Gerrard. As exciting as that announcement may have been, it was probably no more exciting, in relative terms, than the announcement made in the spring of 1895 by the Independent Order of Foresters that the organization was going to build the city’s very first authentic skyscraper. Not only that, but it would also be the tallest building in the entire country, nay the entire British Empire. And befitting its lofty place in the world of architecture, it would be known as the Temple Building.
The idea of creating this million-dollar landmark, one that would dwarf all the other buildings on the city skyline, was presented to the officials of the Independent Order of Foresters (IOF), a member-based insurance organization, by Dr. Oronhyatekha (“Burning Sky”), its popular leader, a full Mohawk chief who was born at Six Nations in 1841. He was also an accomplished medical doctor.
The new IOF building was designed by prominent city architect George Gouinlock, who was also responsible for several of the CNE’s older structures, including the Main, now Press Building (1905), the Horticultural Building (1907), and the Dominion and Provincial, later Arts, Crafts and Hobbies, and now Medieval Times Building (1912).
The view looking north on Bay Street, circa 1900, shows the clock tower of the brand new City Hall in the background and the spectacular (for the day) Temple Building at the corner of Richmond Street.
The Temple Building at the northwest corner of Bay and Richmond streets, circa 1910.
His towering new structure would consist of a massive stone base and thousands and thousands of bricks churned out by the Don Valley Brick Works (located adjacent to the Bayview Extension) all wrapped around a cast-iron skeleton, a building material that was soon to be replaced by structural steel. The structure would soar twelve storeys into the heavens. Canadians had never seen anything like it.
Tenants moved in to the state-of-the-art building (it had electric lighting and two elevators) in 1897. For the next seven decades it was home to a wide variety of companies, although the original IOF offices outgrew the building and in 1954 moved into a new building on Jarvis Street, and then, in Canada’s Centennial Year, to a modern new building at the southeast corner of Eglinton Avenue East and Don Mills Road.
By the end of 1970, Toronto’s Temple Building had been reduced to rubble.
May 16, 2010
Horsing Around with the Past
While there are numerous pieces of public art, as well as hundreds of monuments and statues to be found in all areas of our city, there are only a couple that feature horses. One of the most obvious is the Steve Stavros Memorial located in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. It may depict the Macedonian king Alexander the Great astride his favourite mount, Bucephalus. I say “may,” since I have yet to find specific details about the monument. Therefore, I admit right up front that my description is an assumption and is based on the fact that the eclectic Mr. Stavros, who died in 2006, was a proud Canadian of Macedonia descent and a confirmed lover of race horses. I wonder if I’m correct.
The only other major sculpture that I can think of that features a horse is the King Edward VII statue located just north of the Ontario Legislative Building in the Queen’s Park. I call it “the” Queen’s Park, since it was named in honour of the reigning monarch of the day, Queen Victoria, by her then-nineteen-year-old son Edward, the Prince of Wales, during his visit to Toronto in 1860. When Victoria died in 1901, Edward ascended the British throne as King Edward VII.
Relatively new to our city, the three-ton monument was originally created in 1919 by the English sculptor Sir Thomas Brock, who was also responsible for the massive Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace in London. Brock’s tribute to the queen’s son (who reigned for a mere nine years compared to his mother’s nearly sixty-four years) was originally placed in Delhi, India, but when that country became a sovereign state in 1950 many of the items from the British colonial days were hidden away.
Unveiled in 1969, this statue of King Edward VII is located in Queen’s Park, north of the Ontario Legislative Building.
Courtesy of the Honourable Henry N.R. Jackman.
Here are some more horses, although this time they’re in the form of mechanical horses under the hoods of these vehicles seen northbound on University Avenue at Richmond Street, circa 1947.
In 1964, the abandoned King Edward VII statue came to the attention of Canada’s High Commissioner to India, Roland Michener, who three years later was to become the nation’s governor general. He contacted Toronto businessman and philanthropist Henry Jackman and, with funds raised by public donations, it wasn’t long before the king and his horse (albeit in pieces) were on their way to Toronto.
Once reassembled, the city’s newest landmark was ready for unveiling at an event that took place in 1969. Oh, and just as Roy Rogers had “Trigger,” and Gene Autry had “Champion,” King Edward had “Kildare,” a name that could be the answer to a fascinating game of Toronto trivia.
May 23, 2010
A Royal Trip Around T.O.
The year 1939 was special for our country and for virtually every one of its 11,267,000 citizens. In the spring of that year, King George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth, came for a visit. Arriving aboard the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Australia at Quebec City on May 17, the royal couple spent the next month touring the nation from coast to coast, departing Halifax on June 15.
Torontonians were particularly eager to welcome their king and queen. Huge crowds turned out see Their Majesties during their public appearances at Exhibition Park, Riverdale Park, and at the Woodbine Race Track, where they watched the eightieth running of the King’s Plate. Thousands more viewed the royal couple and waved from vantage points along the miles of city streets traversed by their maroon McLaughlin Buick touring car during their day-long visit on May 22.
In honour of the royal visit, Toronto’s new municipal aerodrome located across the Western Channel at the foot and Bathurst Street and just west of the Hanlan’s Point ferry dock and picnic grounds was officially given the title Port George VI Island Airport. However, not long after the couple returned to England, the name was simplified to Toronto Island Airport. After another name change in 1994 it became Toronto City Centre Airport. A further change was recommended in 2009, and it officially became the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Haven’t checked its name lately, but it’s quite likely that it’s still “Billy’s Field.”
There’s another name in the west end of town that perpetuates memories of that long-ago visit, despite what some of our young citizens may think. Today’s modern multi-lane Queen Elizabeth Highway does not recognize the present Queen of Canada (nor do the initials ER along the way stand for Eleanor Roosevelt). The highway does, in fact, honour her mother, the same lady who accompanied the king on that royal visit back in 1939. Of course, provincial officials had to get the queen’s approval to so designate the new highway, which, it is reported, she gave with great pleasure.
While today we refer to the entire eighty-six-mile stretch from Highway 427 (on Toronto’s western outskirts) to Fort Erie as the QEW, the original Queen Elizabeth Way was only that portion
