Description of Historic Place

9 North Street is a two storey limestone industrial building with a single storey addition that was built in 1908. It is located on the former railway lands, around Kingston's inner harbour, on the west shore of the Cataraqui River.

The property was designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Kingston on November 3, 1987 (By-law 87-355).

Heritage Value

9 North Street is associated with the early industrial era of the inner harbour and with the coming of the railway to Kingston. The railway transformed the lands around Kingston's inner harbour into an industrial zone. In the late nineteenth century Imperial Oil developed plans to re-organize and expand their operations on their property beyond the eastern terminus of Wellington Street and built this building in 1908. The building was designed by well-known Kingston architect William Newlands. It is one of the few known industrial commissions executed by the Architect. The location of the building on the former railway lands near the Kingston inner harbour serves as a reminder of the area's industrial past.

9 North Street is a simple, rectangular, two storey industrial building constructed of squared, roughly coursed rubble. It has regularly spaced elliptical arched windows on the east side and a number of irregularly spaced openings on the west.

Sources: City of Kingston By-law 87-355; City of Kingston Building Conservation Master Plan “Wellington Street Property” (2004).

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that support the heritage value of 9 North Street include its:
- two storey height and rectangular plan
- squared, roughly coursed rubble construction
- seven regularly spaced elliptical arched windows with voussoirs on the east side
- irregularly spaced openings on the west side
- location in the former railway lands on North Street, near the eastern terminus of Wellington Street and the inner harbour