Whitby’s Doors Open debut

Whitby’s first Doors Open event on Saturday, September 13 is a great opportunity to tour the community’s finest heritage structures, both historic and modern. I decided to get a little preview by chatting with Whitby Library archivist Brian Winter. The library is one of the 13 buildings on Saturday’s tour, and Brian will be there “showing off a project for digitizing old photos of Whitby.” If you have any old photos of Whitby that you’d like to share, preferably before 1949 (pre-copyright), please bring them in.

When I asked Brian about buildings with great stories, he told me about the Centennial Building, originally the County Courthouse. “It was designed in the 1850s by Frederick Cumberland and William Storm (who also designed a portion of Osgoode Hall in Toronto), in the Greek Revival style that was popular in public buildings at the time—it was around that same time that the Elgin marbles were being taken out of the Parthenon and brought to Britain.” Open only till noon on Saturday, this former courthouse and gallows has more than one ghost. “A psychic came in earlier this year claiming that a judge named George told her to get out of his courtroom. The funny thing was there actually was a judge named George.” If you’re planning on visiting the Centennial building, be sure to do that first, as it’s only open to noon.

James Wallace was the contractor who built the courthouse and, a few years later, he built himself an impressive mansion nearby. Burr Lodge is now a carefully renovated private residence so Open Doors provides a rare chance to look inside.

St. John’s Anglican church, the oldest church in Whitby still in use, was built of Kingston limestone. “John Welsh, a grain dealer 1840s shipped grain out of Whitby to Kingston. He needed ballast for the return voyage, so they cut the stone at the penitentiary and brought it back here. There’s a pioneer cemetery goes back to 1840s and beautiful stained glass windows.”

Just a couple of blocks from the church, is the 1903 Grand Trunk Railway station. Now known as the Station Gallery, the building underwent a transformation two years ago with the addition of a new wing designed by Goldsmith Borgal & Co., known for their design of National Ballet School.

From the outside the gallery looks every bit the train station, including a boxcar that is now a print studio. You can even hear trains whistling as they rumble down the nearby tracks. Inside, the old blends with the new. The waiting room and freight storage area are now both galleries, along with a stunning new glass-walled space.  The current Tantramar Gothic exhibit by printmaker Dan Steeves, on until October 18, is well worth catching.

During the Doors Open event, visitors will be invited to take part in print-making and ceramics workshops in the gallery. Among the permanent works in the gallery’s collection, Francis Muscat’s four, glass globes delight visitors with their invitation to touch, each offering a different sensation. Above the front desk is a pottery and print work by Rowena Dykins reflecting the area’s history. I was so intrigued by both the art and the workshops that I won’t wait until the next Doors Open for a return visit.

Judging by its first Doors Open event, Whitby has many more fascinating stories to tell. If you’d like to learn more about the town’s characters. Brian Winter will have copies of his book, Chronicles of a County Town: Whitby Past and Present, at the library. Oshawa holds its Doors Open event on September 20 and 21.