The Buildings of The St. Lawrence Market Neighborhood

Condos

5 minute read

January 6, 2009

After the brief history lesson on the St. Lawrence Market yesterday, I wanted to show off a few of the very old, very unique, and very beautiful buildings that remain in my neighborhood, whether they are in their original form or have been preserved and built around.

Many of you might not appreciate these Toronto landmarks, but hopefully from now on when you walk by you’ll make a note of them and perhaps take a second look… 

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As I mentioned yesterday, “the great fire” of 1849 destroyed half of Toronto but it gave birth to a new city at the same time.  Many of the landmarks in the St. Lawrence Market area were born out of the fire, and the city certainly turned a corner as residents worked to rebuild it after the flames were put out.

A plaque on the exterior of 166 King Street East tells the story:

“ON THIS SITE: The Great Fire of 1849.  On Saturday, April 7, 1849, the citizens of Toronto awoke to a blaze that quickly consumed the centre of town.  The fire started about one in the morning in a stable that once stood here.  In the aftermath of the Great Fire, with its flames seen as far away as St. Catharines, new fire codes were adopted which are still in use today.  A new city was born atop the ashes of the old, spurred on by the construction of the present day St. James Cathedral and St. Lawrence Hall.”

I’d like to start with those two buildings, even though this means I can’t tackle these in chronological order…

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St. Lawrence Hall – built in 1850

Address: 157 King Street East (SW corner Jarvis/King)
Current Use: Royal Bank, Biagio Ristorante, & office space
History: This is truly one of the most remarkable buildings in the St. Lawrence Market area.  After the “great fire” of 1849 destroyed much of the city including the original market block at the current site of the north St. Lawrence Market, a new location was needed to serve as the city’s public meeting hall.  St. Lawrence Hall was created and named after Canada’s patron saint, along with the St. Lawrence Market, and in 1850 the building was completed.  This was Toronto’s first large meeting hall and was home to concerts, exhibitions, and other social occasions as it contained a 1000-seat amphitheatre; absolutely ground-breaking at the time.

Toronto grew rapidly in the late 1800’s and by the turn of the century, the city had a half-dozen other public venues that were larger than the St. Lawrence Hall and more suitable for concerts and other specific events.  This meant that the St. Lawrence Hall ceased to become the centre of the city and “the place to be,” and thus it went unused for quite some time.

The building was fully restored in 1967 as the City of Toronto’s project to mark Canada’s centennial, and it now stands proud at the southwest corner of Jarvis & King.

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St. James Cathedral – built in 1853

Address: 65 Church Street (NE corner Church/King)
History: The first service ever held on this ground was in 1793 when Sir John Graves Simcoe settled on this area and established the Town of York as the capital of Upper Canada.  Legend has it that the Anglican service was held “under the trees” in a wooded, park-like area where the Cathedral currently stands.  The first church built on this site was in 1807, but it was damaged in the War of 1812 and thus was enlarged in 1828 when it was first dedicated to St. James the Apostle.  Two years later in 1830, the wooden church was replaced by a larger stone structure, and was officially made a Cathedral in 1839; the same year the church burned to the ground.

The St. James Cathedral was rebuilt but as luck would have it, the building did not survive “the great fire of 1849,” and burned down for the second time in only ten years.  As the dismayed residents worked together to rebuild the City of Toronto, a competition was held to choose a new design for the Cathedral.  Frederic Cumberland built the existing Gothic Revival starting in 1850, and the Cathedral officially opened for service on June 19th, 1853.

The clock tower was installed in 1874, and the spire of St. James Cathedral rises 305 feet above the street, ranking it 6th highest in the world.  However, St. James Cathedral is the only such Cathedral in Canada with a full set of change-ringing-bells, and is one of only two on the continent.

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Daniel Brooke Building – built in 1833

Address: 150-154 King Street East (N/E corner Jarvis/King)
Current Use: “Grange” Furniture Store
History: This building is an astounding piece of Toronto’s history for many reasons, but there is one reason that sticks out from the rest: it was one of the few buildings that actually survived the great fire of 1849!  If you read the plaque on the wall of 166 King Street, you’ll see that the fire started right next to the Daniel Brooke building, yet the building itself was saved.  Contrast this with the destruction of the St. James Cathedral and the north and south buildings at the Market Block (now St. Lawrence Market), and it’s amazing to consider that while the whole town went up in flames, the Daniel Brooke building was right next to the source of the fire but remained intact.

Originally built for owners Daniel Brooke and John Murchison, the building has been home to many commercial enterprises over the last century-and-a-half, including the site of James Austin and Patrick Foy’s grocery store in the mid 1800’s.  This was James Austin’s first commercial venture that eventually led him to greater successes as president of the Consumer’s Gas Company and of the Dominion Bank.

The building also served as a home to The Patriot in the 1850’s, which was a very influential, conservative newspaper.

In the 20th century, the Jarvis/King area was one of the poorest and most run down in the city until the eventual redevelopment of the area which has seen the St. Lawrence Market neighborhood transformed into one of the most trendy residential locale’s.  The King George Square condominium was built around the Daniel Brooke building, keeping the original structure in tact and giving the residents of KGS at 168 King Street a little piece of Toronto’s history.

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Sovereign Bank of Canada – built in 1907

Address: 172 King Street (NW corner George/Jarvis)
Current Use: Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
History: Completed just after the turn of the century, the Sovereign Bank of Canada joined several other financial institutions in the area and replaced failed banks such as the Bank of Upper Canada.  Information on this property is somewhat limited, but the exterior facade was incorporated into the design of the King George Square condominium along with the Daniel Brooke Building to the west.

Last night while walking home from my brother’s condo, I tried to visually picture what the city looked like in 1907.  The Daniel Brooke building stood on the corner with a horse’s stable and some vacant land in between it and the Sovereign Bank.   George Brown College was a wooded area, and there were three storefronts on King Street across the street from King George Square, and that was all then encompassed that entire city block where Starbucks currently is.

Our city today is so dense with a building on every possible square inch, but try and envision Toronto 160 years ago when the great fire roared through the city destroying homes and businesses.

Tomorrow we’ll look at a few more of the buildings in the St. Lawrence Market area that survived the fire, and a few more that were built later on…

Written By David Fleming

David Fleming is the author of Toronto Realty Blog, founded in 2007. He combined his passion for writing and real estate to create a space for honest information and two-way communication in a complex and dynamic market. David is a licensed Broker and the Broker of Record for Bosley – Toronto Realty Group

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