Guelph City Realty Limited

A Brief History of 121 Wyndham, the Wyndham Building (formerly the Ryan Block)

These buildings have commercial and residential uses.  Contact our office for details on pricing and availablility)

The property at 115-121 Wyndham Street was, in the 1840s, the site of a little frame building owned by Thomas Smith, with a small saddlery shop adjoining. In 1874-75 it became the location of an impressive three-storey stone structure built by Thomas Dobbie, to add three shops to the two adjoining to the north (Kennedy Block). An early occupant of the central shop was John Hogg who moved his dry goods store here from Lower Wyndham Street; he had been in business in Guelph since 1851. His distinctive gold sign of the "The Wonderful Man" hung from a second-storey window above the clothing store. Hogg sold first his business in 1886, then the entire building in 1903, to Ryan, Birkenshaw and Company from Barrie; this firm later occupied all three units for its department store.

Although the entire building was destroyed by fire in January 1918, the Ryan Company rebuilt and opened in 1927 a two-storey cut-stone structure in Neo-Classical style, featuring an impressive arcaded entrance at street level and brilliantly lit arcaded display windows. The second floor provided office spaces and a generous auditorium which served as a dance hall and tea room as well as display space for an exhibition of paintings by Even Macdonald (about 1940) and the inaugural exhibition of the Guelph Creative Arts Assocation (1948). In 1960 changes were made to the auditoriumand the display windows; and in 1970, when the Right House of Hamilton purchased the building and the Ryan business, the stone facade was covered by a screen of ribbed blue steel. Carere Bridge purchased the property after the closure of Right House, and in May 1981 they removed the metal sheathing, reestored the original facade, and restructured the interior space into a variety of smaller business areas.

As described in Downtown Walkabout:  A Walking Tour of the Central Business District of Guelph by Gordon Couling (a publications of the Guelph Arts Council Walking Tour Series).