Cockshutt Plow Company Office and Timekeeper’s Building66 Mohawk Street, Brantford, Ontario

Office Building

Remaining Warehouse

Timekeeper’s Building

Key Architectural Features

triple arch frontispiece withstone drip moulding

carved namestone corbelled brick cornice

solid stone string coursessolid stone transom bars

parapet with namestonetriple arch with stone drip

carved namestonebrick and stone porch

carved datestones

Foundation / First Floor

The foundation walls of the raised basement are coursed range, rock-faced limestone topped with a single course of smooth dressed limestone.

The main exterior wall material is a pressed red brick laid in a stretcher bond pattern. A recessed single brick course creates a rusticated appearance on the first floor wall surface and corner pilasters.

The first floor outer bays have window heads with brick voussoirs in a skewback arch. The front left corner windows have are double-hung sashes with 3/3 horizontal panes.

The top of the first floor is indicated by a rock-faced stone string course over four courses of corbelled brick.

stone string course

corbelled brick

corner pilaster

recessed brick course

smooth dressed limestone

coursed rock-faced limestone

North Elevation

The north elevation continues the design of the side bays in the front façade.

Three symmetrical bays contain double-hung windows with brick voussoir heads in a skewback arch.

The centre and right bays of the first floor have window sashes with 3/3 horizontal panes. The first floor, centre bay has a grouping of three narrow windows. These features may indicate the company’s executive offices.

The side entrance door has a wooden panel surround and contains side and transom lights as in the front entrance porch.

3/3 horizontal window panes

3 window grouping

Feature Windows

The outer bays of the triple arch frontispiece contain single window units with double-hung sashes 1/1 and a single transom window pane. The central bay has coupled windows divided by a wooden mullion. All windows have a stone lug sill but the unusual feature here is the large, solid stone transom bar.

stone lintel

wooden mullion

stone sill

transom windows

stone transom bar

stone drip moulding

namestone

stone lintel

wooden mullion

stone transom bar

Decorative Brickwork

The transition between the second floor, third floor and roof level is indicated by four courses of corbelled brick. The third floor has a stone string course just over the skewback arch brick window heads. The corner pilasters rise to a corbelled brick capital (Tuscan Doric style) supporting a brickwork architrave/frieze. Above this is a large cornice composed of corbelled brick courses, header brick dentils (alternating) and a stone cornice cap or coping. The frontispiece top appears to have had some sort of parapet since removed.

coping

brick dentils (alternating)

architrave/frieze

capital

stone string course

smooth pilaster

corbelled brick

Main Entrance PorchA focal point in the symmetrical design of the office building façade is the brick and stone entrance porch. The three-sided front steps are substantial in size leading to a wide porch opening. The entrance has since been closed in with a wooden frame surrounding a single door, three transom lights and single side lights.

The front corners of the porch have three piers with brick shafts, stone capitals and bases. Each group stands on a single, large datestone base. The left base is carved with the date of the company’s establishment (1877) and the right with the construction date of this particular building (1903) - 25 years in business.

The piers support a stone entabulature and a brick parapet. The triangular peak has a stone coping and contains a carved namestone.

parapet

entabulature

capital

shaft

side light

datestone

Timekeeper’s Building

This small, gable roof building had an impressive brick façade added in 1912. Its features were modelled on the Company Office building beside it with little deviation. The façade sillhouette is similar to the Office porch parapet but with two steps leading to a rectangular top. The three rounded arches are used again but with much larger proportions. Each arch springs from a stone string course across the entire width of the building front. As in the Office façade, the centre bay holds a carved namestone over a single coupled window unit with a solid stone transom bar.

parapet

step

namestone

stone string course

stone transom bar

Warehouse Building

Heavy timber interior structural members

repetition of 3 corbelled header bricks in cornice

12 identical 3-storey bays

windows are double-hung with semi-circular brick heads and stone lug sills

poured concrete loading platform

Grinding, Mounting and Blacksmith Shops

(south east on Mohawk Street)

Brantford Fire Insurance Map (1919)