Sep. 27, 2025

One of the purposes of this blog over the years has been to photograph historic sites in case they are destroyed and lost forever. In the 11 plus years that we have been active we have photographed hundreds of historic buildings and properties. Unfortunately, we are already seeing several of these places being lost forever. This post highlights several of the ones that no longer exist.

There are many places along the Bruce Trail that have interesting stories to tell. One of them is the remains of a house on the River And Ruin Side Trail. The house has been a ruin for a hundred years but it appears that recently the remains have been vanadalized and there is even less of it left now. There are more pictures and our full article here.

The Nodwell House in Hillsburgh was built in 1868 and was used by several generations of the family. The old farm was bought for a housing development and the home has since been demolished. The story of the family and the home can be found at this link.

Camp Calydor had several uses including a TB hospital, a German POW camp and a Jewish retreat. The remains used to stand in the forest in Gravenhurst but even these have been demolished for a housing development. The full story can be read here.

Cabot Head Lighthouse was built in 1895 and although it still exists, the road is closed and the lighthouse is also closed to the public. There’s more pictures and the full story here.

Sunnybrook Farm was created in 1909 and the barn was raised shortly thereafter. When the farm was transferred to the city as a park the horse barn was used to house police horses. It burned down in 2018. There are more pictures and the story can be found here.

Cheltenham had an apiary for two generations that operated near the old saw mill. This building burned down a couple of years after we took this picture. There’s more pictures and the full story at this link.

The Toronto Dry Dock Company was established in time to produce war ships for the military during World War 1. The business closed years ago and the buildings have recently been demolished as part of the Port Lands redevelopment. More pictures and the story can be found here.

The Old Major Mackenzie bowstring bridge was built in 1914 and was abandoned when the road was rerouted. It has since been removed. You can find the full story and more pictures here.

The Speyside General Store was the last surviving structure from the early days of Speyside. It stood vacant for a couple of decades and then fire destroyed part of it in 2024. The building has since been demolished. The story of Speyside and the general store can be found at this link.

The Sudbury Regional Hospital dates to 1944 but was closed in 2010. A mural was painted on the outside, much to the displeasure of some of the community and the structure was finally demolished in September 2025. More pictures and the story can be found at this link.

The former community of Ringwood has several abandoned historic buildings that are all likely to end up demolished. The first to go was the Ringwood Diner which was taken down last year. More pictures of the abandoned buildings in Ringwood and the story can be found at this link.

One of the most eccentric homes in Toronto was built by an individual who kept adding all kinds of different architectural styles to his home. After he passed the home fell into disrepair and has since been demolished. More pictures and the story at this link.

Historic sites continue to be lost due to neglect, fire and new development. It appears that both the Mountain Sanitorium in Hamilton and the London Insane Asylum may both have been demolished but these are still unconfirmed. No doubt other properties will lose their heritage structures as time goes along.

Google maps links are within the stories themselves

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