AUG 2020

House has plans to be restored as it i(shootthings) believes that it has a proper designation circa 2016ish. And from the looks of the most recent album, this is underway in 2022. Id say its an exterior only place now unless permissions are attained. Nice to see restorations.

SOURCE: https://www.niagaranow.com/news.phtml/4329-abandoned-historic-breakenridge-house-to-be-restored

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Previously posted location..

This house is apparently a tough nut to crack, my visit was in broad daylight so too much risk - sorry for no internals. I'm hoping that myself or another explorer can get in and post inside shots....

Below taken from this blog:

http://devldesign.blogspot.ca/2011/10/things-fall-apart-centre-cannot-hold.html

One of the great things about Niagara-On-The-Lake is that nearly every building has a story and nearly every story inevitably leads to a ghost story. 240 Centre St. is no exception, but while most haunted sites in N-O-T-L are simply a venue for ghostly apparitions, this place is a ghostly apparition. I don't know if this house actually is haunted, but it sure looks and feels like it.

Located at the southeast corner of Centre and Mississagua [sic] Streets in Niagara-On-The-Lake's historic Old Town and facing the Presbyterian Church cemetery across the street, 240 Centre St. stands out amongst the other houses around it by not standing out at all.

Whereas most other buildings in N-O-T-L have been maintained or restored to a pristine appearance, the house at 240 Centre St. is conspicuously run-down, while surrounding trees and underbrush cloak it's street-front sides, making the building almost invisible to passing motorists and pedestrians.

Much like the house itself, information on its history is very hard to find. According to page 35 of the 2004 Niagara-On-The-Lake Visitor's Guide, the building, known as the Breakenridge-Ure House, was built circa 1823 and was the third brick house built by John Breakenridge, a well-known Niagara lawyer. When Breakenridge died in 1828, the house was used as a school by his widow through the 1830s.

This was an interesting find. The entire house is securely boarded to prevent trespassers from entering. Every door and window was sealed up tight except the one second story rear window with a small open slot at the top. The tree's branch seems to reach right up and touch that very spot. Which begs the question, what's coming and going through that hole and how on earth did the tree manage to grow directly towards it? Probably better not to ask . . .

Also further information from this story...

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ghost-stories?before=1320023586

“The Witch House”

A couple of weeks ago we went on the ghost walk by Haunted Hamilton and at the end of the walk we got a story about a house we could not go to because it was private property.

The story goes that years and years ago a woman purchased this house (now known as the Witch House or the Abandoned House) and she never left the house, except to purchase groceries and the like. People began talking about the woman and thought her a witch. For her own protection, she sold the house and left.

Another woman purchased the house and decided to turn into a school for teaching children karate. Once inside, she saw a pentagram in the living room and a dead dog.

The school opened and nothing happened until a year (or something like that) later. A boy, after class, went back in the house to say good bye to teacher. The boy was found, with bruising on his arm, at the bottom of the basement stairs. Dead. The school closed as an investigation took place.

The school reopened a year later. After the first class, another boy was found with bruising on his neck at the bottom of the basement stairs. Dead. With both cases there was no one in the house that could have pushed the children down the stairs. In both cases, the basement door was locked and the locks were higher than either boy could reach.

After the second murder, the woman closed up shop and left. A family purchased the home. after the first night, they left the house and never returned. They paid someone else to bring their things to them. The house was boarded up. They pay someone to maintain the property and that is all.

The owners are unlisted and according to the tour guide, in their will it says the house is never to be sold (I doubt the legality of that). Apparently, the transfer is blocked and cannot be seen without a court order (I doubt the legality of that). Their number is unlisted and they refuse to talk about what happened in that house.

I went home and tried to find information about this house and my initial search turned up nothing.

This past weekend we went to Niagara-on-the-Lake. As you can see, we visited the house- both at night and during the day. My photos did not pick up anything (sad) and we heard no noises at night (mind you, I had the major heebee jeebees. Of course, it could have just been my imagination.)

From Sk8Punk:

I was in Niagara-on-the-Lake today and managed to grab some nice pics of this property located at 230 Centre Street. I spoke with two people in regards to this house and both stories confirm each other. A neighbour told me that this home has been abandoned for years and was recently torched so the inside is completely gutted. There is apparently a long history for this home dating back to the mid 1800's in which this particular home was part of the underground railroad to smuggle black slaves out of the USA and into Canada before the Emancipation Proclamation enacted in 1864 by the US Senate. It sits immediately opposite the Church Graveyard and another neighbour told me that original owners of the home and some freed slaves are buried in that cemetery. I will attempt to gather some further information in the next couple of weeks and repost it here.

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From White Wolf:

House is [still] completely boarded up with no visible entry anywhere. Also house is completely surrounded by busy streets and neighbours on either side. From what I was told from the Niagara Ghost walk tour the family that lived here basically left in the in the middle of the night with all their belongings still at the house, never to return to the house or sell it. It's been quoted by the owner the "house has a life of its own". Sounds pretty haunted to me!!