About a week and a half ago, I had a short chat with Justin Chandler, a CBC reporter who was writing an article around the book “Defiant Builders: The Story of How Loyalists Constructed a New Society from Stone” by Michael Robert Bussière.

Specifically, Chandler was looking for some additional context on that early period of building in Niagara and the significance of old stone buildings today.

After we finished our conversation, it occurred to me that with the exception of a couple of individual cases, we never visited Niagara-on-the-Lake’s stone houses in this column and it was well past time we should do so.

But, before we go looking, allow me to provide a few basic definitions related to stone masonry construction.

In what is generally referred to as rubblestone, blocks of stone which are either undressed, or roughly dressed (worked into a required shape) and may be laid uncoursed, random or coursed, in a mortar suitable to the requirements of the wall.

When laid uncoursed, stone of all shapes and sizes are used with the only proviso that a proper bond between the stones is created.

Whereas, the random method involves selecting and/or dressing stones to allow laying in rough courses with non-uniform joints — a common method used the masonry of many historic stone farm houses.

Finally, the coursed method involves squaring each stone to create equal-sized blocks in each course (block size varies between courses) that are laid with roughly uniform, vertically broken joints.

The exterior face of each stone may be left as found or roughly flattened by the mason striking off the high points.

Occasionally, coursed rubblestone blocks might be rusticated — dressing the exposed face with a projecting and/or rough surfaced face on which the edges have been relieved (chamfered) at about a 45-degree angle to produce a recessed mortar joint.

The shadow line of this recessed joint tends to accentuate the stone’s strong, bold appearance.

The three rubblestone methods have been presented from least expensive to most expensive which, in turn, leads us to ashlar stone — used only in high status dwellings built for those with deep pockets.

Ashlar is stone that has been cut and dressed on all the faces that meet other stones.

The exposed face is worked and squared but may range from smooth to rough.

Generally, ashlar is laid in parallel horizontal courses, or in discontinuous courses (both vertical & horizontal), the latter requiring a significant level of expertise on the part of the stone mason to achieve a pleasing pattern.

Ashlar stone was (and is currently) also cut into relatively thin pieces and historically used as a veneer over rubblestone construction.

Now, let’s take a road trip around Niagara-on-the-Lake to visit a few of the town’s stone houses in a general build date chronological order.

We’ll start in St. Davids at 215 Four Mile Creek Rd. — the site of Ontario’s oldest-surviving building — built by Peter Secord circa 1782.

Constructed of whirlpool sandstone that was probably found on the property, the stones were laid in the rubblestone random method.

In appearance, the facade represents a Georgian facade with five bays.

While the middle bay (front door) is not precisely centred as one would normally expect, this slight off-set placement is almost certainly due to the house being constructed in two stages, as are the three chimneys when two would be the norm.

As would have been common practice at the time, particularly after the second stage expansion was added, the dwelling would have received a coat of lime render (stucco) to both weatherproof and “fancy up” the rubblestone walls.

From here, we’ll drive down towards Queenston to look at 1755 York Rd., a grand two-storey, five-bay, Georgian circa 1817 home set up on a rise of land overlooking the road.

It was built for Capt. William Davis, who purchased the original acreage from David Secord after the War of 1812.

In this, and the much more modest house he built for his son at 1717 York Rd., we can see an example of the coursed rubblestone method with the stone blocks having been “worked” to produce a more refined presentation.

From here, let us visit what is, perhaps, the most refined and architecturally significant expressions of period stonework on a 19th-century residential building in the country — we arrive at the circa 1830 Warner House at 287 Warner Rd.

Constructed of Grimsby red sandstone and Queenston limestone following ashlar stone masonry parameters, this relatively modest Regency cottage is an understated tour-de-force period status statement.

Built utilizing the most expensive stone work of the day, the Regency cottage form mitigates any social class statement while establishing an embraceable “successful but still just folks” ethos within their 19th-century community.

In my opinion, one of the most skillfully designed pieces of architectural messaging built in the socially conservative theatre of 19th-century Upper Canada.

Moving on, it is my postulation that, sometime during the 1830s, a new stone mason set up business in Niagara.

And, it is due to this mason’s work we owe many of the NOTL stone houses built between 1835 and 1880.

Most commonly, this mason’s work resulted in houses with coursed and uncoursed stone fields that featured brick quoins and lintels.

Examples of this can be seen on the impressive Brown-Tregunno House at 15176 Niagara River Pkwy., the lovingly restored Gothic Revival farmhouse that can be found at 1540 Concession 6 Rd. and the classic Gothic Revival with its gorgeous pointed arch transom window above the main entry at 1023 East & West Line.

Less frequently, the mason substituted Queenston limestone for the brick in the lintels and quoins on one of his builds.

Out on Carlton Street at #512 stands a beautiful example of this application, displaying rusticated limestone quoins and full limestone arched surrounds setting off every opening.

Unfortunately, this building is owned by a large winery and is the victim of demolition by neglect.

From here, let’s skip over to 1436 Concession 2 Rd., the James McFarland house, which may be the work of this mason but may equally have been built by the original owner.

Constructed of uncoursed locally found fieldstone with brick quoins and lintels, this pretty-as-a-picture, one-and-a-half storey dwelling has been carefully restored by its current owner.

Now, these are certainly not all of NOTL’s stone houses but only a sampling.

As you drive the byways of our town watch for them — even those disguised behind inappropriate additions.

They are a part of our shared heritage that is worthy of note. 

Brian Marshall is a NOTL realtor, author and expert consultant on architectural design, restoration and heritage.