The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

pa tier son < Bell-pulls that once summoned the maid to her mistress and speaking tubes Since 1980, this building has been through which the former received designated as a heritage home and the instructions for coffee or tea while the latter entertained visitors in the drawing unit owners are not permitted to make room have disappeared over the decades changes to the facade but can create the from this late 19th century building in interior that they like as long as they do Belleville. not make structural changes, says Grills Except for a few, the Italian black marble fireplaces that were once fea"Last summer I pulled off the carpet tured on each floor of the original six and found the original oak-wood floor. three-storey luxury apartments at The unit's where the kitchen used to be. Bellevue Terrace on 10 Patterson St., too, have been discarded over time. In fact, if We had the floor done in clear finish to he were still alive today, Isaac B. retain the original colour. There are Graham, a 19th century Belleville Front burn marks where the fire place used to Street clothier, would have been truly amazed at the changes that had taken be," he notes. place inside the building that he had Reflecting on their decision to buy constructed a century and a quarter ago. their condominium home almost three '· Originally called Graham Terrace, Graham had this historical limestone years ago, he says: Id and a coal stove which were n ! and brick structure built in 1876 at a "There's just nothing like it in j of the three floors while heavy time when row housing was an unusual (cornices decorated the ornamentj Belleville or anywhere near here. My wife sight in Ontario. A builder/architect by tigs. The original had the the name of James A. Davis carried out jj room divided bydesign an arch sup- I was more motivated than I was because the construction. The structure was jby Corinthian pillars. I of the building's character value. I came divided into six attached luxurious a home needed a around later. My favourite part is the r townhouses that only the rich and those the picture. Since the with stature in the community such as the dining room were in the exterior. It's just so different from oth- j doctors and businessmen could afford. nt, the and the sewing ers." After all they had running hot and cold an maindrawing floor, bedrooms and The structure was owned by the water in the bathrooms -- a rare luxury >m on top floor, bell-pulls and Graham family until it was sold to Davidj then in this community. ig tubes were necessary to call Outside, the building's eye-catching I Hurst in 1979. The renovations that erectly. features included the sculptural quoins, 129,'Bellevue Terrace was convert Hurst started inside the building in the" the window hoods, the eave brackets, I 18 apartments. In 2000, it was : early '90s were completed by an engi- "' the scroll design of the frieze and the converted into condominiums elaborately detailed porches. Portions of iin heer from Toronto about six years ago, Insisted of one bedroom and a the exterior were done in cement, and ch. Today, the kitchens, bathsays Colleen Finkle, who has also owned the interiors in heavy plaster and cori windows, doors, plumbing, nices, which may still be seen today in k«d insulation inside the condo- a condominium at the Terrace for the some units. Inside, it exhibited opulence past two years. j in the manner of fashionable Victorian have all been upgraded. What is the view from up there on the traditions -- a marble fireplace etched ~ we moved in there was no firehill like? | ayer of wall had already been between the original wall Grill says: "We can see the bay bridge, and our interiors. The brick was not the city hall from here. We can almost exposed anymore. I've since built a mansee the Farmers' Market too. Every sum- j tle on that location", says David Grills who with his wife bought one of the mer we watched the fireworks from newly converted condominiums in where we live. About 20 or 30 people -- j February 2001. The Grills' condominium owners and their friends would gather at is a one level two-bedroom unit and he thinks that it is located where the the front of the building and watch the kitchen originally used to be. fireworks." "The windows are wonderful from the A perfect view which suited the Grills inside. They are nice, deep bay windows. and their two -- a 3-year-old and an 11The actual functioning part of the window is newer. They have a rounded top month-old -- children just fine. and may be easily 6 feet tall while the ceilings are about 10 to 11 feet tall. The Contact Benzie Sangma at: ceilings are pretty plain but we still have light fixtures from that era," he says. bsangma@cogeco.ca ,,