I went to the Yonge Eglinton area between Christmas and New Years to help out my parents with a few things. They bought a house in this area 60 years ago this year. They're still independent too; which is kind of neat.
So then, please accompany me on a little North Toronto historical walk. I'm on cold meds and can hardly type, so I'll keep it kind of breezy, ok?
Feel free to Google any of my talking points; lot's of info out there on everything.
Below - Then. 1903. Toronto Archive pic: 'St. Clements Ave. looking w from Yonge St. to St. Clements Church. 1903. Shows l to r, Church, Canon Henry B. Osler's house, and Woodley's house; later the rectory.'
Of interest here - the radial railway tracks - were covered eventually at some point - when people decided they didn't want a dirt Yonge St anymore - and uncovered again around 1968 when they did a major re-pave of Yonge. They removed the rails at that point. I know; I was there, and remember being precociously fascinated...
Below - Now. December 2015.
On the left of the pic we can see a bit of the former Consumers Gas Showroom. It was/is quite the looker and was renovated a couple years ago; it's now a furniture store. In the centre of the pic we now have a paved, not a grass landing strip of a St. Clements Ave. On the right is the former Eglinton Presbyterian Church [1909]. It was later - dunno how later - the St. Clements branch of the TPL until about 1974 when the Northern District branch on Orchard View opened. It's a day care centre now.
Below: So, let's go for a walk west along St Clements Ave shall we?
Here on the SE corner of St. Clements and Duplex we see that Canon Osler's house is still in good original shape. In fact, it's tough to find a run down house in this area. Quite the opposite actually.
As for 'Woodley's' house: Looking at the 1903 pic again I'm guessing it was on the SW corner of present day Duplex and Briar Hill Aves. There isn't anything there now, only the park/grounds of the church. I'm
just guessing that it came down when the church addition of 1929 went up.
Below: Here we are looking NW towards the modern St. Clements church from the intersection of St. Clements and Duplex Aves. You can see the old church back there surrounded by the 1929 addition.
Below: Here we are looking NW from Roselawn and Duplex Aves. That building is actually a bit of local industrial history. That building bore a sign up until recently that read: 'North Toronto Upholstery Company'. You can see the spot on the wall where it was removed. To the right is a small building that has a steel pipe chimney. That
my friends [that's my Doug Ford impression
] local lore supposedly has it - has within a stove that was originally from 'Castlefield'; a local manor house of sorts from which present day Castlefield Ave is named.
This is an interesting lot - it's deeper than anything else on the block. I imagine developers have made an offer already. You could fit 4 town homes - sorry -
luxury town homes onto it.
Below: Here we are in the middle of a 'Green P' parking lot at Castlefield and Duplex looking NE. Behind the row of trees we see what was the Orange Hall; it's one of the outbuildings of St. Clements Girls School now. It fronted onto Yonge street back in it's day; that's the way the entrance is oriented.
Below two pictures: Hey, what's this? A house for sale. No ordinary house. No less than the Snider House [1828]. 744 Duplex Ave. No less than the original farm property that was sold and divided into the original lots that make up a good part of this neighbourhood today. It's a private home of course. Were it mine I would invite my fellow UT-ers to party here. I would pay for the beer by renting it out for tv productions; i.e., Murdoch Mysteries. There is also no swimming pool but that can be rectified. I'm imagining a modern glass pool pavilion attached to the side of the house. Sure to impress the kind of people that I hang out with - 'Mustapha has done
awright don'cha know'. Cue female shrieks and a cannonball whump.
That driveway is sublime. All in all, a classy bit of 'Olde' Upper Canada in the middle of North Toronto.
A nice TPL pic:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-PICTURES-R-4892&R=DC-PICTURES-R-4892
Our walk is over. Thanks for coming along. Time for coffee at the Yonge and Albertus Second Cup.
A Happy New Year to all.