- Joined
- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
- 13,022
- Reaction score
- 28,187
- Golden Thread
- 1
- Location
- Upper Canada 🇨🇦
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus, Lesche Piranha 35 Shovel & 'Garrett Carrot'
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
Hello Tnet Friends! 
I've dreamed of hunting this property ever since I got my metal detector and today I got my chance!
This property is now owned by the GTAA (Greater Toronto Airport Authority) and is likely slated for demolition. 
The City of Toronto feels they need another airport to service the city and has consequently been expropriating land to since 1972, and yet there is still no airport! 
I made a contact with one of the few remaining residents of the Town of Brougham, Ontario last week and he offered to 'spot me' as I hunted the property.
I started by hunting the areas closest to where the original porches use to be, all I found was nails and beer caps. So I moved further to the back of the property and started finding lots of old iron. I was hunting the base of an old willow tree when this gold ring popped up! What more can I say, except that it made my day!
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!
Dave
The Brougham Commercial Hotel / Commercial House
The Former Commercial Hotel in Brougham, Ontario consists of a two-storey brick building with a gable roof and features pointed arched windows prominently positioned in two dormers with finials and decorative wood fascia. Facing Highway 7, it was initially built as a home and then converted into a hotel. Although it is now being used as offices, the sign "Commercial Hotel” painted on its front façade gives a clear indication of its past. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Historical Value
The Former Commercial Hotel is a good example of 19th-century post-pioneer rural settlement in Canada, at a time when urbanization and a more diverse economy began to transform the rural communities. The building represents a second-generation of progress, and the idea of permanence, consolidation, stabilization and maturation in rural townships. The Former Commercial Hotel is also associated with local Brougham families. The Former Commercial Hotel is the last surviving example of three hotels in Brougham, and is a very good example of Brougham’s prosperous time in a major period of local development in the 1850s and 1860s.
Architectural Value
The Former Commercial Hotel is a two-storey red brick building with a gable roof, and is a good example of rural domestic architecture. The exterior brickwork, pointed arched windows, decorative wood fascia and finials are characteristic elements of the Gothic Revival style, and give the façades a charming and reassuring appearance. The building offers a good example of an effective interior layout with proven flexibility to accommodate different functions over time. The plan was generated within a rectangular footprint, with an entrance point from each side and rooms arranged around a central staircase. The building’s solid timber and brick construction demonstrates good craftsmanship and materials that are evocative of artisanal traditions. It has endured many alterations but appears to be in good condition, with surviving interior details, such as the front door, the stairwell and the balustrade.
Environmental Value
The Former Commercial Hotel, as part of the remaining red brick buildings that stand out among the row of clapboard houses, reinforces Brougham’s present character. Its associated landscape has evolved over time, with the removal of the open porch and the addition of a shed in the rear. However, the site has generally retained its character and relationship to the building. The Former Commercial Hotel acts as a familiar symbolic landmark for the people of Brougham, and it has gained further awareness since the land expropriation by the federal government in 1972 to make way for a new airport.
I've dreamed of hunting this property ever since I got my metal detector and today I got my chance!
This property is now owned by the GTAA (Greater Toronto Airport Authority) and is likely slated for demolition. The City of Toronto feels they need another airport to service the city and has consequently been expropriating land to since 1972, and yet there is still no airport! I made a contact with one of the few remaining residents of the Town of Brougham, Ontario last week and he offered to 'spot me' as I hunted the property.I started by hunting the areas closest to where the original porches use to be, all I found was nails and beer caps. So I moved further to the back of the property and started finding lots of old iron. I was hunting the base of an old willow tree when this gold ring popped up! What more can I say, except that it made my day!
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!
Dave
The Brougham Commercial Hotel / Commercial House
The Former Commercial Hotel in Brougham, Ontario consists of a two-storey brick building with a gable roof and features pointed arched windows prominently positioned in two dormers with finials and decorative wood fascia. Facing Highway 7, it was initially built as a home and then converted into a hotel. Although it is now being used as offices, the sign "Commercial Hotel” painted on its front façade gives a clear indication of its past. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Historical Value
The Former Commercial Hotel is a good example of 19th-century post-pioneer rural settlement in Canada, at a time when urbanization and a more diverse economy began to transform the rural communities. The building represents a second-generation of progress, and the idea of permanence, consolidation, stabilization and maturation in rural townships. The Former Commercial Hotel is also associated with local Brougham families. The Former Commercial Hotel is the last surviving example of three hotels in Brougham, and is a very good example of Brougham’s prosperous time in a major period of local development in the 1850s and 1860s.
Architectural Value
The Former Commercial Hotel is a two-storey red brick building with a gable roof, and is a good example of rural domestic architecture. The exterior brickwork, pointed arched windows, decorative wood fascia and finials are characteristic elements of the Gothic Revival style, and give the façades a charming and reassuring appearance. The building offers a good example of an effective interior layout with proven flexibility to accommodate different functions over time. The plan was generated within a rectangular footprint, with an entrance point from each side and rooms arranged around a central staircase. The building’s solid timber and brick construction demonstrates good craftsmanship and materials that are evocative of artisanal traditions. It has endured many alterations but appears to be in good condition, with surviving interior details, such as the front door, the stairwell and the balustrade.
Environmental Value
The Former Commercial Hotel, as part of the remaining red brick buildings that stand out among the row of clapboard houses, reinforces Brougham’s present character. Its associated landscape has evolved over time, with the removal of the open porch and the addition of a shed in the rear. However, the site has generally retained its character and relationship to the building. The Former Commercial Hotel acts as a familiar symbolic landmark for the people of Brougham, and it has gained further awareness since the land expropriation by the federal government in 1972 to make way for a new airport.
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