THE HARRINGTON E. WALKER HOUSE

1948 ST. MARY'S GATE

ARCHITECT - Albert Kahn, Detroit

Built: c. 1911

Two prime lots opposite St. Mary’s Church were reserved for Hiram Walker’s grandsons, Harrington E. Walker and Hiram H. Walker. Both privileged young men had Albert Kahn design their residences, with H. E. opting for a plain house in Flemish bond brick with a wide, low facade and end ells, dormer windows in the hipped roof, and a prominent entrance with a shallow entablature.

A detached garage with chauffeur’s apartment stands on Kildare Road’s curve. The windows were originally enhanced with louvered wooden shutters. Landscaping softened the severe lines of the building. The house appears to have been patterned on Kahn’s design for the larger Henry B. Joy mansion in Detroit.

The contractor was Victor Williamson. The Hiram H. Walker house (1906), also by Kahn, stood on Devonshire Road on the northheast corner at St. Mary’s Gate. A grandiose residence built of stone, Elmscroft, blended Tudor and Jacobean styles. The three-storey mansion had two massive chimneys, several projecting bays and a flat-roofed entrance porch. Its carriage house survives on Argyle Road is now attached to a similar building which was associated with a Georgian Revival house on Devonshire - Wallmay - designed by Burrowes & Wells (1912), also demolished. Both carriage houses are designated properties. (Designating By-laws 8289 (819) and 8290 (819)).

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