Home built in 1860s, now part of plaza, gets a heritage nod in Mississauga

A heritage home, which is now part of a plaza, will likely soon be designated in Mississauga.

Once a single-family home, the brick structure at 4646 Heritage Hills Blvd. is now part of a strip mall just north of Square One Shopping Centre.

Irish émigré Hugh Kee built the home around 1860, according to a report to Mississauga’s Heritage Advisory Committee on Nov. 4.

The home is unique for its dichromatic brickwork, a decorative technique using two contrasting colours of brick to create patterns or highlight architectural features.

Kee moved to what was Toronto Township from Ireland with his family in 1835 as a young adult. A few years later, he served in the 1837 and 1838 rebellion under William Lyon Mackenzie. He married Sarah Waite in 1843, and they had six children. Kee died in 1904 and his obituary states that he and was “a good-natured, kind-hearted man…”

He also worked to save the Britannia Farm property for educational purposes, according to the heritage report.

Kee, a relatively successful farmer, was inspired by Italian buildings through the English writer and art historian John Ruskin in building the home. Ruskin admired the use of colour in Venetian architecture, known as dichromatic brickwork.

Although it later became a popular style, few Mississauga homes exhibit this type of brickwork and the Kee House is one of the more ornamental compared to most, the heritage report noted.

The Kee House in Mississauga in 1976. Photo: City of Mississauga report

The building is also one of a handful in Mississauga that has a special benchmark plate. These plates were added to heritage homes in the then Toronto Township in 1957.

As the area changed from a rural farming community to an urban centre, the home became part of a development.

In the 1980s, businessman Marvin Goodman developed a strip mall, which now surrounds the home, and the Heritage Hills subdivision. The mall and housing development were inspired by the Kee House and built in the same style.

The Kee House is now part of a plaza. Photo: Google Maps

The Kee House was home to the Mad Hatter pub for about two decades. It is now Indraprastha Indian Kitchen & Bar.

The city’s Heritage Advisory Committee voted in favour of designating the Kee House.

For more information, see the meeting and reports here.

Lead photo of the Kee House in 1989: City of Mississauga report