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Heritage
Buildings - Seventh Avenue
Gabel Building - 418 7th Avenue
| Building
Code |
574.D.8 |
Construction
Date |
1918 |
| Origins |
Built for
George Gabel |
Description
|
The Gabel
Building occupies a central place in a strip of brick-fronted
buildings,
most constructed in the 1890’s, that line the west side of
Seventh Avenue
at the heart of Virden’s Heritage District. |
Heritage
Value
|
The Gabel
Building, built in 1918 by George Gable for his Jewellery and
Watch
Repair business, and soon turned over to a Mr. Timms while Mr. Gabel
operated
an optometrists office at the same site, is valued for its connection
to
those enterprises and to the Gable family who lived in the upstairs
residence
from 1918 until 1947. Mr. Gable is remembered as the man who regularly
serviced
the Post Office Clock, a well-known Virden landmark. The more modern
Commercial
style, and distinctive parapet readily distinguish it from its
neighbours.
|
Character
Defining
Elements |
Key elements
that define the exterior heritage character of the Gabel
Building
include its façade of dark brown brick capped by a brick and
stone
parapet over a heavy wood cornice with wide brackets and scrolled trim
The ample rectangular second-floor windows under a continuous
rusticated
sandstone stone sill
The recessed store-front entrance sequence.
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Gabel Building
interior
include the glazed sunporch at the rear of the second-floor residential
area. |
| Site
History |
Formerly
on This
Site:
Timm's Jewellery
Stockton Dentist Upstairs
Roy Brown, Optometrist Upstairs
Gable Optometrist Downstairs
The Gabel familiy lived here from 1918
until
1947.
The commercial space
was
occupied from 1924 until 1988 by the Timms family. Stockton, a dentist
operated
in the upstairs. Mr. Gabel operated an Optometrist’s Office in
the Jewellery
Store. Optometrist Roy Brown owned the building later, until 1965 |
| Additional
Information |
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