The main portion of this Riverdale home was built in 1875 by Thomas Hogarth, principal of York Township School. In 1882 he sold it to his daughter Elinora Heys and her husband, who added the north wing and verandah. It remained in the Heys family until 1964 when it...
The Gooderham and Worts "Flatiron" Building was constructed in 1892 by George Gooderham in the French Modern Gothic style. The building housed the offices of Gooderham and Worts, which George Gooderham built into a vast financial and commercial empire. Gooderham’s own...
Maple Cottage is one of the few intact examples of a traditional Ontario workers’ cottage in Toronto. According to legend, the silver maple that stood in front of it inspired the song by Alexander Muir, ”The Maple Leaf Forever.” In 2013 the tree was blown over in a...
Polygonal buildings originated with the eccentric American author, Orson Squire Fowler, who wrote on a variety of subjects, including phrenology: the study of bumps on the head. He made a fortune from sales of his sex manual, which he published in the 1840s. In 1849...
Meadowvale Village became Ontario’s first heritage village in the late 1980s. The buildings were restored through grants and loans available to homeowners at the time. The original settlement started in 1831 with two sawmills and a carding mill. By 1880 the village...
The Credit Valley Railway was completed in 1879 with the first train departing from Streetsville junction on September 19th. The building’s overhanging roof provided shelter for the passengers while the turret served as an office, offering a clear view of the tracks...
Union School, No. 17 Mono Township was constructed in 1890 just west of the village of Rosemont. It was a two room school built on the land of a farmer, William McNabb. In 1968, when the new Mulmur-Mono school opened, Union School No. 17 closed it‘s doors. The...
In 1879, the Unionville members of the Congregational Church built a new building to replace and amalgamate the meeting places in Markham and Unionville. The new church was designed by Casa Loma architect, Edward Lennox. The land was donated by the Braithwaite family....
While doing research for the Toronto Real Estate Board calendar the heritage officer for Richmond Hill asked Laura to paint a picture of a house in his area that had significant historic value but was still threatened with demolition. The house, Levellands, had been...
Toronto’s famous castle was designed by Edward Lennox for the wealthy Sir Henry Pellat, who received a knighthood for building the first Canadian generating station at Niagara Falls. The Pellat family lived at Casa Loma from 1914 to 1923. For a time the castle was...
Sears Street is a lane that runs parallel to Memory Lane south of Queen Street in Leslieville. During a walk in the area while on a visit to Toronto from England Laura photographed this scene of a puddle, took it home to London and painted this picture while the...
Laura’s brother, Paul took the photograph upon which this painting was based and sent it to her by post to London. While she painted the watercolour in London and in Cowes, she happened to be reading the Mordecai Richler novel, Barney’s Version, which also takes place...
Eugene, the landlord of the flat on Broadview Avenue grew cucumbers in the back garden, which he called his pickles. It’s likely they were dill cucumbers and ended up being pickled. SIZE: 19" X 24.5" MEDIUM: carbon PENCIL DRAWING FINE ART PRINT $330 DIGITAL LICENSE...
The apartment on Broadview Avenue, which had a turret facing the street was a bit like stepping into an earlier age since it was furnished with grandparents' belongings, but the telephone on the bookcase was actually contemporary at the time of this drawing. SIZE:...
The artist’s garden in Toronto in 2009 as it looked near the end of the summer with morning glories and sedum in bloom. SIZE: 22" X 20" MEDIUM: OIL PAINTING FINE ART PRINT $450 DIGITAL LICENSE AVAILABLE
In 1899 Rupert and Frances Simpson commissioned architect Charles Gibson to design this Richardsonian Romanesque style house at 2 Wellesley Place in Toronto. Having recently inherited the Toronto Knitting and Yarn Factory, they built what one historian has dubbed “The...
When the owners of this unique house bought the original log cabin in Shelburne, Ontario and moved it to Caledon they were told that zoning reqirements demanded structures with more square footage. They decided to buy two additional buildings and join them all...
A row of Late nineteenth century traditional Toronto Bay and Gable houses with decorative wood and masonry details in Cabbagetown. SIZE: 12" X 8" MEDIUM: WATERCOLOUR FINE ART PRINT $250 DIGITAL LICENSE AVAILABLE
The East End Garden Centre opened its doors for business in 1981 on Queen Street East in an old two bedroomed cottage that had been moved from the nearby Ashbridge Estate. In 1992 the recently widowed owner, Theresa Tate, affectionately called “Mother Tate” by the...
The five dolls were an intrinsic part of Laura’s early life. Her older brother Danny invented stories using the dolls as characters. One of the dolls was placed in the linen closet, supposedly on its way to Boston by train. Strangely, it stayed in Boston. SIZE: 18" X...
A Delft shoe and trinket box that always stood on the artist’s mother’s dresser holding bits of jewelery, safety pins and buttons. The desk belonged to Laura's father. The exaggerated perspective of the window reflected in the mirror gives the image a sense of other...
Painting of a green Volkswagen Beetle parked in Sackville Street, Cabbagetown, Toronto. The painting was purchased by the Agent General of Ontario House, England. Ontario House ceased to exist in 1993. Last heard of, the painting was hanging in the Royal Institute of...
The car, a bright red Volkswagen convertible was named after Ragnar, one of the most popular Viking heroes among the Norse themselves. He was a ninth century pirate and raider who was the scourge of England and France. By the time of this painting, Ragnar, the...
Designed by EJ Lennox and built in 1905, it was originally a Bank of Toronto building and for a time was the home of the Toronto Historical Board. Next to it at 197 Yonge Street is another historic building. The Colonial Tavern stood between them before it was...
A house in Amelia Street in Toronto’s Cabbagetown. The original photograph that this painting was based on was taken with Laura’s mother’s camera whose lens happily warped every subject and did wonderfully strange things with colours. SIZE: 18 X 11" MEDIUM:...
In memory of a friend lost to cancer. The garden is a place of innocence where the vulnerable and fleeting beauty of the flowers is nurtured, a restorative place for contemplation. SIZE: 18.5" X 12" MEDIUM: WATERCOLOUR FINE ART PRINT: $330 DIGITAL LICENSE...
The volvo was a spare parts car parked in a field of a farm and riding stables near Newmarket, Ontario. SIZE: 7.75" X 11" MEDIUM: WATERCOLOUR ORIGINAL SOLD FINE ART PRINT $250 DIGITAL LICENSE AVAILABLE
The garden in Toronto in early summer at the time of the first flush of roses, irises and the flowering of the peony. SIZE: 16" X 12" MEDIUM: WATERCOLOUR FINE ART PRINT: $330 DIGITAL LICENSE AVAILABLE