A 1.583 Hectare property by Ellis and Ellis Architects at the corner of Hope Street, east of the Ganaraska River. The southern portion is occupied by a long-term care facility owned by Southbridge Homes. Two earlier buildings to the north are empty and deteriorating.

The first of these building built in the 1860’s, facing Hope St. was a private home until, in 1912, it briefly became the town’s first public hospital. During the summer of 1915 its lawns were covered by the tents of a military hospital. When they became overcrowded, nurses slept on the tent floors. The second building, known as the “historic hospital”, was built to provide extended medical care for returning veterans. It opened in 1916. At least 200 enlisted men were treated here. Those who were infectious were isolated in local homes. After the First World War the hospital doubled as a nurse’s training school while the first building served as a nurses’ residence. The hospital expanded in 1921 to 25 beds with adjoining wings and closed-in sun balconies. It remained Port Hope hospital until 1961, when it became a seniors’ home.

Ellis and Ellis were also the architects of three Port Hope schools. One of them, now designated, and repurposed as residences, faces the hospital on Ward Street, creating a balanced effect of similar red-brick classical buildings with matching lawn setbacks. The hospital is the only one of the four Ellis and Ellis properties in Port Hope not yet designated.

Fall 2017, Southbridge Homes sought a demolition permit for both historic buildings and released its plans to upgrade its current facility with a new lengthy extension running north along Hope Street, removing any balance with the former school at the Ward St. intersection. Heritage Port Hope and ACO Port Hope submitted separate designation requests to Council in April, 2018, the first time that ACO Port Hope, led by its new Advocacy Committee has done this.

March 13, 2019, Heritage Review Board recommends designation which Council declines to accept. Instead, it chose to prioritise the importance of retaining a long-term care facility in the municipality, and deferred its previous decision to designate the property. Southbridge was required to provide the Municipality of Port Hope with all documentation that would allow the Municipality to issue the necessary approvals for demolition of any of the initial cottage hospital, the powerhouse, and the hospital building located at 65 Ward Street.

September 19, 2019: Port Hope Council Approves Agreement on 65 Ward Street

Municipality agrees to withdrawal of the Notice of Intention to Designate the hospital building known as 65 Ward Street once Southbridge has completed all their requirements and made the necessary monetary payments in relation to the project.