Description of Historic Place

The Franklin House is located in Streetsville at 263-265 Queen Street South, on the east side of Queen Street South, south of Old Pine Street, in the City of Mississauga. The two-storey red and yellow brick building was constructed in circa 1850.

The property was designated by the City of Mississauga, in 1983, for its heritage value, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 663-83).

Heritage Value

Located at 263-265 Queen Street South, the Franklin House is within the former village of Streetsville, a rural farming town which portrayed the period landscape of a small village. The building exemplifies the nineteenth century character of lower Queen Street.

The Franklin House is associated with Peter Douglass, an early local farmer. Douglass bought the land in 1842 as a retirement property and although the exact date of the building's construction is unknown, it is believed to have been built by William and John Graydon in circa 1850. In 1859 Bennett Franklin, a partner with the Barber Brothers in the Toronto Woollen Mills, bought the property and from that time on the house was known as the Franklin House. In 1876 Mr. Lennon bought the building from the Franklin estate and in 1877 he opened the Franklin House Hotel. In 1910 the Franklin House Hotel became the Queen's Hotel. The structure also functioned as an apartment building before it was renovated in circa 1981 for commercial purposes.

The Franklin House is a good representation of the Georgian style as is evidenced by its five-bay facade, hip roof and central front entrance. Built in circa 1850, the building also displays some Classical features such as the boxed cornice, paired dentil frieze and shallow projecting gable frontispiece. In addition, the bargeboard shows a tendency toward the developing Gothic Revival style. True to the Georgian style, the windows possess a square head and radiating brick voussoirs. The frontispiece includes a frieze of yellow brick crosses which is locally believed to indicate that the building is the work of William and John Graydon. In 1880, during the structure's years as a hotel, an addition was built on the south elevation and the current south elevation features a replica of the earlier addition. The corners of the Franklin House, the south addition and the frontispiece are all defined by large quoins. A more recently added two-storey veranda protrudes from the facade.

Sources: City of Mississauga Heritage Register Report; City of Mississauga Memorandum, May 5, 1983; Nu-West News Group Limited, Ontario landmark given new lease on life, May 1981.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Franklin House include its:
- location on Queen Street South in Streetsville
- original two-storey red and yellow brick exterior
- hip roof
- projecting gable frontispiece
- five-bay facade
- projecting boxed eaves
- paired dentil frieze
- bargeboard
- square windows
- wood lugsills and radiating brick voussoirs
- yellow-brick lintels and brick quoins
- central entrance with sidelights
- transom bearing the building's name and date
- second-storey door
- large yellow-brick quoins
- frieze of yellow-brick crosses
- veranda addition
- two-storey, three-bay red and yellow-brick south elevation addition with a central entrance and square windows with large yellow-brick quoins