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Heritage
Buildings - Seventh Avenue
Cain Block - 405 7th Avenue
| Building
Code |
574.D.17 |
Construction
Date |
ca. 1898 |
| Origins |
Hardware Store |
Description
|
The Cain
Block, also known as the Mid-Town Block, occupies a prominent
corner
location at the North end of a strip of brick-fronted buildings, most
constructed
in the 1890’s, that line the east side of Seventh Avenue at the
heart of
Virden’s Heritage District. |
Heritage
Value
|
The Cain
Block is the most impressive pre-1900 building remaining in
the
Virden Heritage Business District. Ambitious in form and style, it is a
fine
example of a multi-uses commercial block. It is valued for its
connection
to the early businessman John Cain, who built it to house his Hardware
Store,
and a succession of prominent businesses and services that have
operated
out of its corner location over the decades.
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Character
Defining
Elements |
Key elements
that define the exterior heritage character of the Cain
Block
include:
- its imposing brick-faced form with its clipped corner entrance plan,
its
two facades with irregular, but well-defined bays, and its
multi-layered
brickwork cornice.
- its array of tall rectangular second floor windows with flat
segmental
drip mould and brick sills.
- the heavy wood cornice with brackets that separates the first and
second
levels.
- the recessed entrance off of 7th Avenue with its transom window
bearing
the gold-lettered sign, “Mid-Town Building.”
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Cain Block
interior
include:
- some original woodwork, staircases and detailing on the main level\
- a stone and brick basement which contains many artifacts, signs etc.,
with
a passageway or tunnel entrance filled with rubble |
| Site
History |
Formerly
on This
Site:
Pool Hall / Victoria Tobacco
and Gift
Virden Green Velvet – Doug Pidobni
Victoria Tobacco and Gift
Lloyd Gibson Pool Hall / Victoria Billiards – Charley Forster /
Victoria
Billiards – Ernie Forster
Hardware Store
Corner
Location
Century Pizza / Slater Family / Case Family / Morris Family / Jim Dunn
Family
/ Ed Fritzsch and Wally Walachinko
Larry’s Lunch
Brown & Fowler Clothing
Robinson Store
McDougall Fabric
RCA Dave Petch
Steve Hegion Upstrairs
Anna Sproule Music – Upstairs
Al Jackson Music Upstrairs
Built by John
Cain
- later bought by Eugene Dely – before he move across the street.
Named “Mid Town Block” over middle entrance.
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| Additional
Information |
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