Notice of Intention to Designate 4 King Street West, Village of Bobcaygeon

Statement of Reasons for Designation

Design and Physical Value
4 King Street West has design and physical value as a representative example of an Ontario Gothic cottage in Bobcaygeon. Constructed in the early 1870s, the property displays key features of this architectural style, which was the most popular residential architectural style in Ontario in the mid-nineteenth century. The property, which is of frame construction, remains largely intact from its original date of construction and includes a projecting central gable with a rounded window and central door, symmetrical massing, large sash windows, decorative bargeboard and a unique oriel window on the east elevation, as well as its original coach house. The property typifies this architectural style and its execution in Bobcaygeon in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Historical and Associative Value
4 King Street West has historical and associative value through its associations with the Stewart family who lived in this property from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The Stewarts were important community figures in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century life of Bobcaygeon. This included Charles Russell Stewart, who came to Canada as the land agent for the Canadian Land and Emigration Company in Haliburton and later worked with Mossom Boyd to negotiate the Boyd Company’s Haliburton timber rights and acted as his agent there. The property is also associated with two of Stewart’s sons, Charles Edward Stewart, who owned and published the Bobcaygeon Independent beginning in 1873, and Ignatius Stewart who served as the Cunard Line and CPR agent in Bobcaygeon and used the house as the ticket office for these services.

Contextual Value
4 King Street West has contextual value in maintaining and supporting the historic landscape of Bobcaygeon’s downtown commercial core. The property is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Bolton Street and King Street and is an anchor building at the southern end of the village’s downtown core which encompasses the area along Bolton Street between Canal Street and King Street. The property forms part of a collection of historic structures from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that comprise a large portion of the downtown and it is historically linked to its surroundings, both in the immediate downtown and in the surrounding area, as part of a collection of structures erected during a period of significant growth in Bobcaygeon in the 1870s.

Further information respecting the proposed designation is available at the City’s Economic Development Department. Any objection to this designation must be filed within 30 days of February 3, 2026. Objections should be directed to: Cathie Richie, Clerk, City of Kawartha Lakes, P.O. Box 9000, 26 Francis Street, Lindsay, ON K9V 5R8. Objections may be filed electronically at clerks@kawarthalakes.ca.

Any inquiries may be directed to:

Economic Development Officer- Heritage Planning 
City of Kawartha Lakes, 
180 Kent Street West, Lindsay, ON  K9V 2Y6
(705) 324-9411 ext.1366
eturner@kawarthalakes.ca

The last date for objection is 4:00 p.m. on March 5, 2026.