Old Ontario Houses : Traditions in Local Architecture

It may be the industrial heartland of Canada and it may be under phenomenal pressure to keep on growing, but if you look beyond the suburbs and the skyscrapers, the province of Ontario is still rich in the past.

Here and there - in rural townships, small towns and the older parts of cities - many of its original houses are still standing, a surprising number lovingly restored and maintained with historical authenticity in mind.

This book, a collaborative tribute to the past by writer Tom Cruickshank and renowned photographer John de Visser, offers a glimpse into a selection of these homes dating from the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, more than 150 in all.

Filled with de Visser's exceptional full color photographs, the book features well-known landmarks as well as vintage houses.

Their stories, told in Cruickshank's lively, appreciative voice, remind us of a bygone era and speak volumes about the values and aspirations of the colonists that built them.

Old Ontario Houses includes more than 150 homes dating from the late 18th, the 19th and the 20th centuries. The houses are both quaint farmhouses and fashionable urban addresses from almost every corner of the province - from the banks of the Upper St.

Lawrence to the shores of Lake Erie, the farmlands and the western highlands.

Included are well-known landmarks and vintage houses never before seen in print.