August 2022
The southern Ontario city of Burlington has many historic homes, some dating back to the early days Upper Canada. One such home can be found in the south-west corner of the city; a two-storey brick house, with a third-storey attic level, known both as the Charles G. Davis house and Woodland Terrace.
Located at 1134 Plains Road East, this large house was constructed around 1814 for Asahel Davis, one of the United Empire Loyalists who settled what was then known as Nelson Township. Davis established a large farm on his property, building a Queen Anne-style brick house with many interesting design and decorative features.
The house featured a truncated hipped room with an offset wing, which also had a truncated hipped roof, and two gabled dormers above three-storey projections. Other features included a stilted dormer and a small pedimented dormer with decorative brackets and wood trim; windows that have flat heads with buff brick labels and dressed stone sills; the third-level dormers, two narrow windows share a continuous stone sill and the buff brick labels; the projections beneath the gabled dormers, have wide friezes with brackets that echo those at the eaves of the roof.
Now, over 200 years after the house was built, the City of Burlington has grown up around Woodland Terrace, reducing the original Davis farm to a 4-acre property. The house faced an uncertain future as developer Molinaro Group submitted a proposal the to build 1,159 new residential units in four towers on the property. However, it now appears that an agreement has been reached that will see the house moved to the south end of the property, facing Fairview Street. The modern additions will be removed and the house will be completely restored.
Unfortunately, not all old buildings can be saved, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t try, or at least incorporate them into a new development.
The house and the addition are currently occupied Throat Threads Apparel, a clothing manufacturer and wholesaler.
Sources: COMMITTEE WANTS HISTORIC HOME DESIGNATED – Local News (local-news.ca), Heritage Property INdex » Nelson Township (heritagepin.com), Burlington, Ontario – Wikipedia.
