Fairfields House - Integrated Project Dossier (2014)

The property at 3080 Richmond Road was first purchased by William Bell in the 1820s. Originally the 660 acres of land were cultivated for farming. In later years, the land was subdivided and sections sold. The home, standing on 1.8 hectares of land, remained in the Bell family for nearly 175 years. As stated, between the years of 1842 and 1850, the Bell family originally constructed the Fairfields farmhouse – at the time, the house was referred to as Lakeview Farm. In August of 1870, an extensive forest and brush fire swept through the West Carleton area and destroyed the entire interior of the house, leaving only the exterior stone walls intact. The house was soon rebuilt in a Gothic Revival style. Through the latter nineteenth century and into the early twentieth centuries, the Bells property became one of the most successful dairy enterprises in eastern Ontario and within the overall Ontario dairy farm industry. At one time the Bell farm operated on 600 acres of farmland; the farm has several barns and sheds to increase productivity. Presently (2014) all other structures aside from the main farmhouse have been demolished. Some of the foundations are still visible, however, the site has significantly been reduced due to subdivision and subsequent developing. Fairfields is one of the few remaining nineteenth-century structures in west-end Ottawa with such a long history. Unfortunately, due to the fire in 1870, a majority of surrounding architecture was destroyed – there are no earlier houses on the south side of Richmond Rd. This is the Integrated Project Dossier compiled by a group of undergrad students of the Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Program (Engineers and architects) at Carleton University for the CIVE3207 (ARCN4100) Historic Site Recording and Assessment course in 2014.