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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1977-04-14, Page 3(By Len Pizzey) 'The elaborate woodwork that decorates the exterior of many Seaforth houses is a feature common to much late nineteenth century architecture. Th ough we might be inclined to view this love • of decoration as a ecculiarly Victorian phenomenon, it' is in fact much older. The paateeeof decorating the projecting ends of beams and structural ""rtiYiriBers began centuries before the -Victorian era, and was particularly common in English architecture of the medieval period. The woodwork that hangs below the eaves of so many Canadian Houses had a functional beginning. In early construceide practices, the centre beam of the roof and other structural members usually projected beyond the ends of the gable walls. They were thus left exposed to the weather, and would deteriorate rapidly unless some kind of protection waiiirovided. A "vergeboard" , a's it was called in England, was fixed to the outside of these projecting pieces to keep the rain• and sun , off. This vergeboard was sometimes decorated, but never. to. the extent•that w its primary function of protection from the weather as diminished, Construction methods had changed by the 'late nineteenth century, and Ontario houses were built with roofs whose structural members did not project beyond the end wall s,No protection from. the weather was needed. But builders wanted to give houses a finished look, and vergeboard, or "bar geboard" as it is usually called ifi Ontario, was retained. Cutout with scroll saws and hung under the eaves and on front 'gables, it. gave a gay and pleasing air to the simplest of houses. • Builders used one of two approaches to the decoration of this bargeboard. In the "open" type, fine saws were used to remove large amounts of wood from planks, and the wood that remained formed a pattern. -Deedation of this kind could be heavy and unimaginative in the hands of some builders, while others created finely (let ailed work that sometimes resembled Victorian drapery cord and tassels mol'e . than 'weatherboarding. *The other approach to decoration is the "closed" type, in which a board was marked with; a compass and holes cut in if.to forte a pattern. The pattern used varied greatly, and were .sometimes adopted' from Gothic designs found in church windows. The examples pietured here are typical of the kind of decorative wood • work found on housee in •Seaforth, and throughout, the peOvitICC,. The house in the top picture is ,on Gouinloek Street.: The decorative woodwork here is of • the "open" type.' The wavelike pattern was a favorite with many builders throughot4 the province. A particularly fine_ touchherb is the design formed where the pattern meets under the peak of the gable. It compliments the pointed Gothic style window in .the gable. TheMiddle House is on Jarvis Street. The scrollwork here, also of the "open" type, is very ornate. Design's of this type were not well suitt..d to wood that was exposed to the .weatber, and on many houses, rot 'has claimed the bargeboard, forcing its removal. The vertical beam in the gable is known as a "kingpost". It was in its original use. a load bearing member, strengthening the root:. but it was hardly ever used in this way in Ontario houses. Here it is merely decorative. - The pointed section of the post above the gable is called a it .is interesting to. note the contrast here between the 'classic •revival windoW style with it's covering pediment. and the freetlowing design of the bargeboardi • The 'lower house. on Louisa Street, has bargeboard of the "closed," type. The cutout pattern in the middle of each rounded segment of the . board resembles the. "quatrefoil"; or fowled cloyer type pattern that was often used in windowS of Gothic style__ , churches. This kidd'ofbargchoarci is closer to .its original function, of weather protection than are the more ornate "open tyPes, Something to Say by SUian White (1,1) PIONEER PL - 11ZD BELT-DIME- TURNTABLE MUSIC'S PRICE 125 RETAIL 129.95 The PL-'l 1 2D is the latest refinement of the MoSi popular Pioneer turntable. ImprOved perfor- mance and a practical price.' Smooth cueing device, hinged free-stop dust cover and un- beatable reliability. Come iir) for a listen. • Signal to poise.ratio - 63dB • Wow & friitter 0.07% • Warranty one year' MIMIC 16 Ontario Street, Stratford 271.2960 Li I3oard gives Blyth Centennial $200 Huron County Board of ' involvement in Education trustees played polities projects in the future. at the Monday board meeting e was carried. when a re qeeet feTr t'entenniel • van Egmond Funds came to the board from Bly th Public School. The request was Mr a $200 grant fora school • re.union in conjunction with the ' Foundation village's 100th Birthday this summer. The expenses the reunion P organizers wanted -help for were The Van Egmond Foundation , listed and, totalled $75 for, presently committed - "'Co the publicity; $40 for ticket printing, . restoration of the Van Egmond d$3i s5C af7m a p toesrtiaagle „,. and $50 for house has a _busy year ahead. Fund-raising projects are already Goderich trustee Cavley .Hill. • in the planning stages, with all recalling a similar request from' proceeds ear-marked for repairs organizers of a reunion at and remodelling of the Goderich ; District Collegiate Egmondville historic site. Institute for the town's 150th celebration of its founding, said that. Goderich :got one third of what it asked for. The organizers asked for $700 and received S200 to be used strictly for postage. Blyth trustee R.J.Elliott replied to Hill that Bly th had asked for realistic' figure when requesting their grant. "They probably had it pumped up to allow for that," said Mr, HiTh. Colborne. trustee 'Shirley Hazlitt moved that board give Blyth $35 for postage and the boards'. best ' wishes. rocMa dEtl illi eot said hoard' oai:(i gav e Goder ich ts tIe t $200after a request of $700 was made:He also recalled the grant 'was . being_ used for postage. coffee. cookies and other similar things. Director of education John Cochrane looked 'up the minutes of the meeting where the Goderich grant as discussed and said that the board stipulated' that the $200 was to he used strictly fee postage.. Mrs. Hazlit t's mot ion ''was defeated and Mr. Elliott unwed that Blyth he given the $200 requested and that the board establish a policy for financial centennial The motion' Last year's Ciderfest was an instant success, and the various committees are expecting even bigger crowds in 1977. More important, next year, will be the bicentennial of the birth of the, Colonel Anthony Van Egmond and the 150th anniversary of the Huron Tract, which stretched from Guelph, Ontario to Goderich..lt consisted of' a major thoroughfare between two tracts of acreage for early settlers, with the road built under the direction _ of the Colonel. Work is proceeding at a fast pace at the house, and it is h oped that the building will -he completely ready for the public by the anniversary celebration. The Foundation has, however. set out a call for help. Present mernbership, although enthusiastic, is ‘'ery. low. and new members arerequired. The fee 16r a year's membership ie $2.00 and nee fliees are urgently needed to, , help in planning and promoting tile 1077. ' events • People interested in local, history and contact .wish others ill . similar tats-e.e,------shmild • telephone Ben 'MacLean at All 'interested people are • (Continued 'on Page 18) Ions busy year THE HURON 'EXPOSITOR, APRIL 14, 1977. —3 111111111.11111111 Outstanding Values on Famous Name CHESTERFIELDS * LOVESEATS * CHAIRS AIL Different Styles anti Colours_ Featuring This Week Free Decorating Consultation & Seniice Robert L. Plumsteet Interiors - Pule FURNITUF1E 6 CARPETS • PAINTS • WALLCOVERINGS • DRAPERIES ,11111•11111•1116 MODERN CONTEMPORARY. LOOK A comfortable brown corduroy sectional chesterfield pictured aboye_ _ Reg. $795.00 HEIGHT FLORAL PATTERN- Green, yellow floral chesterfield, 2 matching chairs, 1 qttoman. Rep.$695..00 $450 This week only OUTSTANDING VALUE Brown, rust, blue floral chesterfield .Matching love seat, a chair. Reg. $825.00 °695 This week only ELEGANCE & BEAUTY An elegant • formal chesterfield, oranges and golds. Reg. $5119.00 $450 This week only 9 MAIN STREET SOUTH, SEAPORTH, ONTARIO NOK IWO • PHONE - BUSINESS (519) 527.0902 HOME (519) 7.0052 I a Former ly Whitney Furniture • 59 This week only the Expositor.. :Dianne wouldn't gel to know all "Thank ' . heavens it . only te„ee. nice people. who are happens once a year" was the involved in hockey in Seaforth. general' comment' around this • • ., office and I imagine. it was echoed - Are . von_ - interested 'in by, II coaches-and assorted conserving 'energy? No. riot the parents and kids who were kihd Ikind of energy that you conserve enough to join . in the hunt . for ' by sitting down and having 'a rest names, to matele.to the Nees,: after supper instead. of.. And if there were mistake in'n up onnhe ironing. any of the cutlines under those The Expositor is looking for hockey photos -we' didn't Tear' re-aders- ' &nee-riled " abbut The about them. And believe it or not. ''seriousness of the current energy we don't mach *ant to hear about crisis who want do „call to ,the them either. After all who would attention of Canadians the 'need we blame? It was a classic group for' all, of us to conserve ' our effort. ' . , . natural resources. and use them Next year we're thinking about wisely. . . Dominion Textile Ltd, who for -donating giant "Hello-- •.my flame is" stickers to Seaforth several years have sponsored the minor hockey. 'Then all we'd need "What my' hometown „ paper for identifying players would he a, means to .me" contest for the magrit , lig glass and a good pair Canadian, • "'al . Cdmmunity, of eves. But then Carol and Newspape.rs . Assocaition, have changed the format of that contest. This year' they are offering $500 for the best letter to the editor, article or editorial in a • • CC-NA—paper which argetee_in favour of energy conservation. • It' conserving.our resources is a - sobjectehat concerns You. write a letter to the editor of' the Expositor in support. of energy conservation and we'll enter it in the contest after it appe'ars in the, paper. Entrants of any • age • ale eligible. Letters. should be sent to the. Expositor by M'ay' 13 so that we'll have time to publish and Send their in before the May 31 contest deadlilne, • e-e• You' could win .5500 . and • perhaps what's more important. you could ,help convince your fellow ,isn't that Canada's. energy jsn't limitless, Tuckersmith accepts etition in 5 -hour meeting Council approved the . meniber in the township. Hay-Hensall 'Fire agreement in Cottneil will Suppoit a letter which the township is involved for from Town of Eketer to Huron _ protection of a small area. . County Board .':of „Education ' Tuckersmith . agreed to . objecting to the large increase in - contribute 54,00 to each 4-H _ the levy in 1977. Council awards7.,,pol!ce. '(Continued from Page 1). - • committee sympathised with go tip' soon and the crossing guardS would begin work as soon as chief of police John Cairns talks to students in both element- ary schdols and . the public is notified by an ad that the program is in effect. Chief Cairns i's in hospital for a foot operation. councillor Ellie said. The councillor said the police Action Ads PHONE DIRECT $27•00240'' complaints by neighbors about cars parking On the north side of Centre St., between Main and. Wilson. He said the police can only ticket the cars when they arc parked illegally but the only way to stop it totally would be to change the town's parking bylaw "and we can't change the bylaw every time someone complains abokt parking." The, hockey photo hunt This part of my column really ought to be written ,by Carol Hunt in the front office since most of it happened to her. Bet she doesn't have time to write it, so I'll tell you about the Great Hockey Photo Caper.„ Maybe you noticed that a recent-- Expositor contained 11 (eleven)) photos of minor hockey teams. They were all honoured in a "Big Night" at the arena and we thought it'd be nice• if each- hockey player Could .have his smiling face in the paper on Thursday. Getting the photos was no problem. Dave Robb did, that. But the names. getting names' under all those smiling faces was something else again. The coaches, naturally, -knew pretly well all the kids on their teams but often they knew them by nicknames, not real names, And the' parents we figured, might not even recognize their own kids by some 'of the wierd and wonderful nicknames. . -We had kids in here identifying. other kids.We had parents trying to help us i.d. their kids over the phone. We had one lady: Joyce McClure. who's-long been active in' minor hockey, up here looking at team pictures on her coffee break. Carol ,and Dianne McGrath made at least 15 phone calls trying to find someone to identify one team or another, one or two elusive kids or trying'te translate a nickname , into an officially sanctioned one, We' even got. an innocent bystander,'Doe Farwell, principal of St. Columban School' into -the act, when e he dropped into the office on business not remotely 'connected to Seaforth minor • hockey'and he helped with some of the identifications. The determined. pair in , the front office got the unidentified photos narrowed down to three or fqur by Wednesday morning. And elimination continued . pretty close to press time they were just. stumped by two /brothers, close in age but on .different teams, whom nobody could tell apart. The two both had the same first initial, so in a pinch they could have .called theft! both T. Smith and let it go at)tkat. But no, they persovered and 11 hockey photos with about 200. full and complete names under, them appeared in (By Wilma Oke) Tuckcrsmith Township Council at a special meeting Tuesday night which lasted' about five hours accepted the petition of four ,ratepayers for an extension of, the George Street Drain in the township on the southern outskirts of Seaforth. Engineer HenryUderstadt of Oiangeville will 'be asked to bring in a report on the construction work, Uderstadt will be askCdeto• bring in a report on the Kippen Drain and also the Dill Drain for which council accepted a petition. The Dill drain extends into McKillop Township. Road suiv.rietendent Allan N Nicholson was authorized to call tenders for the sale of the old all-steel ,H anna bridge which has keen replaced by a new bridge which will be coincided shortly. MeNicholson will advertise the sale Of the Adams model 550 motor grader .which is being replaced ,tiy a new grader to be purchased this summer. Council will write the London Humane Society to ask for a patrol in a, few troubled areas between 6 and 8 ant.i when the "bad dogs are roaming". Nunterous complaints. of dogs running,. loose have • been reported,