Dominion Skate

The Dominion Skate Building (former Copeland-Chatterson Loose Leaf Ledger Company) is a rare and well-designed industrial complex. The building exhibits influences from the Chicago commercial style or Chicago School (this being the first and best example constructed in Brampton) with Neo-Gothic design influences introduced in a later phase of construction.

The building was constructed in two phases beginning in late 1905. The first section originally consisted of a single one-storey building with a rather low street profile. The section facing Railroad Street served as the administrative offices, while the factory component ran down Mill Street North. The factory section features large 'Industrial' windows designed to let in generous amounts of sunlight and fresh air to the factory floor.

The second phase was built in 1914 and involved the construction of a second storey over the Railroad Street offices. This addition is strikingly decorated in comparison to what was built in 1905.

The property is part of a larger and significant industrial grouping that includes the former Hewetson Shoe factory just to the north, along with the CNR railway station and railway lines which runs in front of the Dominion Skate building. Collectively these elements form an important cultural landscape.

The property is associated with the emerging industrialization of Brampton at the turn of the last century. It is also associated with prominent individuals, including R.J. Copeland and A.E. Chatterson, inventors of the innovative loose-leaf ledger systems, which were manufactured in the Brampton plant. Copeland-Chatterson held patents on more than 170 office and record keeping products. Some 90 of these patents originated in Canada. The factory is also the first example of an outside manufacturing company establishing a branch plant into Brampton.