Audio Excerpt

The Gribbin McMaster Building, the tall, skinny one on the South side of the street, has a pretty interesting history. It's full of triumph and tragedy, I hope you can contain your emotions after hearing the story. Here goes.

After losing his clothing store to a devastating fire in 1872, Francis Joseph Gribbin purchased this lot in 1873 and built a...nother building.. he only used it during the winter though, and the very next year, he overcame all odds and built the building you see here!

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See.. told you it was gripping! As you can see, it's three stories high and made of red-orange brick, accented with buff yellow brick used as quoins, which means the outline you can see on the corners. The voussoirs, or heads over each window opening also have the accent brick, which was in the Greek or Battlement-style.

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The building features pretty plain banding, which was typical of the commercial buildings being erected throughout Ontario in the second half of the nineteenth century. Well, did you make it through without breaking down in an uncontrollable fit of emotions? Ya.. it was tough for me too.