389 Lakeshore Road E - Walter Ecclestone & Martella Carrique Ecclestone House

This home was built as a summer home for the Ecclestone family

The first owner of this home, Walter Valentine Ecclestone, was born on Valentine's day 1863 into a large family in Hamilton, Ontario. While he was young, Walter's family moved first to St. Catharines, then on to Toronto where his father plied his trade as a confectioner and baker.

In 1884, Walter married Martella Carrique and they settled initially in Hamilton where they had three children, Wilfred, Herbert & Lyle (Jack). In 1896, the family moved to Toronto where Walter began his career with the T. Eaton Co., as Manager and Buyer in the shoe department where he would stay until his retirement in 1923. While in Toronto, the family home was located at 1 Warren Road which has been historically designated and is now known as the "W.V. Ecclestone" home.

On August 20, 1908, Walter purchased the lot at 389 Lakeshore Rd. E., and enlisted Architect J. Hunt Stanford to design a summer home. Summer homes were popular in Oakville at the time. It was situated on the edge of Anderson's bush which was a popular spot full of wildflowers and chestnut trees. Summer meant swimming, sailing, garden parties and picnics and the Ecclestones would have immersed themselves in these activities. Following the acquisition of the summer home property, Walter enlisted the same architect in March of 1909 to build a house at 179 Balmoral Ave in Toronto. They lived there for just a year, at which time they had 1 Warren Road Built. This would remain as the family home for the duration of Walter's life.

Their summer home in Oakville was short lived, however, and for reasons unknown, Walter sold the property in August 1913. They remained in Toronto where Walter passed away in 1937, four years after his wife Martella. They are buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

A later owner of 389 Lakeshore Rd. E. Was Dr. Harry Dingle who purchased the property in July 1914. Unfortunately, Dr. Dingle would die two months later of an appendicitis attack, leaving his wife Violet and son Adrian. He is buried in St. Jude's Cemetery. The family had only left Wales for Canada in the spring of that year. The house remained in the Dingle family until 1930 at which time Violet sold and remained in Oakville for a time with her son, before relocating to Toronto. She died in 1950 at Adrian's home. Their son Adrian became a prolific painter, illustrator, teacher and landscape artist. He was most famous, however, as a cartoonist. His character Nelvana of the Northern Lights was introduced in 1941. Nelvana was the first female Canadian superhero comic character whose debut was four months before that of Wonder Woman. Another of Dingle's comic characters was the suave tuxedo-clad detective "The Penguin", a Canadian superhero distinct from the well-known nemesis of Batman. To avoid conflicts with Batman's publishers, this character was renamed The Blue Raven to allow efforts to reach an American audience. The Penguin premiered in 1943. Other characters include "Nils Grant, Private Investigator". At the end of the 1940s the comics industry in Canada became untenable and Dingle returned to painting. Dingle Park on the waterfront is named after him.