History of Stoneleigh
Stoneleigh has a rich history associated with some of Guelph’s finest citizens and skilled trades. We are proud to be stewards of its heritage.
One of the features that sold us on the house was the plasterwork. Between 1970 and 2017, it was home to George Hewson and his family. Hewson was a skilled, award-winning plasterer, whose work is found throughout the home. Crown mouldings, medallions, coved ceilings and even the shape of the lathe & plaster walls, is a credit to his skill. He was obviously proud of his work, as he signed and dated much of it, as any artist would do. Hewson was responsible for the restoration of original plasterwork in old City Hall (59 Carden) during its transformation into the Provincial Offences Court in 2006.
As we continue to peel back the layers, the beauty and craftsmanship within Stoneleigh continues to reveal itself. Let’s take a journey back in time …
1827
As he entered the newly-founded town of Guelph, its founder — John Galt — envisioned a grand allee from the west. He ordered the construction of the Huron Road by the Canada Company to open up colonization. Access to Guelph early in its fledgling years was through Hespeler, before York Road (to the east) and the Dundas Road (to the south) were later constructed. Read more about the opening of the Huron Road.
City founder John Galt envisioned the Waterloo Road as an impressive “grand allee” upon entering the city from the west.
Galt described Waterloo Avenue thusly:
“I desired the woodmen to open one of the projected streets, and they effected a clearing, greater than the avenue in Kensington Gardens, the trees much larger, in an hour and ten minutes.”
Waterloo Avenue was later described as,
“a glade, opened through the forest, about seven miles in length, upwards of one hundred and thirty feet in width, forming an avenue, with trees on each side far exceeding in height the most stupendous in England. The high road to the town lay along the middle of this Babylonian approach, which was cut so wide to admit the sun and air, and was intended to be fenced of the usual breadth, the price of the land contiguous to be such as to defray the expense of the clearing. In America, the timber felled in inland places is burnt off, and the wrecks of the forest in this ” arborous vast ” underwent the process. But the imagination forbears when it would attempt to depict the magnificent effect of the golden sun shining through the colossal vista of smoke and flames ;—the woodmen dimly seen moving in ” the palpable obscure “, with their axes glancing along in the distance. A Yankee post-boy who once drove me to Guelph, on emerging from the dark and savage wood, looked behind in astonishment as we entered the opening, and clapping his hands with delight, exclaimed ” What an Almighty place !”
1850s
Fast forward. Guelph is blessed with plentiful dolomite limestone for building material (and groundwater), part of a larger geological system known as the “Guelph Formation”. The easily-quarried quality and quantity to local limestone resulted in numerous quarries being developed adjacent to Waterloo Avenue, the largest being the Guelph Limestone (also known as DoLime) quarry outside the city limits. In the 1850s, the land where Stoneleigh was built was part of Guelph Township (the city boundary was Edinburgh Road) and owned by David Kennedy, a quarry owner and master stonemason. Kennedy was also the owner of Guelph Limestone. More about Guelph limestone and the Kennedy quarry
David Kennedy built an elegant and stately home named "Meadow View Park" on Waterloo Avenue, circa 1855-1860 (now 35-41 Meadowview Avenue), shown below in low resolution version (please do not reproduce without permission).
Three of Kennedy's sons built stone homes on nearby lots that were part of his land -- Willliam (at 237 Waterloo), John (at 80 Galt Street) and Robert Cumberland Kennedy (at 227 Waterloo aka "Stoneleigh"). It appears from land registry records that R.C. Kennedy built the house at 225 Waterloo between 1875-80.
In the 1877 map below, there is no house on the lot.
In 1900, Richard Cunningham further divided his remaining lands by registering Plan 330, creating Lot 42 "Cunningham Survey). The owner of Lot 42 at the time of subdivision was Duncan Cameron, but R.C. Kennedy still owned lots within the survey.
In 2017, we purchased the property from the Hewson estate. It had been modified extensively in the 1970s (see the renovation tab). We chose the name "Stoneleigh" to honour its association with Kennedy's original home "Meadow View". Given that the home was built on the quarry lands (stone) and "leigh" means "from the meadow" in Old English, it was a fitting name.
Circa 1970.
Circa 1962
Remnants of the Kennedy Quarry along Waterloo Avenue. This photo shows the backyard lot lines of the houses on the north side of Waterloo Avenue between Edinburgh Road and Meadowview Avenue.