Fairview Villa

Without question, the Bigelow House endures as one of Ontario’s finest and most faithfully preserved examples of Italianate architecture. Rising gracefully above Port Perry, its arched windows, bracketed eaves, and stately proportions, speak of a time when ambition and refinement walked hand in hand. Joseph Bigelow and his wife, Elizabeth Paxton, first occupied more modest quarters on Queen Street. Yet the small merchant street no longer suited Elizabeth’s standing as a prominent lady of Port Perry. When Joseph’s brother Joel left the business and eventually the town, the couple seized the moment to relocate. By the 1870s, they had shifted their household to 100 Perry Street, a more fitting address for their growing family and reputation. That original home still stands today, its historic shell now sheltering a strikingly modern interior.

In the mid-1870s, the Bigelows resolved to create something far grander. The result was Fairview Villa, though townspeople would forever call it the Bigelow House. Work began in the fall of 1876 on what was then the most ambitious private residence in the district. The building incorporated features rare for its day: a furnace with pipes carrying warm air to every room; a substantial septic tank measuring ten by eight feet; window frames fashioned from dressed timber ten and twelve inches thick; and main joists hewn from massive two by twelve beams. Joseph’s specifications even extended to the very nails used, reflecting both his exacting standards and the pride of an entrepreneur determined to leave a mark on his community.

Within these walls, the Bigelows raised their daughter and four sons, one of whom died in infancy. As the years passed and the echo of children’s voices diminished, the house began to feel too large for Joseph and Elizabeth alone. In a gesture characteristic of the era’s extended family ties, they invited their daughter and son-in-law, the McCaws, to share the home. Eight granddaughters were born under its roof, transforming the villa once again into a lively household. The presence of so many young women ensured a steady stream of suitors and social calls, adding a note of bustle and charm to the stately residence.

Elizabeth’s practical side eventually prevailed over Victorian fashion. Finding the fireplaces too prone to soot and dust, she ordered most of them bricked in, concealing the ornate hearths for decades. Only during renovations in the 1980s did these long-hidden fireplaces emerge once more, a tangible reminder of the house’s layered history and the family whose ambition and domestic life helped shape Port Perry’s heritage.

Today, the Bigelow House stands not only as an elegant survivor of the nineteenth century but as a touchstone for the community’s sense of continuity, reminding residents and visitors alike that Port Perry’s modern identity is rooted in the vision and enterprise of families like the Bigelows.

Jonathan van Bilsen is an award winning photographer, author, columnist and television host. Follow his travel adventures at photosNtravel.com.