Guelph City Realty Limited

History of the Wellington Building

Located at 147-159 Wyndham Street, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

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

Historic Wellington Building (triangle view) The triangular area at the north-east corner of Woolwich and Wyndham Streets was originally a lumber yard with a small carpentry shop. In 1876-77 a locally-incorporated stock company built the "new" Wellington Hotel on this site. It succeeded the "old" Wellington which had been located at the southern end of the block from 1846 to 1876.

Guelph contractor F.J. Chubb was responsible for the masonry work on the building; the architect was Victor Stewart who was active in Guelph during the 1870s. The format was most sympathetically related to the unusual triangular site. An imposing dome formations capped the apex of the impressive fourth floor, designed in the Louis-Philippe or Second Empire style, with decorative dormer windows ornamenting the elaborate mansard roofs along both street fronts. The aspects of flamboyant style suggested the architecture of Paris more than of conservative Ontario.

Historic Wellington Building (side view) The "new" Wellington Hotel served the travelling public, under various owners, until July 1975 when a raging fire left the building without a roof and a with a sadly damaged interior. Four years later reconstruction commenced; and with Karl Briestendsky as architect, Guelph developers Carere and Bridge made every effort to restore the original features of the exterior while developing a fireproof modern interior. Once again the building stands as a prominent and attractive architectural landmark. In 1980 the restorations, now called the Wellington Building, was designated by Guelph City Council as a building of architectural and historic interest; it also received a Guelph Arts Council Heritage Award.

Excerpted from Downtown Walkabout: A Walking Tour of the Central Business District of Guelph by Gordon Couling (a publication 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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