My Stratford Summer, Somewhere In Time

Stratford is also special because the downtown converges on the magnificent, historic, city hall; it has a centralized layout and is not spread out on a grid.

While I could readily see that Stratford wasn’t Ottawa, what clinched it was the home that beckoned to me like a stray dog endearing itself to me and moving into my heart. When we were looking for Stratford accommodation, our choice came down to renting a mundane, fairly recent, plain apartment building or an intricate heritage turn-of-the-century home with a second-floor apartment upstairs.

To me, even though the heritage home had no laundry facilities, it was no contest, and I excitedly persuaded my husband to go along. (He soon created a wash/dry routine of coffee/read the newspaper at the nearby Laundromat, supplemented by driving the laundry home to Ottawa on weekends.)

Once we had moved in, I felt such a feeling of history that I was compelled to research the address at the Perth County Archives.

To my interest and surprise, I found out that our new home on Shrewsbury Street had once been the Windermere Dry Hot Air Hospital. The hospital opened on October 1st 1899 and within 10 days, there were 30 patients. However, according to records, the owner, a Chicago chemist, was strong on wind and hot air, but short on cash. Trouble ensued, Windermere Hospital ended up being taken over by another man, an artist and hypnotist, who advertised that as before, cases of rheumatism and nervous affections would be specially treated with hot air, massage, electric magnetic and medical treatment.

By 1908, the building had been sold to two sisters and was being used as a house again. Over the years, the property had been divided into two separate houses and apartments were later added to the top floor.

When the Ontario Heritage Act was first enacted in 1974, Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committees were created. From information prepared by the Stratford LACAC in the summer of 1985, I learned the home had been erected in stages, a southern portion two-and-a-half-storey house in the Italianate style with a decorated storm porch and veranda, and a large three-storey addition in the Empire style set across the rear. Two verandas of a later time period with circular corner bays were added at either end.

I loved the high ceilings and large windows, the hardwood floors, and sitting out on the second-floor balcony overlooking the street. It was easy to picture residents of the past.

I’m a sucker for the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time, and the book it’s based on, Bid Time Return. I loved how Christopher Reeve travelled back in time to 1912 at the Grand Hotel to the actress he loved. I played the John Barry/Sergei Rachmaninoff musical score over and over for a decade. Spending time in Stratford took me back in time, fueling my imagination and my art. Decades later, we still return to Stratford every summer to attend the theatre, and I always go for a run to Shrewsbury Street, and back in time.