Huttons House

Albert Seaman's Paintings, Drawings and Essays

Alexander Hutton's house

Watercolour on 140 lb Arches HP paper. Image size 12" (30.5 cm) by 16" (40.6 cm) © 1993.

Alexander Hutton emigrated from Scotland to Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1819. There he practiced his carpentry skills in helping to rebuild the town after the war of 1812. In July of 1820, Alexander married Mary Young and about nine years later, Alex, Mary and the four sons they had by then produced, moved to Chinguacousy Township, where they purchased the west half of Lot 4 of the Third Concession West from Timothy Street for £112.

The original dwelling at the new location was a log cabin. It appears that for the first few years, the family spent the winters in the town of York, with Alex working as a carpenter in the expanding community that is now Toronto. For the rest of the year they systematically cleared the land for their farm until it was able to support them. They gave it the name "Bonnie Braes".

The last of the nine Hutton children, Mary Jane, the only girl, arrived in July, 1837. By then, in addition to the eleven Huttons, there were also relatives living with the family, pushing the total number squeezed into the log house to fourteen. Presumably, Alex decided at that point that he needed a larger house.

In about 1844, the present house was constructed in its original form. Naturally it is a wooden frame structure built on a field-stone foundation. Initially the roof was cottage style, the present gable-ended version having been added when it was raised later in the nineteenth century. The clapboard exterior was also added later. The original stucco finish is evident in early photographs, as was a belvedere over the front porch. The rearward extension and other external modifications appeared at various points in the building's history although they are all very old.

When the house was built, some of the older boys were sufficiently skilled in carpentry to make their own contributions to the structure. Notable are the front entrance, built by George Young Hutton and the fireplace in the living room which was James Patterson Hutton's offering to posterity before he became renowned as the founder of Huttonville. The house remained in the possession of succeeding generations of Huttons until almost the end of the twentieth century.

Picture status - In a private collection.