Description of Historic Place

The Former Miller Residence, located in Brougham Ontario, consists of a two-storey brick building with a gable roof and features dichromatic brickwork, semi-arched windows, and decorative wood vergeboards. Set back from Highway 7 and located to the west of other major Brougham buildings, the house was home to several prominent local families. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Former Miller Residence is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical value
The Former Miller Residence is a convenient example of 19th-century post-pioneer rural settlement in Canada, at a time when urbanization and a more diverse economy began to transform rural settlement in Eastern and Central Canada. The building represents a second generation of progress, and the ideas of permanence, consolidation, stabilization and maturation in rural townships in a period of progress and prosperity. The Former Miller Residence is also associated with prominent local Brougham families, such as the Bentleys, the Hubbards and the Millers, who owned the house at different times. The Former Miller Residence is a useful example of Brougham’s prosperous time following a major period of local development in the 1850s and 1860s.

Architectural value
The Former Miller Residence is a well-proportioned, two-storey red brick building with a gable roof, and is a good example of Victorian eclectic architecture of the mid-to-late 19th century. The façades feature dichromatic brickwork, semi-arched windows, and decorative wood vergeboards, which are typical characteristics of Gothic Revival, Queen Anne Revival and Italianate designs, and of the local vernacular form of domestic architecture during that period. The building is also a good example of typical Victorian domestic space and is characterized by very good quality craftsmanship and materials, including the well-executed details of the dichromatic brickwork and vergeboards and the original interior woodwork.

Environmental value
The Former Miller Residence, in view of its modest size, its setback from highway 7, and its presence among several other houses, is compatible with Brougham’s present rural character. The tended landscape and mature trees adjoining the house have evolved over time, but the relationship between the house, the highway, and the surrounding open fields has been retained. Highly visible from the main thoroughfare, the Former Miller Residence is a familiar symbolic landmark for the people of Brougham, and became better known to the local community since the land expropriation by the federal government in 1972 to make way for a new airport.

Sources: Andrew M. Waldron, Five Buildings: 05-036 – 05-040, Brock Road and Highway 7, Brougham, City of Pickering, Ontario, Federal Heritage Building Report 05-040; Heritage Character Statement, 05-040.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Former Miller Residence should be respected.

Its role as a manifestation of the historical theme of 19th-century post-pioneer rural settlement in Canada and of the idea of permanence and consolidation in a period of progress and prosperity as reflected in:
- its Victorian eclectic architecture.

Its good aesthetic and functional design, and very good quality materials and craftsmanship as manifested in:
- its modest scale and massing, which is composed of a two-storey, brick clad structure with a gable roof;
- the well-proportioned composition of its main façade, which features narrow windows, a single roof dormer, and a main entry porch;
- the dichromatic brickwork, semi-arched windows, and painted vergeboards cut with rounded scrollwork, which are characteristic features of the local vernacular form of Victorian eclectic architecture;
- the interior layout of the building, which is typical of Victorian domestic space and consists of rooms radiating from a central hall, with sitting and living rooms facing the street, domestic and workrooms in the rear, and bedrooms on the second floor;
- the surviving interior woodwork such as the hallway banister.

The manner in which the building is compatible with the rural character of Brougham as evidenced in:
- its scale, choice of materials and its Victorian eclectic design;
- its location and setback from Highway 7, along with several other 19th-century homes, and its relationship with the adjacent open fields.