Bernard Lansbergen
Special to The Lake Report/Niagara Now

After four months and 28 rounds of voting the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum has finally declared a winner. The Prest House, located at 1755 York Road, is the sexiest building in NOTL.

The museum, inspired by a similar initiative on Twitter for inns in the UK, launched the online poll in January. Each week it pitted two historic NOTL buildings against one another for the title of the “sexiest”.

The Prest House, also known as Davis-Croy house, faced off against buildings such as Willowbank and Riverbend Inn, to finally go head-to-head against the Grand Victorian.

The Prest House was built in 1819 from local Queenston Limestone and is known for its Georgian architecture. “In recent years the house has been restored,” says Shawna Butts, the museum’s assistant curator and education programmer, “I think beyond it being visually appealing, (that) is why it won the competition.”

Butts is really pleased with the response she has gotten from the community. “It was meant to be something that was fun and engaging during times of uncertainty. From talking with people who were participating in it, the program did just that.”