Chestnut Hall 1862

Chestnut Hall was built for John McDonagh, a lumber merchant who served as Reeve of the Village of Thorold from 1871 to 1874, then as Mayor of the Town of Thorold from 1881-1884. McDonagh’s widow left the house to St. John’s Anglican Church, which used it as a manse for a few months before selling it in 1920 to the Great War Veterans’ Association (later the Canadian Legion). Chestnut Hall has also housed the former Town of Thorold Municipal Offices and the Regional Health Department. Currently it is the home of the Thorold and Beaverdams Historical Society and the Thorold Museum as well as forming part of the Thorold Public Library.

The main section of this building is two storeys high with a bay window on the first floor extending to an open porch on the second floor. There are five different sections in the house, indicating that additions were built at various times. The rear addition has interesting arched windows which are very different from those in the main part of the house. The house has a low hipped roof with a plain boxed cornice and bracketed shelf over the main entrance.