Downtown Heritage Walking Tour

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Gaze upon our historic architecture. Tread the very path walked upon by Bramptonians more than a century ago. Journey through time and experience Brampton’s past.

The City of Brampton has inherited a rich legacy of cultural heritage resources. Much of Brampton's heritage is linked to its historical roots as the “Flowertown of Canada” which has been revived and re-established under the City’s Flower City Strategy. Another important piece of Brampton's history is its past role as the capital or county seat of the former Peel County.

Use the Heritage Pass to check-in to five of the ten specified locations to be entered to win a Brampton Food Tour with Food, Drink, Travel Writer and host of Culinary Suburbia, Suresh Doss. Draw to be completed the week of September 7th, 2021.

Downtown Heritage Walking Tour

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Learn about the history of Downtown Brampton

How this Pass Works

Step 1 - Get Your Pass

This mobile exclusive passport showcases Brampton’s vibrant built, natural and cultural heritage. Sign-up to receive the full listing on your mobile device.

Step 2 - Receive Text

Your passport will be instantly delivered to your phone via text and email and is ready to use immediately! There is no app to download. Your pass can be saved to your phone’s home screen for easy one-tap access.

Step 3 - Redeem

Check-in to five of the designated ten locations to be entered to the grand prize draw.

Heritage Tour Stops

44 Nelson Street West

Erected c. 1875, this home is built of red brick, is three bays wide and has a rectangular plan. A noteworthy feature is the central bay that projects slightly and which has a projecting porch, the roof of which is supported by two chamfered posts. Other features of the home include: buff brick...

Alderlea

Alderlea, meaning meadow of Alder trees, is an exceptionally well-preserved heritage building, built in 1867 at the height of the Victorian era. It is one of the finest examples of Italianate villa architecture in Ontario. The property also holds tremendous landmark status on an elevated terrace...

Blain's Block

The cultural heritage value of 15-19 Main Street North is related to its design as a nineteenth century commercial building. It is one of the oldest surviving commercial blocks in Brampton, and a fine example of Italianate commercial architecture with classical features. 15-19 Main Street North is...

Brampton Armoury

One of Canada’s most colourful Cabinet members in the government of Prime Minister Robert Borden was Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence during the First World War. Although Hughes may be remembered for his military involvements, he left his mark on Brampton through his decision to...

Carnegie Library

Situated at the southeast corner of Queen and Chapel Streets. The Carnegie Library was constructed with a donation of $12,000 from American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The cornerstone was laid in 1906. Between 1881 and 1917 Carnegie financed the construction of 156 free libraries across...

Cenotaph

The granite Cenotaph honours those who served and died in the First and Second World Wars, as well the Korean War. Mackenzie Waters, a Toronto architect, designed the monument in the late 1920s. In 1931, Waters was an associate architect for the design of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Cenotaph...

Central Public School

The Central Public School is one of the oldest surviving public schools in the downtown. Associated with the early development of public education in Brampton, the Central School site was continuously used for educational purposes for nearly 130 years.

Overcrowded conditions continued in the...

Christ Church

A very prominent landmark, the church at the corner of Queen and Elizabeth Streets has its roots deep in the history Brampton. Constructed by local craftsmen, the cornerstone was laid in 1875 and the church dedicated in 1876. Christ Church is the third home of the Anglican Community in Brampton,...

City Hall

City Hall was opened on 15 June 1991. Designed by local architect Bob Posliff and built by Inzola Construction, the landscaping and water elements in the square commemorate the Etobicoke River, which originally meandered through this site and along Main Street in front of the Court House.

Dominion Skate

The Dominion Skate Building (former Copeland-Chatterson Loose Leaf Ledger Company) is a rare and well-designed industrial complex. The building exhibits influences from the Chicago commercial style or Chicago School (this being the first and best example constructed in Brampton) with Neo-Gothic...

First Baptist Church

This church was built in 1876 to house the Town’s growing Baptist congregation. The round-headed windows on the west face emphasize the height of the building, and contribute to the impressive character of the Main Street South streetscape. The church is set further back compared to the other...

Gage Park

For many years Brampton survived without a park. Public celebrations and large gatherings were either held at the Fair Grounds on Elliott Street or on the Athletic Grounds at Rosalea Park, but both were considered far from the centre of town and lacked the shade of trees. The cemetery also had a...

Grace United Church

The congregation of Grace United Church can trace its origins to the years preceding 1822. For many years the congregation worshipped in a number of places, continually outgrowing their accommodations. By 1846, the growth of the congregation had been so great that, once again, a more commodious...

Haggert Plaque

The Haggert plaque, located in the rose garden wall fronting Ken Whillans Square, acknowledges the role of the Haggert Foundry in the development of Brampton. The Haggert Factory was located at the corner of Nelson Street and Main Street North.

Haggertlea

Built c. 1870, Haggertlea was one of the most impressive homes in its day. John Haggert was the founder of the Haggert Brothers’ Foundry and original owner of this mansion. As the town’s first mayor, it was his industry that played a major role in Brampton’s initial growth. The industry...

Harmsworth

This late 19th Century building has been home to the Harmsworth family’s decorating business for more than a century. The family purchased the building in 1904, after a fire destroyed their previous location on Queen Street West. While the building does retain much of its original character,...

Heggie Block

This impressive buff brick building was constructed around 1860 in the French Second Empire style, distinguished by its bell cast shaped Mansard roof and arched windows. In 1897 the building was sold to Doctor David Heggie, who used the building as his office and residence. Doctor Heggie was the...

John Howard Society

100 Queen Street West is a well-preserved 20th Century home, and a rare example of the Tudor Revival style that was popular from the 1900s to the 1940s. Tudor Revival relies on faithful emulations of historical styles. This eclectic style is often referred to as “Jacobethan”. The...

Old Fire Hall

Built in 1854 this building was Brampton’s first municipal building and was originally used as the village’s market hall. It also served as the fire engine house. There were originally three archways facing Chapel Street. The second storey has a ‘long room’ and by 1860 this space was...

Park Royal Apartments

The Park Royal Apartment was the first apartment building to be erected in Brampton, and was built in 1939 for Dr. Robert James Hiscox, owner and publisher of the Peel Gazette.

The Park Royal is a rare example of the streamlined Art Moderne style, a major architectural movement stemming...

Peel County Courthouse

This group of historic buildings along Wellington Street reflects Brampton’s establishment as the seat of the County of Peel in 1867. It is one of the most significant public building complexes in Ontario. The jail and the courthouse were both designed by Toronto architect William Kauffman, and...

Peel County Jail

The jail is a simple, unornamented, yet very
imposing landmark. Prominent inmates
included 1960s American radical Huey
Newton, and Peter Demeter, a wealthy
Toronto developer who was convicted of
murdering his wife after a high profile trial.
Three convicts were hanged in this jail.

Peel County Registry Office

The registry office, situated between the jail
and the courthouse, is a good example of a
late 19th century civic building. Alexander
and Congdom, a Streetsville architectural
firm, designed the building in 1890 and
it served as the registry office until 1959.
In 1967, the building was converted...

Remains Of The Etobicoke Creek Retaining Well

Along a narrow band of property skirting the frontages of 58 and 62 Main Street South, a surviving remnant of the Etobicoke Creek retaining wall is still visible. This concrete retaining wall was constructed in 1914 to control the flow of the Etobicoke Creek. The creek once meandered through the...

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

St. Andrew’s traces its roots to 1848 when Brampton area Presbyterians appointed their first minister. Construction of the current building commenced on 1 July 1880 and was completed by October of 1881. The current building is constructed of Credit Valley stone quarried from a site in Caledon...

St. Mary's Church

The history of this parish dates back to sometime before 1865, when the Guardian Angel’s Church was built on Centre Street. A fire destroyed this church in July of 1878 and with it all the records of the parish up until that time. The following year the parish renovated a church that had been...

St. Paul's United Church

St. Paul’s, which was the second Primitive Methodist Church to be constructed in Brampton, is a massive structure faced in rusticated Credit Valley Brownstone. William J. Gage laid the cornerstone on June 6, 1885. The Church was designed by Toronto architect W.J. Mallory. The roof is...

The Boyle House

The Boyle House, which now serves as the manse for St. Paul’s, was originally the residence of a local family who operated a pharmacy in downtown. The Mansard roof is characteristic of the French Second Empire style. Situated between two prominent landmark churches, the Boyle House contributes...

The CNR Station

The Brampton station was built in 1907 by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), which was later acquired by Canadian National Railways (CNR). The building was subsequently taken over by Via Rail, and is now used by Via and GO Transit for passenger service.

The GTR experienced an era of...

The Dominion Bell - Gage Park

This bell was installed in the clock tower of the Dominion Building located at 8 Queen Street East in 1913. John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough, Leicestershire England, cast the bell. The bell was removed from the clock tower, restored and installed at this location by the Benson and Hedges...

The Dominion Building

The Dominion Building is one of Brampton's most prominent downtown landmarks and was designed by Thomas Fuller, the Chief Architect for the federal Department of Public Works. In the 1860s, Fuller oversaw the design and construction of the original Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. ...

The Farmhouse

This large three storey home was erected between 1890 and 1892 on a lot that extended to the corner of Church Street East and Union Street. The house has a combination of elements from the Queen Anne Revival and the high Victorian Gothic styles, giving it an eclectic appearance. The high roof...

The Four Corners

The civic, religious, and commercial heart of old Brampton radiate from this intersection.

In the 1830s a crossroads hamlet began here. It was known as “Buffy’s Corners” after William Buffy’s Tavern located at the northeast corner of Queen and Main Streets.

John Elliott...

The Hewetson Shoe Factory

The Hewetson Shoe Factory is one of Brampton’s last early industrial buildings and is also architecturally significant. The Hewetson Shoe Company Building stands as an example of early 20th Century Industrial Architecture.

The property also has historical or associative value because it...

The Mill

‘The Mill’ has a long history and has undergone many changes over the years. Originally built as a planing mill and ash factory, the main building fronting onto Queen Street was sold toward the end of the 19th century, and converted into a woollen mill. The second building at the rear of the...

The Octagon House

A rare building style in Ontario, 227 Main Street North is one of two octagonal houses in Brampton. At this location is one of two octagonal houses in Brampton. This roughcast house was built c. 1880 and is alleged to have been designed by William Bird since he has been connected with the...

The Prairie House

The Prairie House was designed by architect F. R. Berry, and incorporates many features of the Prairie School architectural style, influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and others. The Prairie School style emphasized sweeping horizontal features, overhanging eaves, and a lack of ornamentation. This...

The Stork Residence

Once owned by the Stork family, this house was home to George Bull and later the McClure family who converted it to a funeral home. Christopher Stork was a well-known businessman in Brampton during the mid-to-late 1800s and also served in municipal politics. Although changes have been made to...

The Wright Castle

"The Castle" at 34 Church Street West is a remarkable example of high Gothic Revival architecture. It remains one of the most prominent landmarks in the City and has helped to shape and define the character of the surrounding neighbourhood for more than 150 years.

This important building...

Two Visions By Ernest Herzig

Art structure located in Ken Whillans Square in front of Brampton City Hall.

Veterans Monument - Gage Park

"The Veteran was carved in 2005 from the trunk of a dying red oak that had stood for over a century. It was created to mark the National Year of the Veteran.

The statue is modelled on Bill Bettridge, a decorated veteran of the Second World War and survivor of Operation Overlord, the D-Day...

Young Canada By Manfred

Art structure located in Ken Whillans Square in front of Brampton City Hall.

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