Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Blog Guelph: Peek A Blue
The blue eyes of Goldie Mill ruins in Guelph.
BlogGuelph Tags: Blog Guelph,,Guelph Blog,Guelph Ontario, Flickr, Guelph Photos, photoblog, City of Guelph.
Labels: Guelph History, IThomas
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Friday, March 30, 2007
Blog Guelph: The Diplomat Hotel
As you can see by Alan Norsworthy's photo, the "Dip", formerly known as The Great Western Hotel, has seen some better days.
Here's a wee bit of Guelph 'drink trade' history from the Guelph Historical Society.
“Guelph had more taverns than any other town of its size in Upper Canada. Indeed there were enough hotels and drinking establishments on Macdonnell Street that it was known as “whiskey street”. In 1869, Guelph had a population of 5,700 residents and 20 hotels (19 with liquor licenses) and two saloons, or one hotel for every 285 people. "
On that note, enjoy your weekend.
Sue Richards
BlogGuelph Tags: Blog Guelph,,Guelph Blog,Guelph Ontario, Flickr, Guelph Photos, photoblog, City of Guelph.
Labels: Alan Norsworthy, Guelph History
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Blog Guelph: Goldie Mill
Today's series of six photos focus on Goldie Mill.
Located on the banks of the Speed River, just off Cardigan Street and Norwich, Goldie Mill has lead a varied life in our community that has span 178 years.
Sue Richards
Click the pic to see more terrific images by Dezso.
BlogGuelph Tags: Blog Guelph,, Guelph, Sue Richards, Guelph Blog,Guelph Ontario, Flickr, Guelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph.
Labels: dezso, Guelph History
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Blog Guelph: Goldie Mill Then
In 1864, the mill was destroyed by fire. The same year, the Goldie family purchased the burnt out ruins and rebuilt the mill.
Sue Richards
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Labels: dezso, Guelph History
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Blog Guelph: Permanent Vs. Temporary
One of the comments that came up at the Community by Design event on Saturday was the difference between building something with an intent that it be permanent versus temporary.
Permanent structures add value to a community in both the present moment and far into the future. Even though the mill was ravaged by fire twice, the quality of the stonework with stood the passage of time. Now imagine a similar situation happening to a big box store.
Sue Richards
BlogGuelph Tags: Blog Guelph,, Guelph, Sue Richards, Guelph Blog,Guelph Ontario, Flickr, Guelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph.
Labels: dezso, Guelph History
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Blog Guelph: Goldie Mill - Big Idea?
Obviously someone had a big idea for Goldie Mill that was somewhat more inspired than 'must build parking lot'. Plus a whack of somebodies had the energy and resources to take a ruins and turn it into a historic gem, public park and nice chunk of cultural capital for the City of Guelph.
Let us say thank you to the visionaries who saw - then moved this project forward.
Sue Richards
BlogGuelph Tags: Blog Guelph,, Guelph, Sue Richards, Guelph Blog,Guelph Ontario, Flickr, Guelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph.
Thanks to both Lio2006 and Dezso for this series of Goldie Mill photos.
Labels: Guelph History, Lio2006
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Thursday, February 22, 2007
Blog Guelph: Goldie Mill
Photographer Lio2006 gives us a simple reminder of our heritage with this striking image. To see the full mill, check out this 1881 (ish) post card of Goldie Mill - then known as the People's Mill: Click here.
Sue Richards
BlogGuelph Tags: Blog Guelph,environment, heritage buildings, perspectiveGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph BlogGuelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: Guelph History, Lio2006
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Blog Guelph: Matthew Bell - Life Carved in Stone
This will be the third set in the three part series about one of Guelph's talented stonemasons, Matthew Bell. My thanks go out to photographer Cool Baby for feeding me this incredible story.
To view part one and two of the Matthew Bell series, please check through the January archives by clicking on the link in the right hand sidebar. Part one appeared on January 15th. Part Two was posted on January 17th.
Matthew Bell carved the front of The Church of Our Lady Immaculate.
In my opinion, this in itself more than sums up Matthew Bells impact on our community.
There is a myth that he died from a fall while working on the church but there is nothing to support that story in the historic archives of the church or the Guelph Mercury.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: church of our lady, cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
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Blog Guelph: St. Boniface Cathedral, Maryhill, Ontario
Gil Stelter, Guelph's go to history guy, claims that St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church was the only church designed by Matthew Bell. Built in 1877, it stands on the highest elevation in the area - a 10 minute drive north west of Guelph.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
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Blog Guelph: St Boniface Main Entrance
According to Cool Baby, there are three sets of the carvings like the ones on either side of the door, running all the way up the front steeple.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: The Mysterious Lady, The Burglary and The Lost Love.
This story comes from the brochure put out by the Woodlawn Cemetery.
" The mysterious lady appeared at the cemetery one morning, placed by an unknown benefactor (sometime between 1903 and 1905).
The statue has been attributed to Matthew Bell. It was one of the statues stolen from the grounds of 40 Albert street. The house at one time had belonged to Bell.
The Grundy family, the owners at the time of the theft, spent summers in Kincardine. While they were away several carved figures were stolen from the grounds.
Local lore speculates that an unknown admirer placed the statue at the grave of Clara Snowden (d 1903 aged 36 yrs).
The limestone statue would have probably been carved during the winter months from a block of soft limestone selected from Bell's own quarry on Water Street."
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
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Blog Guelph: The Bell Family Plot
Matthew Bell died on June 28th, 1880. He rests, with his family, in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Guelph.
It is believed he carved the stone as the detail and motifs are the same as many of his buildings. Sadly, four of his ten children died during the 1870's.
The cemetery can be accessed off Westmount Road in Guelph.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Blog Guelph: Matthew Bell - A Stonemason's Story continues...
On Monday I introduced the Guelph stonemason Matthew Bell by showing off the homes he built and lived in. Thanks to our Flickr photographer Cool Baby - our exploration of Matthew's body of work continues with todays series.
The rather gruesome face is perched over the right hand side window on the main floor of Old City Hall. The mayor's office window is directly above. It's pretty evident that carving such a piece would require incredible talent .
Having worked in the arts for 25 years in this town, I can proudly claim that creative talent is an asset that Guelph continues to have - in spades!
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: Guelph City Hall
This fine fellow - thought to be Zeus - hangs out over the front entrance to Guelph's Old City Hall.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: 25 Manor Park Crescent
Bell's first house sits beside this stone mansion. Cool Baby dug up this tidbit of information from Heritage Guelph.
" Built circa 1857 for Arthur Wells, “Manor Park” is one of the principle stone residences in the City of Guelph. Built from limestone quarried on the property, the house, which faces the Speed River, originally occupied a 10 acre site known as “Wells’ Grove” under the ownership of Arthur Wells."
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: Portico at Johnston Green
Stone Road and Stone Road Mall were both named after the Stone family. This portico - which is likely the most photographed structure at the University of Guelph thanks to the thousands of annual graduates that pose between its pillars - was the front portico of the Stone family home. Matthew Bell did the carvings.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell, University of Guelph
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: 264 Woolwich Street
This historically designated gem appears abandon midway through extensive renovations. Apparently some issues emerged.
Matthew Bell did the stonework. Canadian author Jean Little lived her for a time.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: 93 Wyndham Street
Next time you're downtown, take a gander at the stonework above Robinson Flowers on the north end of Wyndham Street, east side of the Street. Matthew Bell - busy man that he was - is listed as the masonry contractor.
I find it inspiring to review this man's body of work and wonder if he had any awareness of the impact his skill and talent would have on future generations - let alone that he would be spun through the blogosphere on Blog Guelph.
There's more Matthew Bell work to come. Big cheer goes to Cool Baby for inspiring us with this fascinating photo enhanced story.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Blog Guelph: A Story About Matthew Bell
Blog Guelph would like to start the week off with a series of photos that focus on our architectural heritage.
Matthew Bell arrived in Guelph sometime after 1850. According to Cool Baby - to whom this series of photos and research is credited - Bell appears on the 1871 Guelph census as a Stonemason from England. Our local King of History, Mr. Gil Stelter has written that Bell arrived in Guelph from Newcastle.
This house, located at 281 Water Street was the first house built by Bell in 1856-60. Cool Baby tells me that this photo is part of an inventory of photos stored at our main library. CB did a funky edit job on the image to erase an unfortunate addition.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: 281 Water Street 1974 and 2006
Photographer Cool Baby attempts to illustrate why the City of Guelph could do with a good set of heritage building protection laws by presenting a before and an after shot of 281 Water Street.
Recently while on one of those meandering Sunday walks, I ended up in this backyard - not realizing any of the historic significance of my location - yet curious about the large squared limestone chunks strewn about.
Apparently the house was used as the servant quarters for 25 Manor Park.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: House of Heads
Bell's second house - The House of Heads - sits beside the John McCrea House/Museum on Water Street. According to Cool Baby, Matthew Bell lived here.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: Detailed House of Heads
Not the most cheerful lot of heads - a total of eight unknown grimacing guys adorn the Water Street House of Heads. Perhaps these dudes were former employers of Bell.
I wonder if Bell realized that he was contributing to Guelph's cultural heritage as he did his carvings.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: 40 Albert Street
Directly behind the Water Street House of Heads, you'll find Matthew Bells third home, now known as the 'Bell-Carlton House'.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Blog Guelph: 49 Albert Street
Here Bell changes his artistic focus from grimacing men to bovine heads and a wreath like motif. Cool Baby notes that this is the same relief work that can be found on the Johnston Green Portico at the University of Guelph - yet another work of art by Matthew Bell.
The Matthew Bell series will continue.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph,Matthew Bell, Heritage Buildings, downtown guelphGuelph, Sue Richards, Art Jam, Guelph Ontario, flickrGuelph Photos, photography, photoblog, City of Guelph, Canadian Blog.
Labels: cool baby, downtown Guelph, Guelph History, heritage, matthew bell
Blog Guelph wants to show off your creativity. Click this link to find out how to get your pics blogged.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Blog Guelph: Guelph in the 60's
Ease your way into the weekend with this gem. It's a 2 minute and 40 second blast from Guelph's past video by Lauzon Productions. I've supplied the lyrics to the soundtrack so you can sing-a-long.
Sue Richards
I need you, oh how I need you
But all you do is treat me bad
Break my heart and leave me sad
Tell me, what did I do wrong
To make you stay away so long
'Cause baby love, my baby love
Been missing ya, miss kissing ya
Instead of breaking up
Let's do some kissing and making up
Don't throw our love away
In my arms why don't you stay
Need ya, need ya
Baby love, ooh, baby love
Baby love, my baby love
Why must we seperate, my love
All of my whole life through
I never loved no one but you
Why you do me like you do
I get this need
Ooh, ooh, need to hold you
Once again, my love
Feel your warm embrace, my love
Don't throw our love away
Please don't do me this way
Not happy like I used to be
Loneliness has got the best of me
My love, my baby love
I need you, oh how I need you
Why you do me like you do
After I've been true to you
So deep in love with you
Baby, baby, ooh 'til it's hurtin' me
'Til it's hurtin' me
Ooh, baby love
Don't throw our love away
Don't throw our love away
Labels: Guelph History, You Tube
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Friday, November 10, 2006
Blog Guelph: Remember In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Written By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae 1915
Colonel McCrae was born in Guelph on November 30, 1872. For details of his impressive life, click here. McCrae House Remembrance Day ceremony details can be found here.
Sue Richards
Tags: Blog Guelph, Guelph, Art Jam .
Labels: Guelph History, Sue Richards