The Dalby House - Elora ON
N 43° 40.989 W 080° 25.820
17T E 545914 N 4836839
The Dalby House was built in two stages in 1865 and 1870 it was built to be a 3 storey hotel. The building is located at 143 Metcalfe St Elora and is an excellent example of restrained commercial design of the period.
Waymark Code: WMG50P
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 01/13/2013
Views: 7
The “Dalby House” – also known in the past as Gordon Block or The Iroquois Hotel – is a unique flat-iron building in downtown Elora. As one of the oldest hotels in the province and the oldest hotel in the county, and sited at the intersection of Metcalfe and Geddes Streets, the building commands an imposing position at the top of the hill overlooking the modern municipal buildings and post office. It has been home to among other things a hardware store, barber shop, lawyer’s office, photography studio, hotel and pub.
The building had been somewhat poorly maintained in past few decades and had multiple structural integrity challenges from major roof repairs, damaged woodwork specially windows, doors and stairs and exterior brickwork that had been painted with non-porous yellow paint creating a water trap that threatened the entire external frontage of the building. The buildings usage also needed to shift from a bar and multiple occupancy housing units to a professional medical building.
The brick cleaning, repair, repainting and sealing is the most obvious change to the building façade. Petretta Construction placed a great deal of time and effort on this item. The replacement of windows and main (historical) entry doors in a manner consistent with the old building was also painstakingly completed. Once restored, the brickwork revealed the continuity of design in the red and white or yellow brick patterns present in several Elora buildings, including the United Church on Metcalfe street behind the Dalby.
More specifically, the structure features cream coloured bricks which function as quoins and outline windows and parts of the structure for decorative purposes. The roof is truncated and low hip, with asphalt shingles and projecting eaves and moulded fascia. The windows are segmental with plain concrete lug sills. There are also arched windows on the second floor on the Metcalfe façade. The main door is semi-circular with voussoirs, with a moulded, shaped, multiple-light transom.
*Historical information gathered from Steve Thorning, The Elora Sentinel, November 26 & December 3rd, 1991.
Web Address: [Web Link]
Date of construction.: 01/01/1865
Current use of the building.: Medical Building/condominiums
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