Horsepower of a different sort used to be housed in Diana and Gary Miller’s garage.
The couple are proud owners of a 170-year-old heritage home on Blake Street in Barrie’s east end. Their garage used to be the stable back in the day.
“The home was originally a rooming house for the nearby Barrie Grammar School. From the documents we have, there were up to 25 boys boarded here,” she says. “It feels spacious. Even though our house looks like a bigger house (from the outside) it’s about 2,400 square feet.
“There’s nothing too precious about it. The older and more beat up it gets, the more character it has,” Diana adds. “Our old floors tell a story. There are hatchet marks near every fire place.”
The house has four fireplaces: one in the sitting room, one in the drawing room, and one in the master bedroom.
“In our bedroom the previous owner had taken it out and put in a gas insert. The other three are all wood burning and still functional; we use them all the time.
“They cut their kindling beside the fireplaces on those cold winter nights to keep the fires going.”
She says the home had been very well maintained when then they moved in 18 years ago and the interior had been modernized, although it still has many original features.
The back part of the house was built in 1900 and a former ice house sits on the hill behind the home.
“We do have amazing baseboards and the ceilings are not exceptionally high; they’re just nine feet. Some of the older homes have the 14-foot ceilings. The front door is the original oversized door,” Diana says, while Max the cat takes in a view of Blake Street.
“We were handed quite a wad of paper that we think was probably from the Simcoe County Museum. I have an old ledger that shows all the owners that have owned it over the last 170 years,” she adds.
“I love the character,” she says of the home. “It has a lovely feeling to it and so many guests have walked in and said, ‘Oh gosh: I could live here. It feels like home.' And it does; it just has that feeling.”
The house is listed under the City of Barrie’s Municipal Heritage Properties.
Designated properties are recognized through a process prescribed under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Through this process a designating bylaw - passed by city council - is registered on title of the property. This means it will receive the highest level of protection from the city, with alterations requiring approval from council.
