More than a just another brick in the wall: Stratford unveils heritage wall

Stratford is bringing history to life by reusing 190-year-old bricks to create a new piece of public art. The red clay brick heritage wall now stands inside the foyer at town hall and features pictures of local historic properties.

The bricks were salvaged from the Brick House, a heritage home that was torn down two years ago after falling into disrepair.

The house was built in 1828 by William Mutch and is thought to be the first home ever constructed in Stratford. It was made with locally-produced bricks and remained in the Mutch family for 150 years.

'Very, very proud'

Mayor David Dunphy said he hoped the family would be pleased with the effort to preserve the history of the house.

"I think they would be very proud to see that the bricks are still here. I know they were disappointed when the house came down two years ago," he said. 

It was just amazing for them to think to do this.— Donna Read-Auld

"But I know that they would be very, very proud to see that the actual bricks that made up their house were being retained and put to use here as a heritage wall for future generations to see."

When the house was taken down in 2016 the town set aside 1,000 of the best bricks to use for a future art project. The Stratford heritage committee came up with the idea to create a heritage wall to showcase the bricks and act as a piece of living history.

'Best out of a bad deal'

Michael Farmer, chairman of the Stratford heritage committee, says using the bricks this way could encourage people to preserve more local heritage homes.

"We made the best out of a bad deal when they had to tear it down to save this number of bricks to continue the house in a different form," he said.

"If we don't have history we have nothing to go ahead towards. If you don't know your history you're bound to make the same mistakes over and over again. So next time we'll save the next Mutch house."

In 2016, there were no strict heritage bylaws in place to prevent the demolition of the Brick House. But Dunphy said the town council is working to strengthen the bylaws to protect historic homes from being lost in the future.

Grants of up to $5,000 are available to homeowners of historic properties to help with maintenance and repairs.

"It's a difficult one because the unfortunate part is that when houses fall into [dis]repair it's very expensive to fix. But we are working with the homeowners of these properties to ensure that they do in fact stay as heritage properties and that they are maintained and that they are for years and years to come," Dunphy said.

'Big piece of home'

Donna Read-Auld is one person who is delighted to see the old bricks given new life. She once lived in the Brick House and said living in such a historic house was an interesting experience.

"It's not something that you can really put into words. It's more of a feeling. You go in and you'd be home," she said.

Read-Auld now works in the office of the Stratford Town Hall, just steps away from the new wall. She is pleased that the town saw the value in preserving these pieces of the past and is happy that the house and its history will live on in a new form for years to come.

"It was amazing for them to do it. I knew that the staff here had taken truckloads of brick when the house came down. It was just amazing for them to think to do this and now to have it as a permanent structure in the town hall," she said.

"It is a big piece of home."

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