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UrbanToronto has partnered with Heritage Toronto to capture a moment in Toronto's past. On a weekly basis, we highlight historic photos of the city's people, places and events, and tell the stories behind them.
Seen here is the corner of King Street East and Leader Lane, looking south around 1920.
In the foreground are two small, Georgian brick buildings, one featuring dormer windows. These rather nondescript buildings have since disappeared from the landscape but they do provide us with some interesting clues about the history of Toronto. First, the building in the centre of the photo has a sign reading “Leader News Store”. This sign refers to the Leader newspaper, one of several newspapers that existed in Toronto in the 19thcentury. Leader Lane was named after this newspaper.
The Leader was established in 1852 and was among the city's reform papers. Similar to other papers of its generation, the Leader operated as a weekly, semi-weekly and a daily newspaper that offered its readers, in the days before instant communication, the ability to follow the news as it happened. The Leader ceased publication in the 1870's.
On the second floor of that same building was an office for architect, “L. Foulds” This most likely referred to English born architect, Leonard Foulds who worked largely in residential architecture, designing homes in communities including Parkdale, Yorkville, Deer Park and the Annex. Foulds was known but was not among the leading architects in Toronto.
These two buildings were demolished. The brick wall seen in the photo that partially reads” Harris Co...Paints, Oils, Glass” remains and is the backdrop for a parking lot that has been there for many years, offering visitors a convenient place to park in busy downtown.
Moving down Leader Lane is a building that can be distinguished in the background by a black doorway. It is located on the northeast corner of Leader Lane and Colborne Street and has been occupied for many years by the Tom Jones Steakhouse. Interestingly, #17 Leader Lane was the first location of Grand & Toy. This Canadian success story was established in the early 1880's by architect James Grand and his brother-in-law, Samuel Toy.
Leader Lane was once lined with banks and businesses, but today it is largely empty. This snapshot offers a small window into the past.
Sources
http://www.edunetconnect.com/cat/oldnewspap/pap3.html
http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/architects/view/770
http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=8165
