Monday, February 19, 2007

Behind the Wellington County Courthouse


This building is located behind The Wellington County Courthouse which is located at 74 Woolwich Street and is the oldest surviving public stone building in Wellington County and was built between 1841 and 1843.

The photo above really caught my eye as the doors have no steps to them. This building is beside the old jail behind the current courthouse.


When Guelph became the County Town in 1837, it assumed responsibilities for the administration of justice in the County. Having no courthouse or jail, the City turned its attention to building appropriate facilities. In the interim, Guelph dispensed justice from rooms rented in local hotels, such as the Suffolk Hotel and the Red Lion Inn! The jailhouse was built first in 1839, by William Day, with James Lindsay being the first person confined (for cattle stealing). The contract to build the courthouse was given to local builders William and David Allan who used designs probably provided by Toronto architect Thomas Young.
From the GPL Archives





10 comments:

freelancer said...

Very nice house.
Great shot .

John Roberts said...

Maybe the upper door is for when the snow gets so high that you can't get out on the botton floor? Interesting photos!

Oya said...

Very nice. Like a joke :)

Mandi said...

Welcome to DP! Great photos.

Deb said...

curious about that upper door...but perhaps John Roberts is correct!
Wonderful detail on this beautiful old structure.

Dsole said...

maybe they jump to go into the house!

Brn said...

Hi Pat. Beautiful pictures. Thanks for stopping by my place.

Elaine in the World said...

Hello and thanks for posting on my site. Your photo's are lovely. I think you got more snow than we did last week. Nice to meet a neighbour!

Elaine in the World said...

I only started doing this last week, and I'm feeling very proud of myself for getting this far with it. How did you upload the list of all the other city links? They seem to be doing some maintainence.

Shammickite said...

I had a quick look through your photos.... very nice! I particularly like the one for Feb 16... the snow on the bird houses. You must have had a lot more snow in Guelph than we did. Keep shovelling!