Joseph Clarke House

In the mid to late 1840's, Joseph Clarke is thought to have built this two-and-a-half storey house, which was originally a flat roofed townhouse, similar to Port Hope's Smith House, at 92 King Street (also designated under the Ontario Heritage Act). Very little is known of Joseph, except that he had a daughter, Sarah Jane, who had inherited the house, by 1876. She and her husband, Thomas Long, lived in the house for several decades, until his death, in 1913. Tom was an insurance agent, who had a side business dealing in musical instruments. Interestingly, Tom's office, on Walton Street, also operated the first telephone switchboard, in Port Hope, which was established by the Bell Telephone Company, in 1882.

When built, the house originally had parapet walls around a flat roof. However, the roof was replaced with a steeply-pitched hip roof, with wide overhanging eaves, broken by shed dormer windows (now removed). The front three bay facade is divided by three pilasters. It has 6 over 6 sash windows with heavy lintels. The original entrance, in the left bay, was moved to the north facade, under an open verandah, and the original opening was made into a large window, with a semi-elliptical transom. This picture window has subsequently been replaced with a 6 over 6 sash window. The south facade of the building has a one storey bay and a two storey frontispiece, topped with a pedimented gable.