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375 Third Street
- Plan 73, Lots 27 to 30 W Oak St., By-law No. 83 - 45
Built for Herbert Y. Telfer, a successful biscuit entrepreneur and Collingwood Civic Leader, this massive home aroused great interest in the local press during construction in 1982. He gave it the name “Armadale” in 1907 after his family home town. The ownership has changed only three times since its construction. It was used as home for Missionary’s children from 1951 until 1965. The present owner has returned the home to a single family dwelling.
The two and a half storey brick home is a typical high Victorian “eclectic” mansion. It does not fit into any specific architectural category due to its use of many overlapping architectural principles that include Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne Revival and Second Empire.
The brick laid in the stretcher bond tradition features belt coursing, design work on bricks in the main gable peak and raised brick design work on the facades and chimneys. The high hip roof has a gable extension on the front façade and its trim displays boxed cornices with stepped parapets and finial.
A plethora of window designs break up the large façade areas. Some of them are designed with entablature and decorated lugsills. The major windows are three sash with mullion that are 1/1 or 2/2 lights. Special window types include oriel, half segmented with eyebrow on end, semicircular and oval.
The main door is off centred in the gable end and is protected by a segmental pediment. It is set with decorative embrasure and features moulded rails and partial glazing with leaded and beveled glass. It also contains a recessed light transom with leaded glass.
Other building features include a heavily decorated turret, attached carriage house and a projecting frontispiece on the east side. An attractive wrought iron gate designed by local architect John Wilson in 1907 contains the name “Armadale.”
This is a truly massive structure that boasts of days past when the moneyed could afford servant luxuries. It is a tribute to our community that the owners have taken great care to maintain it.