The Historic District

Hey everyone,
I stumbled across your site looking for some information on lime plaster, got hooked on the Gothichome story and decided to sign up.
My name is Joel and I live in an 1830's stone house in Cambridge, ON, Canada. I live on a family farm about a full km from the nearest road and so aside from my cousin who lives in the other half of the house its a pretty quiet area. My wife and I have 3 young children which doesn't leave a lot of time for home renovations but we tackle what we can, doing as much of the work ourselves to stretch our renovation budget as much as possible! We love, live in and (try to) restore our old home so I am looking forward to being a part of the forum and helping out if I can.. and I'll definitely have some questions too! I'll dig through my computer to find some pictures of the house and hopefully get those up soon. Thanks for letting me be a part of your community!

Here's my first picture, showing the front of the house which is the half where I live. The second photo is taken from my silo. The front of the house (Left hand side) is the original square section, standard layout with a centre hall and staircase and 2 rooms on either side. The right hand side is an addition that must have been built shortly after but was more of a service wing to the front of the house, it was renovated by my dad in 2001 and my cousin lives in that half. Both pictures are a few years old but the landscape is mostly the same although some of the plantings have changed. That's all for tonight but hopefully I can find some more later

Welcome to the district, I am familiar with the Cambridge area, there are a lot of old homes built in the same manner and with the same limestone material. The back side of the escarpment has some wonderful scenic roads to drive around on. You hoe built about 1840?
One other thing, glad our work on Gothichome has provided some inspiration.
Ron

Thanks! Yes the limestone is plentiful around here, both field stone and bedrock. From an archeological study that was done on the house 20 years ago they dated the house to 1836, although I have never found any hard proof

Thought I would share a few architectural details of the house, first up: front door with the only really ornate piece of decoration in the house

Hm the door picture didn't work I'll try that again

A few more

Joe, those interior details look spot on for a home of your age, nice that hey have not been messed about with. We often drive up the 401 and spend a day antiquing at the big antique mall DT, it’s a shame they had to move out of the old mill plant, it was a charming building but I understand it’s now just a shell with condo’s built inside.
Your front landscaping, designed with that nice rustic setting or is just the nature of the area?
Ron

Yep the southworks mall, lots of historic Galt has gone into condos in the last few years, which is a shame in a way although many of them were falling into ruin without it. But that antique mall was a gem, no idea if they maintained any of that old factory character.

In regards to the landscaping the stone work was put in by my dad and uncle who lived in the 2 sides of the house at the time. I was maybe 13 at the time so my contribution was limited.. I remember raking out dirt for the lawn the stones come from the fields in abundance!