Sarnia’s Froome Talfourd cottage up for heritage tag

A pre-Confederation cottage, moved twice after it was built by a pioneer settler in Lambton County, is up for heritage designation.

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Owner Kelly Bell said the two-bedroom, 1 1/2 bathroom home’s history was an afterthought when he bought it in a private sale in 2020.

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But after learning about the Sarnia heritage committee’s designation process, he thought adding his homes to the city’s heritage registry seemed like a good move, he said.

“It was kind of whim, really, to do the process,” said Bell, a Sarnia-native salon owner and funeral pre-planner.

“I like Sarnia. I like the historical components that we have in the city,” he said. “And if this adds to it, that’s great.”

The cottage dates to 1855, when it was built by Froome Talfourd, namesake of Talfourd Street, who, with his brother, Field, helped found the Froomefield settlement around what’s now LaSalle Line, by the St. Clair River.

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A community heritage plaque marks the settlement site at St. Clair Parkway and Church Street in Corunna.

Talfourd, who became a magistrate, commissioner of the court of requests, lieutenant colonel in the Kent militia, and served as “visiting superintendent” to local First Nation reserves, built the house in Sarnia around the edge of Front Street, facing what was then the Russell Lane connection to Christina Street, a city staff report says.

The cottage was moved in 1875, to allow the extension of Front Street north around what’s now Derby Lane, then again in 1945 to its current home at 378 East St. N., which was then Sarnia’s eastern boundary.

The property “provides Sarnia with a link to the city’s early years of growth and development,” the city report says.

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A large barn in the back, built about the time it moved to East Street, also remains, and extensive renovations, including an addition, have been made to the house in its 169 years, said Bell.

The front of the house looks similar to the original, he said.

“Other than that, the whole home has obviously been opened up and redone,” he said. “So historically, it’s more the significance of the fact that (Talfourd) built this house.”

Observe records say Talfourd was known as “the Englishman who keeps his word” among the local Chippewa, and was a guest of honor when he retired in 1868 at a Dec. 4 feast, hosted by the forefathers of today’s Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

Those feasts continued in Talfourd’s honor after he returned to England until his death in 1902.

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“Just interesting historical stuff,” Bell said.

City council voted May 6 to notify the public of Bell’s designation request for potential appeals under the designation process.

A final report and designation by law are expected to come to council for consideration after that process, the staff report said.

If approved for designation, the cottage would be the 29th city property designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. Another 223 are on a heritage registry, but not designated.

All are protected from demolition and major alterations while on the list, but those not designated by Jan. 1, 2025, will be removed from the list and can’t go back on for five years, under Ontario’s More Homes Built Faster Act.

The act’s changes were introduced in 2022 as part of a provincial plan to increase housing stock.

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Council has prioritized designating three properties before then:

• The Mackenzie House, built in 1861 by former prime minister Alexander Mackenzie, for his brother, John, at 316 Christina St. N.
• The 1922-built section of the former Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical school (SCITS) at 275 Wellington St.
• The former Central United Church building at 220 George St., built in 1888.

Bell said he wasn’t unearthed by cautions from others in the community about going through with the designation process.

“I don’t see having the designation as a hindrance,” he said, adding he doesn’t plan any major renovations and designation doesn’t cost him anything.

“Personally I think it’s kind of cool,” he said, noting he’s started considering locations for a city plaque that comes with designation.

“I think it’s neat to have the little plaque,” ​​he said.

[email protected]
@tylerkula

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