Two homes on Watson Avenue among six in Oakville given Heritage designations

Oakville is doing its best to ensure the history of Watson Avenue in Old Oakville is preserved by approving two of three homes up for historical designation at the November 13 Council meeting.

A 105 year-old Craftsman brick and frame house at 307 Watson Avenue – the Stock House – and a two-and-a-half storey Colonial Revival home at 340 Watson Avenue – the Slater House – were given heritage designations. A house at 356 Watson – a Craftsman frame house – was referred back to staff for a few more details.

The designations, which are partly as a result of changes to heritage rules implemented by the provincial government last fall that essentially force municipalities to designate houses on their heritage list or risk losing them to future development, came a month after Oakville designated homes at 330 Watson (a Tudor Revival/English Cottage) and 291 Watson (Craftsman brick and frame) on October 16

Approvals for heritage designations for two homes on Douglas Avenue – the Grace Ivey House at 255 Douglas and the Irving House at 359 Douglas – were also awarded Monday.

The house at 356 Watson was one of three houses that came to the council chambers with objections. While 356 Watson was set to staff for “further clarification,” homes at 401 Lakeshore Road and 361 Macdonald Road were approved.

All six homes on Watson Avenue are found in a two-block section between Sheddon Avenue n the south and Macdonald Road in the north.

The Stock House at 307 Watson is a one-and-a-half-storey Craftsman brick and frame house built in 1918 that is well maintained and considered a good representation of the style, with elements such as high side gabled roof that extends over a large front verandah; asymmetrical façade; wooden cladding on the upper storey; multi-paned windows with wooden storms on the first storey with a bay window on the front façade and north elevation; brick arched voussoir front door header and first storey window lintels and porch pillars on lakestone plinth.

The corner lot home has cultural heritage value for its direct associations with the development of the Brantwood neighbourhood and still retains exterior heritage aspects that have lent to the neighbourhood’s character over the last 100 years. Developed in the early 1900s, this subdivision was designed with large lots and mature trees and sold to city dwellers as a secluded, beautiful, and modern neighbourhood in which to construct their own cottage or stately home. The house is also associated with builder Sidney Frederick Wiffen, who constructed other houses in the Brantwood neighbourhood in the early 1900s and who helped to create the Arts and Crafts aesthetic of the Brantwood subdivision.

340 Watson Avenue

The Colonial Revival Slater House at 340 Watson Avenue was built in 1929 with elements of the design style such as side gabled roof with symmetrical façade; brick English bond pattern; boxed cornice return with dentil detailing at the roofline and dormer roof line; brick quoins on the corners; central entrance with small stone porch with sidelights and fanlight surrounding wood panelled door; door surround with radiating square brick voussoirs; multi-paned windows with brick lintel with keystones and stone sills; wooden shutters; and a bay window on the north elevation.

The home, like its neighbour just to the north, also has cultural heritage value for its direct associations with the development of Brantwood.