Guelph City Realty Limited

A Brief History of 137 Wyndham Street, part of the Masonic Block

This building has commercial and residential uses. Contact our office for details on pricing and availablility)

Historic Building 137 Wyndham Street, Guelph, Ontario, Canada Victor Stewart [who worked on the Wellington Building] was also the architect for the Masonic Block which was constructed simultaneously with the adjoining Wellington Hotel. The original design was closely integrated with that of the Hotel, and a similar elaborate fourth floor featured a large central domed area. Hoever, following a $100,000 fire in February 1945, the fourth floor of the Masonic Block was dismantled; the remaining cornice details were removed in the late 1960s. Later owners, Carere and Bridge, had the facade cleaned and the interior rebuilt concurrently with restorations of the Wellington Hotel

The Masonic Lodge was one of the original occupants of the building, until 1914 when they acquired new space on Quebec Street West. The Guelph Free Public Library, the first such public library established in Ontario, also was located here, from 1883 until 1903. Among the occupants of the original ground-floor shops were such long-term tenants as the Kennedy Drug Store, the Hourigan Shoe Store, and the McPherson Barber Shop. The two central shops (Numbers 141-143) now house a restaurant.

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).

Carere Bridge, mentioned in Downtown Walkabout, is one of the sister companies of Guelph City Realty.

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