William Till Building (1857-1860)

William Till Building (1857-1860). . , Whitby's status was elevated to a 'County Town' in 1852 which instigated the arrival of several prominent institutional buildings. Originally built in 1857 by William Till, a cabinet maker, this building was one of three built properties developed in the 1850s on this town block (see key map). Such a commercial building would have been called a "block" with the owner's name so, in this case, was known as "Till's Block"., This corner building demonstrated a refined and uniform façade with well-proportioned windows displaying half-round arches on the grade level and segmentally arched openings on the upper two storeys. The Canada Clock Company occupied the building as a tenant in 1872. This clock manufacturer, however, had to be relocated suddenly in 1875 when a fire damaged the building. Following the fire, this property was purchased by George Hopkins in 1877 and was converted into a spectacular 300-seat music hall, that was featured as an illustration for the 1878 Ontario County Atlas labelled as Hopkins Hall. With the building's expansion and renovation, the façade was embellished mostly on the upper storeys, with pediments supported by brackets over the window openings. The storefront maintained the pre-existing six arched openings and together with the articulated upper fenestration and a more elaborate classical cornice and parapet, exemplified the Renaissance Revival style., By 1879, the Town of Whitby Municipal Offices occupied the building which then included the auditorium with the council chambers underneath, a bell and hose tower at the rear of the building and a market area at the south. The single-storey market area to the south of the hall served as storage space in the 1910s and was later converted to fire truck garages in the 1920s and eventually called Fire Hall No.3. In 1960, the administration for the Town of Whitby was relocated and the bullding was demolished. The fire garages were replaced by a new fire station in 1964; the fire station was decommissioned in 2010 and ultimately demolished in 2019.