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ome of early Waterloo's large land Sowners and successful entrepre- neurs built relatively luxurious houses for their families. The many others, wage-earners in the mills. factories and shops that were sprouting along King Street and a block or two out from King, bought or built homes that were quite a bit less preten- tious. As in many other ways the affluent distinguished themselves from every- one else. Perer Schavio, a labourer, purchased his lot on Mary Street from John Hoff- mann and built his house in 1859. Most construction of the time was of wood - and was too easily destroyed by fire. This board-and-batters home remains today as an almost unique representa- tive of its sort in Waterloo, While the structure is modestly plain in basic design. the builder Tdoped it with a degree of artistic interest by setting arched capitals between each batten and the roof 's fas- cia board. The city's heritage commit- tee has designated this, the Richber House, a heritage property. Joseph E. Seagram had no worry about expense when in 1872 he bought a plain house on a very large lot on Wit. low Street, then designated and built his mansion, Branch House. It com- pletely absorbed the existing building. With 65 rooms, Seagram's home was, well, roomy, not to say commodi- ous. If nothing else it was constructed lo last: the walls were three bricks thick, the floors were three layers of planksdeep. Some historic homes still survive Lookmg for relief from the heat? the Direct Energy Team tS gwmg you a worry-tree year of cool. comfortable temperatures - for one tow price With thrs plan, you'll recewe the fotlowmg ttene6ts: ef Annual tune-up on your air conditioner system tl Hsghly-tratrted, mused technirans d Thorough mspectuon of your equipment, ensuring all components are operating efFtciently From 1938, the Seagram family house began, in the best Seagram spir- it, to serve the public of Waterloo - as an orphans' home. As an old photograph shows, it was a comfortable dwelling worthy of the foremost distiller in Canada. Today, the impressively massive and solidly durable anon House has dis- appeared. Mr. Schavio's frame storey- and-a-half, a five-minute walk from Seagram's mansion, is the ctreseo,grritteosimxtesitrrAi.EXM0STN(AS AUetearMtaitaHhteat WATERUX) MICE . Wednesday. June 20, 2007 . " Legends