Two Houses on North Street

 

North Street arises from water level on the Inner Harbour to Rideau Street. There it takes a slight jag, crossing Rideau Street and running as far west as Montreal Street. River Street peters out at the CP roundhouse and Canadian Dredge & Dock's yard. It was by no means a residential street, and it appears there were only two house on North Street. This post is an attempt to show these two houses. 

One is midway down the street, overlooking the harbour, and I've labelled it "A". The other directly overlooks the CN and CP tracks heading toward City Hall, and I've labelled it "B". I've circled and dated these on aerial photos and fire-insurance maps of the area, below:

Queen's University Library (above), Snapshot Kingston (below)

City directory from 1923:

House "A" is often referred to as The Commandant's House. (Top photo - Queen's University Archives photo captioned April 5, 1964; and below, shared by Marc Shaw, likely a Hazelgrove photo.) The house was built by John Cumming in 1810 (some accounts say 1801), after Captain William Atkinson recived the Crown Patent to the lot in 1789. Providing quarters for officers and during the War of 1812, the property was converted into a Naval Hospital. 

Later known as Cataraqui Cottage, it had stone massive end chimneys and the front, which faced the Great Cataraqui River, featured a verandah.  On an 1827 map, it was shown as the Commandant's Quarters. Richard Bonnycastle, commandant of Fort Henry, may have resided there during the Fort's construction. For much of the 19th-centurry, it was occupied by a military family. Its other nickname was the Colonel McLean house. 

The gable-windowed house sat at a 45-degree angle to the street. As land was reclaimed, the house sat farther away from the river. A Harold Anglin account says that the house was bought from the Kingston & Pembroke Railway by his firm in 1921. The house, one of the oldest buildings in this city, was demolished in 1964. The Leeuwarden condominium building now occupies the site. 

Another photo, posted to Vintage Kingston group on Facebook, shows both houses:

House "B" was of mixed wood and stone construction, facing east-west at the foot of North Street, directly across from the Imperial Oil limestone warehouse.  (Queen's University Archives photo, captioned May 29, 1962) Note the differing juxtaposition of each house with wooden fences and oil tanks nearby.