystone Lunette Bay Window Cornice Keystone

Mount Vernon

This is similar to the Bloomfield residence in that it is a simple center plan of common bond red brick.

Instead of the frontispiece, there is a long, ornate front verandah and a large cornice with paired modillions.

Both houses have sash windows with green shutters.

Italianate House in Mount Vernon

Bowmanville

This is the Fisher-Jury home, built for David Fisher in 1847. It was originally built as a Regency cottage, but in 1861 the windows were changed and the second storey was built transforming the building into Italianate. As well as generous eaves, there is a belvedere. The original Regency verandah was expanded to provide a terrace for the second storey.

If you recognize the house, it may be because it was in the "Wind at my Back" series as Ma Bailey's home.

Italianate in Bowmanville

Kitchener

The plan of this house is a little more complicated than the above examples, but it is still a relatively simple rectilinear plan with Italianate detailing. The paired cornice brackets are the most obvious embellishment. There is a broken pediment on the front bay within the tympanum of which is a lunette. The cornice follows the gable with cornice returns and large brackets.

The windows are simple sash windows with brick lintels. Over the door there is a porch with a second floor balcony.

The overall impression of this building is much more restrained than the previous example, but it is none the less a Classical as opposed to Gothic adaptation of a country house.

Italianate Kitchener

Oakville

This house of 1887 is an interesting adaptation of Italianate onto a basic Ontario Farmhouse floor plan. The twin windows on the front bay have semi-circular arches on the top level and ornate cornices. The top window has a pediment while the bottom simply has an oversized cornice. The front bay has vergeboarding and the windows are shuttered. The verandah is original with ornate capital detailing. Above the verandah is a door. If there was no balcony for the door, the building would be considered technically unfinished and taxes would reflect this. This may have been the case here.

Italianate Oakville

Oakville Ontario

Commercial Italianate in Ontario

Cast iron producers lead the way into the Italianate style with a wide variety of unbelievably heavy door and window surrounds that reflected the quasi-Italian feeling of the Italian palazzo. These, along with the large and ornate cornice, also of cast iron, set the design parameters for the style.

The three storey building set the precedent for downtown commercial buildings as can be seen in Eaton's College Street in Toronto, the Right House in Hamilton, and many more.

The desired effect, opulent excess, was the perfect quality to promote commerce. This ebullient, bordering on Baroque, detailing was then applied to residential properties with great success, much more success than many of the new homes today that are an unhappy assembly of generally unrelated architectural elements, applied like wallpaper, then forced into a cohesive unit by large quantities of beige paint. The difference here is that the design was shaped by the facade, not the interior space.

Dundas

Here is an example of an Italianate commercial block. The features of this building are certainly exaggerated, and they are even more remarkable when you realize that they are all cast-iron. The cornice alone must weigh as much as a small building. The window surrounds are oversized with a multiplicity of Italianate details, various pediment shapes, brackets, agraffes, pilasters, and ornate moldings.

This is obviously a mixed- use building; on the street level are stores and there are apartments on the upper two levels. The building is divided into bays, the two commercial with three windows, and the central, smaller, bay for apartment access.

Italianate Storefronts

Dundas Ontario

Dundas

Here is an example of an Italianate commercial block. The features of this building are certainly exaggerated, and they are even more remarkable when you realize that they are all cast-iron. The cornice alone must weigh as much as a small building. The window surrounds are oversized with a multiplicity of Italianate details, various pediment shapes, brackets, agraffes, pilasters, and ornate moldings.

This is obviously a mixed- use building; on the street level are stores and there are apartments on the upper two levels. The building is divided into bays, the two commercial with three windows, and the central, smaller, bay for apartment access.

Italianate Storefronts

Dundas Ontario

Dundas

Here is an example of an Italianate commercial block. The features of this building are certainly exaggerated, and they are even more remarkable when you realize that they are all cast-iron. The cornice alone must weigh as much as a small building. The window surrounds are oversized with a multiplicity of Italianate details, various pediment shapes, brackets, agraffes, pilasters, and ornate moldings.

This is obviously a mixed- use building; on the street level are stores and there are apartments on the upper two levels. The building is divided into bays, the two commercial with three windows, and the central, smaller, bay for apartment access.

Italianate Storefronts

Dundas Ontario

Dundas

Here is an example of an Italianate commercial block. The features of this building are certainly exaggerated, and they are even more remarkable when you realize that they are all cast-iron. The cornice alone must weigh as much as a small building. The window surrounds are oversized with a multiplicity of Italianate details, various pediment shapes, brackets, agraffes, pilasters, and ornate moldings.

This is obviously a mixed- use building; on the street level are stores and there are apartments on the upper two levels. The building is divided into bays, the two commercial with three windows, and the central, smaller, bay for apartment access.

Italianate Storefronts

Picton

Here is another mixed use Italianate commercial block. Instead of caste iron here, the ornament on the cornice is added by brick patterning. As in the Dundas building, the access to the upper floors is in the center of the building's main floor.

 

Italianate Storefronts

Cobourg

This building follows the original palazzo design. The lower floor has been remodelled over time but the upper two floors have completely different window styles. The cornice is very ornate with lovely corbels.

Italianate Storefronts

Hamilton

Here is another mixed use Italianate commercial block. Instead of caste iron here, the ornament on the cornice is added by brick patterning. As in the Dundas building, the access to the upper floors is in the center of the building's main floor.

 

Italianate Storefronts

Italianate Extra Reading

Books

Blumenson, John. Ontario Architecture A Guide to Styles and Terms. 1978

Boorstin, Daniel, The Creators, Random House, New York, 1992

Brotton, Jerry, The Renaissance Bazaar, USA: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Green, Patricia and Maurice H., Wray, Sylvia and Robert, from West Flamborough's storied past, The Waterdown East-Flamborough Heritage Society, 2003

MacRae, Marion, and Anthony Adamson. The Ancestral Roof: Domestic Architecture of Upper Canada. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1963.

Pendergrast, Mark . Mirror Mirror, A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection. Basic Books, New York, 2003

For information on Italianatel architecture in specific areas within Ontario there are some very good books listed under the About page.

Films

Shenandoe - Jimmy Stewart
(This is an American movie, but it illustrates the hardships of living in a rural setting, trying to build a homestead, in times of war).

The Madness of King George 1994

"His Majesty was all powerful and all knowing. But he wasn't quite all there."

Persuasion, (1995) (2007)

Pride and Prejudice, (1995) (2005)

Sense and Sensability, (1995) (2008)

 

 

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