| Thornton-Dundee Community Centre |
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Thornton Dundee Clubhouse recognized as a Historical Building
The patent for the south 100 acres of Lot 17, Concession 2 in
the Township of East Whitby was awarded to Anthony Niverville (DeNiverville)
on December 31, 1798. Pierre Lukin acquired the entire parcel in
1824 and began selling off parcels five years later. On December
20, 1880, the trustees of School Section No. 5 (Union) obtained
ownership of the one acre parcel on which their school was
built.
Located halfway between Whitby and Oshawa, the school and
surrounding community was named for Dr. Robert Hill
Thornton. Dr. Thornton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in
1806. He was ordained minister and sent to preach in Canada in
1833. Rev. Thornton was well known as a missionary from Toronto
to Cobourg. When he agreed to serve as minister to the Scottish
settlers in East Whitby, he became the first Presbyterian
minister in the area. Robert H. Thornton was 63 years old at the
time of the 1871 census. He and his wife Margaret had three
children: Margaret, Josephine and Ebenezer.
Dr. Thornton’s work was not limited to the ministry. It is said
his work in education was second only to that of Dr. Edgerton
Ryerson. Dr. Thornton died in 1875 and was buried in Union
Cemetery.
The school at Thornton’s corners was originally one large room
with a smaller room at the rear. Mr. Sowerby was the first
teacher of Union School #5. The original blackboards were
wooden, the first desks double, the floor rough wood. The
building was heated by woodstove, which according to local
legend was also used to bake potatoes for the student’s
lunches. In 1901, a partition was added to divide the main space
and a furnace was installed in the south room. In the 1920’s,
the cellar was excavated and the furnace moved.
The school building was not comfortable for the students. School
Inspector R. A. Hutchinson wrote in 1928, “There is no
ventilation provided for the school and with all the windows
closed, the air in the room becomes very bad. Canvas screens for
two windows would help”. Two years later came another
complaint. “The old toilets are dirty and filled with snow. They
are unfit for use and better conditions must be provided. The
only way to remedy the many defects of your school is to build a
new one…”. While the building may not have earned high marks in
the school inspector’s eyes, the teachers did. Annual reports
were filled with praise for the teacher and her pupils.
In 1936, the Home & School Association was organized. Their
first project was to install gasoline lamps in the school. The
Home & School Association provided good social times and
material aid to the students and teachers.
During its school days, Union School #5 was the focus for
community activities. Young and old enjoyed the plays, euchre
parties, box socials, hay and sleigh rides, square dances, and
strawberry socials. In 1954, Thornton School closed. Designated
the Thornton Community Center in 1956, and later the
Thornton-Dundee Community Center, the building continues to
serve the community.
Architectural Reasons
The Thornton-Dundee Community Center, build c.1880, is a
wonderful example of the Second Empire style. This style was
popularized by the federal Department of Works in the 1870’s and
1880’s. Typical of the style, the former Thornton’s Road School
(Union School #5) features yellow brick with red brick
detailing, a three part façade, rounded arched windows and
doors, bracketed eaves and a decorative belt course. The mansard
roof dictated by the Second Empire style, originally sat atop
the frontispiece. Sadly, the mansard roof along with its hooded
rounded arch dormer and bell tower have been replaced by a low
hipped roof.
The former school is rectangular in plan with projecting front
entranceway and a ‘T’ extending to the rear. It has a low,
hipped roof and is symmetrical and compact in appearance.
A prominent central frontispiece with flanking double bay end
pavilions dominates the façade or east elevation. Two 4/4
rounded arch windows are featured here with alternating red and
buff brick voussoirs which become incorporated into a three row
stretcher course that encircles the frontispiece, the north,
east and south elevations of the main building, and the west
wall of the rear ‘galley’. A second three-row, stretcher course
of alternating red and buff brick encircles the frontispiece at
the level of the eave line of the main building. Wooden brackets
support the hipped roof. Two rounded arch, 6/6 sash windows
located on the main structure flank the frontispiece.
The north and south elevations are identical to each other. Both
feature 6/6 rounded arch, sash windows aside a centrally-located
chimney on the main structure. The entrance doors, located on
both side walls of the frontispiece, are paired and panelled
under a rounded arch six-light transom. The two paired and
corbelled chimneys located at either end of the main building,
feature a red and buff brick oculus design. Two wooden brackets
support each of the four corners of the main structure.
The rear elevation has one 6/6 rounded arch window with red and
buff brick voussoirs located at the north end of the main
building. Three sash windows grouped together under a flat
header with red brick ‘keystone’, are located at the south end
of the main building’s west elevation. The windows have a
configuration of 6/6, 10/10 and 6/6.
The rear wing features a red and buff brick segmentally arched
window opening and alternating brick horizontal door opening
along the north elevation. The reverse occurs on the south
elevation, that is, the window opening is horizontal and the
door opening segmental.
