Summer residence of J.B. Laidlaw, "The Grange", 1914

Publication: Whitby, The Best Residential Town near Toronto, 1914

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Creator

Unknown, Photographer

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Prints

Description

A black and white photograph of the gates and entrance drive to the summer residence of J.B. Laidlaw, "The Grange".

Notes

This house is located at the north-east corner of Mary and Pine Streets (at 201 Pine Street). It was built in the 1850s and demolished in 1976. Owners of this house were the Armstrong family, W.H. Higgins, C.F. Stewart, J.B. Laidlaw, and Frank Lloyd Beecroft. The home was called "The Grange". J.B. Laidlaw was the manager of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company in toronto, and lived in The Grange as a summer home during the first World War.

Whitby’s house numbering system was provided by Rev. Dr. James Roy Van Wyck (1877-1941), a retired Presbyterian minister. Van Wyck provided this service to the town, free of charge, during the Great Depression. By the summer of 1935, Whitby had a population of about 4,000 people and a house numbering system was needed. Prior to 1935, residences and businesses were listed in the telephone book with the street on which they were located. As well, there was no need for a house numbering system since all mail was picked up by local residents from the town post office. Under Van Wyck’s system, each block was numbered by a hundred. For instance, the first block south of Dundas on Brock Street was the 100 block; the second, the 200 block, and so on. Buildings on the west side of the street were given even numbers, while buildings on the east side were given odd numbers. On streets running east and west, even numbers were given on the north side while odd numbers were provided on the south. Van Wyck was careful to assign numbers for vacant lots between existing homes. Assigned house and business address numbers were published in the Whitby Gazette and Chronicle and a postcard was mailed to each residence in 1935 with the assigned house number and asking residents to please place this assigned number at their front door. Brooklin was given a house numbering system in the late 1960s or early 1970s, while Ashburn, Myrtle and Myrtle Station received a house numbering system in the 1980s or 1990s.

Inscriptions

The Summer Residence in Whitby of a Toronto Business Man. The company recently opened a subdivision in the northern part of the town, which has been nearly all sold. Many desirable properties in the town can still be secured at very reasonable prices, although they are being rapidly picked up.

Date of Original

1914

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