The Town of Saugeen Shores intends to designate 117 Huron Street South in Southampton, as a Heritage Property under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Description: The property, on the west side of Huron Street South between Morpeth Street and Chantry View Drive in Southampton, contains a two-storey Colonial Revival residence clad in stucco and wood. Built in 1897, the residence retains its original two-storey rectangular form, hip roof, symmetrical arrangement, and placement of its front door and windows on the Georgian-style façade. Porches added in later years have been rebuilt or extensively renovated. The residence is important as it was the home of William and Eliza Knowles and their family who are recognized as the founders and early developers of Southampton’s tourism industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Statement of Cultural Heritage Value
Design and Physical Value: The residence is an example of the Colonial Revival Style constructed in 1897. Its design includes features of early and late Georgian style in its rectangular form on two storeys, the symmetry of windows and door on the façade, and the hip roof.
Historical and Associative Value: Situated immediately adjacent to the original site of the Knowles-built Park Hotel (built in 1888 and demolished in 1991), 117 Huron Street South served in later years as living quarters for employees working at the Knowles-developed summer resort which included not only a hotel, but eleven rental cottages, and a dance pavilion.
Contextual Value: Situated within an area that has become known as “The Knowles Block,” the residence is the first built, the largest, and the most substantial of the seven Knowles family-built houses that survive today. The home also contributes to the surrounding context of notable historic properties, including 97 Huron Street South (Provincially designated) and several properties that have been added to the Saugeen Shores Heritage Register or acknowledged with a Saugeen Shores heritage property plaque. The home’s contribution to the historical context includes its relationships to The Park Hotel (demolished) and the former Grand Trunk Railway Station (now a private residence).
Further information respecting this notice of intention to designate the property is available by contacting the Town Clerk at Town of Saugeen Shores, 600 Tomlinson Drive, P.O. Box 820, Port Elgin, Ontario, N0H 2C0, by email at clerk@saugeenshores.ca, or by phone at 519-832-2008 ext. 104.
