what is the oldest man made structure in toronto?

[building babel]

There's that house on Broadview near Riverdale Avenue that is thought to be a very early nineteenth century log house, later renovated. The owner started ripping out walls and investigating it about ten years ago ( I think his name was Gilpin ), and he got some news coverage. I don't know if the true age of the house was ever resolved though.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

"the st. michael's rectory is the oldest building still being used for its original purpose (1846)"

What about some of the City Buildings on King between Church and Jarvis? They've been used for general commerce/retail since the 1830s.

 

[Chuck100]

Answer:

The first development that occured in Toronto was in the Old Town, centered on King St, and at Fort York. Queen St. was to be the east-west baseline of the city, dividing private property to the north from imperial land to the south. For safety purposes, Queen St. runs perfectly tangent to the circle marking the 1000 yard firing line of Fort York. Queen St. is exactly 1000 yards north of, my guess is, the original battery of cannons which defended Toronto.

 

[shawnmicallef]

That makes sense. The original Grange estate streached from Bloor down to Queen.

 

[andreapalladio]

That's because Toronto was laid out on a 1.25 mile grid (that number relates to a certain number of rods and chains in the Imperial system, but I don't remember now how many). Bloor is 1.25 miles north of Queen, St. Clair 1.25 miles north of Bloor, through Eglinton, Lawrence, York Mills, Sheppard, Finch and Steeles. Similarly, Bathurst and Bayview are 1.25 miles west and east of Yonge, respectively. The squares created by this grid were then subdivided into 200 acre farm lots. Some of those farms ran north-south, like the Grange, and some east-west. Mt. Pleasant Cemetary is the only remaining example of an unsubdivided 200 farm lot in the city, and even it has been nibbled around the edges a little.

 

[mpolo2]

Hazel Mccallion

 

[shawnmicallef]

She nibbled at the edges?

 

[spmarshall]

Mt. Pleasant Cemetary is the only remaining example of an unsubdivided 200 farm lot in the city, and even it has been nibbled around the edges a little.

Isn't Prospect Cemetary an example as well?

 

[andreapalladio]

I don't know. Is that the big cemetary just south of Finch, west of Yonge?

 

[Archivistower]

Does Hazel count? Presumably, there was a man involved in her creation, but her being from Mississauga might disqualify her.

 

[building babel]

Hazel provided the beads for the Toronto Purchase from the Mississauga Indians.

 

[Chuck100]

The concessions are laid 100 chains apart, or 6600 feet. Purely by coincidence, this is within metres of 2 km. The land north of Queen St. was divided into lots 100 acres in size that measured 10 chains wide by 100 chains long. Ten lots side by side yields a grid of streets 100 chains wide by 100 chains long. Each concession block is therefore 1000 acres in size, which allows for a very quick but accurate calculation of the area and density of Toronto!

Why 100 chains? Each lot was intended to be 100 acres in size. One acre is officially defined as an area 1 chain wide by 10 chains long, so when you place 10 acres side by side lengthwise and widthwise, the result is a 100 acre area measuring 10 chains by 100 chains.

Remember that each of these long but narrow lots were privately owned. Thereofre when they were first developed, it was only possible to create long and continuous north south streets either interior or along the boundary. Now you know why the inner city has extremely long and continuous north south streets like Jarvis, Huron, Brunswick, or Spadina. For east west streets, there was no need to hook up to your neighbour. Now you also know why it's impossible to travel east west in the inner city, unless you either use either an original concession, or a still bendy street like College or Dundas.

 

[adma]

Prospect Cemetery is the one running btw/St. Clair + Eg W of Caledonia--and unlike Mt. Pleasant (or York Cemetery, the one nr/Yonge-Shep), it's a farm-lot cemetery that runs N-S rather than E-W...

 

[shumoon]

Don't forget about the "furlong" when discussing Imperial measure. 10 chains = 1 furlong. The concession roads were spaced 10 furlongs apart.

 

[SimonP]

For anyone who might still be interested in this topic Wikipedia has a pretty detailed, if disorganized, list of oldest buildings and structures in Toronto.