ROMwalk – THE ANNEX


Welcome to ROMwalk – a free outreach program provided by volunteers of The Royal Ontario Museum for over 30 years.

This walk is of The Annex. It will take between 1 ½ to 2 hours, and we will finish on Walmer Road just west of Spadina Rd. near the Spadina subway station.

There are two housing styles which are unique to Toronto, and the supposed prototypes of both of these styles are on today’s route.

The initial portion of our tour was not called The Annex historically but was part of the Village of Yorkville, which was incorporated in 1853. The City annexed Yorkville thirty years later, in 1883.

1. One Bedford, KPMB and Page and Steele. 2010?

  • 32 story glass and limestone structure rises from an 8 storey podium which steps down to 5 storeys as it approaches Bedford
  • Incorporates the rebuilt Georgian façade of the design studio of architect John Lyle. Façade was relocated from another location on the site
  • This is a “better than nothing” example of preservation of heritage buildings in Toronto sometimes called “facadism” or “facadomy”.
  • Lyle was born in Ireland and came to Canada as a young child in 1878
  • Lyle grew up in Hamilton and attended the Hamilton School of Art.
  • He trained as an architect at Yale University, enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and after his graduation found work in New York
  • Lyle returned to Canada in 1905
  • During the 1920s, Lyle strove to develop a uniquely Canadian architectural style, incorporating native flora and fauna and other Canadian iconography in his designs.
  • Lyle’s best-known works are the Royal Alexandra Theatre, completed in 1907 in the Beaux-Arts style, the original Stock Exchange and Union Station

2. 23 Prince Arthur, Women’s Art Association of Canada, 1874

  • In 1886, Mary E. Dignam gathered together women artists to exchange ideas and hone their painting skills
  • In 1907 this Association of artists was officially incorporated by an act of Parliament
  • This house was purchased in 1916 by the Association
  • Many distinguished Canadian artists were active members including Emily Carr, Frances Loring, Florence Wylie and others.
  • A supportive friendship existed between the Association and the Group of Seven. A.Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer were honorary members.
  • The Association is a registered charity that continues to extend scholarships to post-secondary arts students at selected Ontario colleges.
  • The building is now used for art shows, concerts, lectures, special events and contains studio space which is rented to artists.

3. 20 Prince Arthur, Uno Prii, 1965

  • 22 story neo-expressionist apartment building
  • During the period from the late 1950s to the 1970s, the Estonian born Prii designed approximately 250 projects in Toronto, many of which were apartment buildings
  • These structures evoke thoughts of the future, the Jetsons and flying cars
  • Prii’s buildings were clean, white and modern, with a covered drive and a fountain.
  • Prii said the inspiration for this apartment with its flaring base was the flying buttresses of medieval cathedrals.
  • The style of these buildings fell out of fashion in the 1980s and started to appear on some ugliest building lists but today are once again finding favour
  • We will see more of Prii’s work later in the tour

4. Untitled Sculpture, 38 Avenue Rd., 1999

  • On our left, the archway entrance frames the view of the courtyard of The Prince Arthur condominium.
  • The granite sofa is a public art sculpture by artists Mark Gomes and Susan Schelle who have collaborated on a number of works
  • The courtyard and sculpture also creates a wonderful terminating view from Yorkville Ave.

5. 9 Lowther, 1876.

  • style is Gothic Revival, a Victorian cottage type
  • a 2-storey, roughcast stucco over frame
  • asymmetric, L-shaped with front door in the side veranda
  • steeply pitched roof which is chamfered (cut square at the bottom) on both sides of the wall dormers (dormers that are not in the roof but an extension of the wall)
  • the sharply pointed front gable is edged with decorative bargeboard with a finial inside its peak
  • 1-storey bay at the front has its roof decorated with iron cresting
  • paired windows in the bay are tall and slender with rounded tops
  • two dormers have similar style but single windows
  • built by Albert Locke, a carpenter, for his own use
  • has had few owners and some changes, but always maintained rather than restored

6. 23, 25 & 29 Lowther, 1875.

  • style of all three originally Gothic Revival
  • 25 and 29 less drastically changed - stucco over frame
  • sharply pointed gable roof as central axis between them
  • property line runs up middle of carriageway, which apparently was originally doored
  • above the driveway is an unusual oriel window (a bay which starts above ground level) which opens into a room in #25 only
  • property line jogs on second floor so that a room at back overlooking the long garden belongs to #29
  • house built by immigrant who came from East Anglia, England

Let’s consider how Yorkville developed. A tollgate to tax farmers bringing produce to the Town of York existed at Yonge and Bloor in the early 1800s. Two hotel/taverns were built along the routes leading to it – the Red Lion on Yonge and the Tecumseh Wigwam on Bloor. Then in the early 1830s two breweries were started on creeks crossing Yonge, followed by three brickyards. Workers in all these establishments built homes nearby. Later craftspeople, and then a sprinkling of professionals came, as there was space for gardens and orchards here and it was healthier for families. In the crowded downtown area many people, especially children, died in waves of cholera. It was convenient here for commuters because starting in 1849 there was regular omnibus service to downtown. Later many grand houses appeared (e.g. where Park Hyatt is now, at Avenue Road and Bloor, the 1820 Wigwam was torn down in 1874 and a Nordheimer mansion built which stood until the 1920s). Although the earliest houses were modest and self-built these grander houses were often designed by architects, such as the important double house we will see next.

7. 30 and 32 Lowther, Grant & Dick, 1875

  • semi-detached (double) house built for families named Struthers and Ross.
  • mix of Gothic and Italianate features. #30 has remained closer to the original – they were originally mirror images.
  • 2 ½ storeys of local buff brick
  • projecting polygonal end bays
  • recessed central area has shed roof over entry (went over both doors originally)
  • single door 1/3 glazed, side and transom lights
  • long veranda at side with shed roof and plain wooden supports, originally looking over a sizeable garden area
  • gable with decorative bargeboard
  • windows are 2/2 panes, double-hung sash (top half slides down, bottom half slides up)
  • rounded segmented brick arches over the windows
  • Although both houses are considered “Heritage”, some changes were made to #32 even before 1900.
  • in 1898 a brick addition was added at the rear (architects Bond & Smith)
  • later the front door and the inside staircase were moved to the side
  • a dormer was inserted in the roof at the front
  • porch is now closed in with an altered shape
  • two unusual semi-circular, shingle clad dormers added on west side
  • This double house is not the oldest example of its style in Toronto, but because it was designed by architects Grant and Dick and built here for important families it is now considered the prototype of the typical Toronto “Bay’n’Gable”.

8. 50 Lowther, 1878

  • The next house we see was built just outside the original Yorkville boundary while Yorkville still legally existed.
  • large yellow building, exterior not much changed
  • built for large family of eldest son of pioneer Baldwin family that earlier owned much of adjoining land that is now Annex
  • interior renovated about twenty years ago into nine separate units

Earlier Bloor Street was the northern limit of the City of Toronto. North of Bloor the Village of Yorkville gradually spread from approximately Sherbourne almost to Bedford. The area between Bedford to the present Brunswick Avenue did not have a name. West of Brunswick Avenue was the Village of Seaton.

In 1883 the City of Toronto annexed Yorkville. In 1886, in anticipation of future annexation of the area west of Yorkville, developer Simeon Heman Janes bought the land from the Baldwin family (of Spadina). He planned the first professional class suburb – meant for academics, upper civil servants, professionals, and prosperous merchants or businessmen. That year, 259 lots were advertised for sale. By deed, no small houses, row houses or commercial buildings were allowed in the suburb - single and semi-detached houses or churches only. Then in 1887 the City annexed the area west to Kendal, and the next year as far west as Bathurst (this included part of Seaton), between Bloor and Davenport. The Annex is NOW considered to be Bloor to Davenport from Avenue Road to Bathurst.

Most of the homes in the Annex were constructed in a short time between 1888 and 1905 resulting in a homogeneous streetscape with larger houses. You will also notice:

  • there are no back lanes
  • most streets run N/S with 25 foot frontage
  • a common set-back, open lawns, sidewalk and wide boulevard with trees – an unbroken vista like a park with just a narrow road.
  • height line of roofs is same
  • similarity of colours and materials – plum or pink sandstone from the Credit River area and red brick and terra cotta from the Don Valley

9. Society of Friends, 60 Lowther, Curry, Sproat & Rolph, 1906

  • designed by in Georgian Revival style
  • not completely symmetrical as ground floor has a bay at front, and west side of house is built out to take advantage of garden vista
  • so a not quite typical Georgian red brick cube with contrasting light coloured wood and stone details
  • 2 ½ storey
  • 5 bays, with central formal entrance within a classical portico
  • Roman (not fluted) Doric (simplest style) columns holding up a flat roof
  • frieze with triglyph decoration just below portico roof
  • windows all double hung sash with typical Georgian detail of many panes (in Georgian times not possible to make large panes of glass) - ground floor 9 over 9, second floor 6/6, dormers 3/6
  • note ashlar stone keystones and sills,
  • 3 dormers
  • brick quoins (originally a building reinforcement) at corners of building
  • cornice below roof has large modillions (rectangular pieces suspended from cornice)
  • built for Miller Lash, prominent barrister and businessman, as his modest city house
  • later tenants after sale by his heirs, included from 1944 – 1946, Bishop William C. White – first Curator of ROM’s Chinese collection
  • bought by Society of Friends (Quakers, who help others in times of crisis), and a large addition added in 1969/70 at back, for meetings (John Leaning)
  • used as a place of refuge, and also for many like-minded peaceful organizations

10. Taddle Creek Park

  • Taddle Creek starts as natural spring near St. Clair and Bathurst.
  • originally, it meandered south-east to enter lake Ontario near foot of Parliament, sometimes changed course slightly
  • presence of the creek meant that a few areas in Annex had to remain empty of buildings, such as here, and it created problems elsewhere e.g. for Park Plaza Hotel or the planned College Park office tower
  • to save money, Village of Yorkville dumped their sewage into the creek
  • following Yorkville’s annexation in 1883, the Creek was covered. It can be heard gurgling below grates under Philosophers’ Walk
  • Taddle Creek Park has recently undergone reconstruction after years of community lobbying for improvement.
  • The park’s new centrepiece is a sculpture by Nova Scotia–based artist Ilan Sandler, entitled The Vessel. The design won a city-run juried competition. The work consists of 4 kms of stainless-steel rods that have been welded into the shape of a 5.7-metre-high jug. According to the plaque, the length of the rods is the approximate distance that Taddle Creek runs from here to Lake Ontario. Water will be pumped to the rim of the jug, where it will be released to splash down the rods.

11. 75 Lowther, Edmund Burke, 1892

  • house is a mix of Victorian Romanesque and Gothic Revival styles
  • built for a lawyer
  • cladding of stone, brick, terra cotta tiling, and painted square-patterned plaster work
  • side entrance, probably had a circular driveway and gardens at the side
  • used by Baptist Women’s Missionary Society
  • (Edmund Burke helped design Baptist Theology College built on Bloor, which later became McMaster University when Baptists decided not to come under U of T umbrella, and, after McMaster U moved to Hamilton, then became the Royal Conservatory of Music)
  • owned again by lawyers, and has been restored

12. 78 Lowther, George Miller, 1899

  • was built for one of those prominent merchants, Edward Y. Eaton, vice-president of father Timothy Eaton’s department store
  • Timothy Eaton’s house was not far away – further along Lowther at Spadina
  • this was originally a coach house for horses
  • built in style of country estates then being built in Britain with classical touches, called Palladian (after Andrea Palladio - Italian architect of 1500s)
  • coach house building much changed - now a number of apartments
  • The fraternity house at the corner also was once owned by the Eaton Family

Link: We will go around the corner to see a building that would have been acceptable to Simeon Janes’ Annex.

Note: from here you can see the side of the former Palladian coach house and that the top has a cupola. This provided ventilation for Eaton’s horses.

13. 196 St. George St., S.S. Beman, 1916

  • Opposite us is First Church of Christ, Scientist built on a large, tranquil site
  • Neo-Classical Revival style called Beaux-Arts (the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris was then the famous training school for all architects worldwide)
  • S.S. Beman of Chicago introduced this style with much success at the 1893 World’s Fair – the “White City of Roman buildings” in Chicago
  • inside is a large, white, simple central space that is a symmetrical domed auditorium rising over 50 feet to a large skylight
  • exterior of local pressed brick and artificial stone
  • leaded glass windows are of imported opalescent glass
  • grand entrance foyer, in a symmetrical building that is massive and austere
  • impressive fluted (Greek) Doric columns
  • paired symmetrical light standards of the time
  • absence of religious symbols – ideals of Christian Science suggested by feeling of permanence, simplicity and peace (have no clergy but an elected pair of readers usually a male and a female for 3-year terms, way of life is Christian, salvation thought to be freedom from sin and disease)
  • congregation started in Toronto in 1886 by Isabella Stewart from Chicago who began healing though prayer – attracted many prominent people

Link: Homes built on St. George were substantial, designed by prominent architects for important people. Businessman and bankers lived on St. George, and because the lots were larger, developers snapped some up when the Bloor subway was being built for mass housing such as the apartments we are about to see.

14. 190 St. George St., Joseph Medwecki, 1972

  • style is Late Modernism
  • maintains modernist roots in that no historical details added however not bland, repetitive, box-like as some International Modern apartment buildings like those across the street Indicate.
  • most often bold composition with exposed concrete as here, sometimes exposed steel
  • neither base nor top articulated, all facades same
  • continuous horizontal line of balconies is dramatic, they appear to defy gravity
  • transparent glass walls contrast with balcony projections
  • smaller footprint, sited graciously on well-landscaped lot
  • lobby and elevators at centre ringed by fewer suites/people per floor
  • more attractive units, especially for entertaining, than those in box-like buildings
  • quality materials
  • called a “mid-rise point tower” - between 8 to 12 storeys, angular rather than rectangular shape with generally a more ornamental manner of structural components, often designed by younger architects using Modern style

15. 182 St. George St., Eden Smith & Son, 1910-11

  • Arts and Crafts “cottage type” by Eden Smith
  • Built for Harris L. Hees whose family was in the window shade business
  • The front of the house is stone with a classical portico but there are ribbons of leaded glass windows and the sweeping roof of the cottage style
  • The side of the house shows the Tudor origins of the cottage with its stucco and half timbers
  • Additional and more typical cottage style houses designed by Eden Smith can be seen on our Wichwood Park ROMwalk

Link: We will now look at the more recent commercial building next to the subway entrance

16. RCYC, 139 St. George St., Crang & Boake, 1984

-this is winter quarters of Royal Canadian Yacht Club built in 1984

-designed by Crang & Boake in Post Modern style

-means some traditional elements of past re-introduced into symmetrical and/or formal-looking modern style, sometimes colourful or playful

-height and pointy gables echo original houses of area (or sails in the wind?)

-projections in façade, broad courses of alternating red brick and stone

-stone posts and wrought iron fence are remnants of wall that surrounded two adjoining yards (the original house here was for a Gooderham son-in-law also designed by David Roberts Jr.) as they shared the garden between them

Link: Again another complete change for our next stop – the grandest house in the area of probably the richest man in Ontario at that time

17. York Club, 135 St. George St., David Roberts Jr., 1889-92