Change and Control in the East Annex, , 1853-1993

7""fhe Annex, a central residential area, is residential. The Annex is one of the few historic Figure 1 (left). Bernard Avenue in 1 Toronto's closest equivalent to the British parts of Toronto where even moderately subtle social the East Annex. (AM. de Fort­ Menares, 1992) Arts-and-Crafts 'aesthetic' Queen Anne suburbs of and religious control, through zoning and limits on

London. Around 1900, the area bounded by development, can be seen at work. The survival of Figure 2 (above). Location of the Bedford Road, , , and the East Annex can be attributed to four factors: the study area, northwest of Bloor Davenport Road became a popular place for a origins of its development; the comparatively small Street and Avenue Road in segment of Toronto's social aristocracy, and these size of most of the houses and lots; the area's rapid Toronto, showing lot subdivisions. (AJ. Diamond, Donald Schmitt residents established powerful groups to preserve assimilation into the urban centre; and Toronto's and Associates, 1992) the area's status quo for nearly 40 years. tradition of community activism. After the development of the Annex in the Redevelopment pressures currently 1880s, its eastern edge, which was originally a sub­ threaten the East Annex's residential land use and urb of Y arkville, became a filter for the migration of architectural character. Existing residential zoning successive waves of fashion and influence. West allows 1.0-times coverage, whereas most historic Yorkville became associated with this somewhat buildings in the area cover between 0.6 and 0.8 of higher status neighbourhood, which is now consid­ their lot. As a result, some houses have been ered the East Annex for planning purposes (ligures demolished or gutted to build slightly larger replace­ I, 2). It comprises six avenues running east-west: ments. In a study recently completed for the City of Prince Arthur, Elgin, Lowther, Boswell, Tranby, and Toronto, 1 we examined possible zoning and design Bernard. Bedford Road divides the two distinct parameters to manage change without losing the areas of the Annex and East Annex. area's character. Our research revealed that the Houses in elite urban fringe zones are typi­ evidence of various development forces is still visible I This stud y was und ert aken with cally taken over by institutions as the city core grows. on the ground, and that the East Annex is an Micha el McClelland and the firm of A.J. Diamond, Donald T his has occurred on specific streets in the Annex, uncommonly intact example of urban evolution. Schmitt and Associates. but this enclave has remained predominantly Architects.

BY ANNE M . DE FORT-MENARES

18:3 -t- 4 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 107 PlAN ' Or Clfii.E LOT .H! 2Z

[ (417 /£[ /'TtJ NNCN

Figure 3 (left) . "Plan of Glebe Lot THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANNEX The fourth period of subdivision occurred 22 in the 2nd Concession from the The Annex passed through four main periods of sub­ when part of the privately-owned land to the west of Bay," surveyed by Wadsworth and division- all still visible- which correspond to the church lots was laid out by Simeon H. Janes in Unwin, October 1868. (York RP 289) larger cycles of prosperity and construction in 1886 (figure 5). In purchasing the parcel from the Toronto. These cycles affected the historical Baldwin estate, Janes broke the local custom of Figure 4 (centre). "Plan of Building Lots Adjoining Avenue development and present appearance of the area. families subdividing their own land. He successfully Road & Bloor Stts ., Yorkville. The The first subdivision, the 1792 British lot survey, led a petition to annex the area to Toronto in 1886- Property of James Metcalfe Esq: established the basic Toronto grid and dedicated the 87, and his loan and brokerage company developed M.P. ," surveyed byJ.O. Browne, land in question to the Anglican Church. In 1868, the parcel. Janes' development company was a fairly May 1870. (York RP 301) the rector of St. James Anglican Church initiated large corporate endeavour, selling hundreds of lots the second period of subdivision by dividing Lot 22 Figure 5 (right). "Toronto Annexed directly to owners or builders, compared to the typi­ Plan of Sub-Division of Part of Lot into 20 five-acre parcels between Bloor and what is cal middle-level, individual street speculator who now St. Clair, and laying Avenue Road through the 23 ... July 8, 1886. " Only Lowther worked in West Yorkville. It seems that Yorkville Avenue continued across Bedford parcel (figure 3). The lots were rented to a variety attracted small speculators because the land in the Road into West Yorkville, to the of tenants, most of whom were tradesmen.2 The sub­ right. (Metro Toronto Public Ubrary) 1870s was not perceived to have investment value. division coincided with the beginning of a city-wide Janes, on the other hand, promoted his Annex's building boom, paralleled by increases in population proximity to churches, transportation, and cultural 2 These included labourers, garden­ and economic activity, that peaked in 1874.3 attractions, all of which had not existed in 1870s. ers, a brickm aker, etc. Yorkville The third period of subdivision was a Assessment Role, 1862. The overlap of West Yorkville with critical stage: three of the 20 five-acre church lots 3 In her landmark article, Karen Bedford Road on the eastern edge of Janes' were subdivided by private speculators into streets Buckley cautioned that there was development allows a comparison of differences in no direct relation between popula­ and building lots, making a suburb of Yorkville. the development process, and their effect on the tion growth a nd building cycles. Subdivisions of the church land were registered by KA.H. Buckley, "Urban Building ground. Bedford Road was laid out in 1886 on individuals acting singly or in partnership; specula­ and Real Estate Fluctuations in farmland, so the houses were generally the first Canada," 171 e Canadian Journal of tive building was confined to relatively small projects. buildings on the land. Bedford was a destination for Econotnics and Political Science The subdivisions related to the boundaries 18, no. I (Februal)' 1952): 48. the upwardly mobile through West Yorkville, and of the church lots. For example, the first lot sub­ had one of the steadiest occupancy rates of any 4 Jim Lemon and Stephen Speis­ divided was Lot I west of Avenue Road from Bloor man , "Annegonians, 1910 and street in the area. to the back yards on the north side of Prince Arthur, 1923," in Lydia Burton and As planned, the Annex was to be com­ David Morley, eds., 17le Annex laid out in 1870 by James Metcalfe (figure 4). pletely separate from West Yorkville, with only two Book (unpublished MS at Toron­ Metcalfe anticipated the construction of estate villas to Public Libra!)', Municipal avenues (Prince Arthur and Bernard) continuing like his own on Bloor, and the houses built on Reference, 1978), fig. 1.6.6. across Bedford. As constructed, however, all the Prince Arthur Avenue in the 1870s originally had 5 Tranby Avenue assessments for West Yorvkille streets opened to Bedford. The I992 avera ged $320 on the south stables, outbuildings, and land around them. Prince opening of cross streets and the establishment of a side, $288 on the north. Arthur was the first street in the third period of sub­ neighbourhood beyond West Yorkville resulted in 6 Annex area residents have been division, the establishment of a suburban village. renewed construction activity, the registration and classified by, among others, C.A Metcalfe laid out two streets to the north in 1874 Russell, "The Establishment and construction of Tranby Avenue in 1888, and the (Lowther and Elgin), and tradesmen filed plans for the Industrial Elite, 191 2-1920," filling in of vacant lots and the construction of 171 eAnnex Book, 1.5. the others in 1873 (Boswell) and 1874 (Bernard). houses on street frontages even beyond the 7 Peter W. Moore, "Public Services Modest lot sizes indicate that the other speculators Yorkville boundary. On the east side of Bedford, and Residential Development in a probably anticipated an extension of the village of the extremely generous lot depth of 157 feet was Toronto Neighbourhood, 1880- Yorkville. All the streets dead-ended against the 1915," JoumalofUrban History9, conditioned by the size of the Baldwin property no. 4 (August 1983): 459. western edge of Lot 22.

108 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 18:3 + 4 just north of Lowther (141 feet on west side). Ul­ Architecture varied according to the con­ timately, new lots were severed from the backs of ditions of development, from private Regency-style the Bedford corner lots and houses were built on villas on Prince Arthur Avenue to the speculative the west ends of the cross streets. Architecturally, row housing of Tranby Avenue (figures 8, 9). The these were closer in style to the houses on Bedford earlier houses of the 1870s and early 1880s were than to the West Yorkville houses. This anomaly is either modest stucco cottages, low to the ground evident on maps and on the ground, in the different and set back from the street, or self-confident urban architectural character of the end houses, and in the villas and townhouses in the late Gothic Revival and undeveloped, left-over land (figures 2, 11 ). Second Empire styles of the period. Lowther Subdivision plans have subsequently been Avenue is notable for the number of rough-cast registered on specific sites within the district, and dwellings from the 1870s that survive on the south property assembly in several locations has elimin­ side, many of which are entered at grade level. The ated several of the original lot lines, but the overall most architecturally mixed street is Boswell Avenue. structure of subdivision has remained constant. The Initially inhabited almost entirely by householders in four periods of subdivision are visible in the differ­ the building trades, the street was renumbered at ent character of the streets and in the relationship of least three times because subdivision occurred with architecture to lot size. more frequency than on other streets: insertion of three houses where once there were two, re-division STREETS AND HOUSES IN THE EAST ANNEX of lots, building in lanes, etc. The character of the streets is determined by several Servicing was a necessary forerunner of fa ctors. Street width and lot size determine the grain development, but did not activate it. 7 Only on of the area: street width varies from the conventional Tranby Avenue did public infrastructure have a 66 feet of Prince Arthur Avenue to the very narrow direct correlation with the construction of housing. 48 feet of Tranby Avenue. Lot size determined the Sewers were laid on Tranby in 1888 and the street kinds of houses, and their relationship to each other. was paved with cedar blocks the following year. Prince Arthur started out with the largest lots, 53 Almost half of the 58 houses currently on Tranby fe et wide, but the standard was about 50 feet. were built by 1889, the year after the water mains Builders generally placed two houses on each lot, were laid, and almost three quarters had been built and the survival of single lots is uncommon. Tranby by 1892. Avenue's distinctive visual character comes from the In many instances, the original buildings tight spacing of houses built in a ten-year period: in the East Annex were replaced around 1900 by three houses were frequently squeezed onto one 50- more substantial structures, reflecting changes in foot lot, and frontages of less than 14 feet are com­ architectural fashion and in the tenor of the area. mon (figures 6, 7). There were negative social and On Boswell Avenue, for example, a pair of rough­ economic repercussions to this density of housing, cast cottages that dated from the 1870s were including low social status and assessment values, replaced by numbers 32-32A-34 (1908) and 40-42-44 particularly along the north side ofTranby.4 Even (1907), and one substantial rough-cast house on today, property values on the north side are 10 percent lower per foot than the south side ofTranby Avenue.5 Prince Arthur Avenue, also of the mid-1870s, was replaced by the two houses at numbers 9 and 11. Figure 6 (top). Plan of Prince There was a clear correlation between lot Mhur Avenue between Bedford An interesting example of the impact of size, street character, and assessment values. Road and Avenue Road. The Boulevards, grass strips, and street trees contribute the Annex development on West Yorkville architec­ pre-1900 buildings have been enormously to the quality of a street. On Prince ture is 55 Boswell Avenue, the last lot on the shaded. The street has grass boulevards on both sides, and Arthur Avenue, open lawns, grassy boulevards, and Yorkville side and one which retains its original 50- foot frontage (figure 10). The same family occupied houses on large lots. A high rise a tree canopy probably contributed to the high apartment building built in the assessment values and the fashionableness of the the house for more than 60 years. Stylistically, the 1940-59 period occupies the street with Toronto establishment socialites6 and house is not related to either area, because it is an north side of the street. (AJ. well-known architects after 1900. Building set-backs, amalgam of two houses of significantly different Diamond, Donald Schmitt and Associates, 1992) combined with the 66-foot width, still make it a periods. The original house had been built near the middle of the lot about the late 1870s, in the third spacious and open street. Figure 7 (above). Plan of Tranby Another street with high assessment period of subdivision, and a substantial addition was Avenue between Bedford Road values, and with low out-migration, was Elgin built on the front around 1905, after Bedford Road and Avenue Road. The shaded houses were built between 1880 Avenue, which also had treed boulevards on both was developed. Such evolutions can be related to the transition from the original West Yorkville and 1899. Sidewalks are at the sides and houses set back on larger lots. It was one curb. (AJ. Diamond, Donald of the Annex streets most moved to, and least character to the later the Annex identity. This was a Schmitt and Associates, 1992) moved from. On Boswell Avenue, the narrow 55- result of social affiliation as much as physical foot width did not prevent an allowance for small contiguity. The types of development that were grass boulevards (now mostly displaced by parking sanctioned in the first two-thirds of this century were pads). Boswell was a street to move from, although a direct consequence of the socio-economic com­ a number of moves occurred within the street. position of the Annex.

18:3+4 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 109 Figure 8 (left). 10 Prince Arthur OCCUPANCY AND ARCHITECTURE cottages of the 1870s, fine examples of which are Avenue, built in 1873. (AM. de After 1900, the streets now associated with the East still to be found at 23 and 41 Boswell Avenue, rapid­ Fort-Menares, 1992) Annex sifted out into a social hierarchy that ran ly fell out of favour when the taller rooflines and from respectable Bernard Avenue, dipping some­ deeper rooms of the brick-faced semi-detached Figure 9 (right). View of what through Tranby and Boswell avenues, and speculatively-built row houses on houses, such as those lining Tranby Avenue, entered Tranby Avenue, looking east to peaking in terms of cachet along Prince Arthur the vocabulary of speculative builders. Juxtapositions Avenue Road. (AM. de Fort­ Avenue from Avenue Road to Huron Street. Status of architecturally dissimilar scales, textures, and siting Menares, 1992) was reflected in the tax assessments, which in 1910 are not often found on a single street, however; were highest on Prince Arthur, Lowther, and the overall, there is considerable continuity of forms, west side of Bedford. Families who considered them­ materials, and siting. A limited number of facade selves aristocratic or otherwise notable ensured their typologies recur throughout the area, representing 8 Lemon and Speisman, 1.6, p. 4, listing in the Toronto "Blue Books." While only and figure 1.6.6. four main shifts in architectural taste. These are the three percent of the city's population, Annex resi­ 9 Lemon and Speisman, 1.6, p. 4. Italianate, late Gothic Revival or Georgian "Survival" dents represented 19 to 25 percent of the Blue elements found on the early rough-cast cottages and 10 Lemon and Speisman, figure Book addresses between 1900 and 1924.8 1.6.3. polychromatic brick buildings; the Second Empire, With the exception of Prince Arthur with its characteristic mansard roofs; the tall brick II The East Annex ha s experienced Avenue, the area was first occupied mainly by many of the changes, such as Romanesque/Queen Anne town-houses that typify tradesmen and labourers. By 1923, more than 54 land use and social composition, Tranby Avenue; and a gentle, wide variant of the that typify urban expansion. percent of residents were professional and Queen Anne Revival in a brown or orangey brick, Some principal sources for the managerial.9 By comparison, St. George Street to relation of suburbs to urban enlivened with shingles and towers. Excellent exam­ the west was inhabited in 1923 wholly by managerial, growth in Toronto are: KM. ples of this style are found at 49-51 Bernard Avenue Campbell, "The Changing proprietorial or professional classes. The short (1901), by the architect A.M. Rice, and at 52 Elgin Residential Patterns in Toronto, streets of the East Annex were comparable to the 1880-1910" (M.A. diss., Univer­ Avenue (1897-98), designed by F.H. Herbert (fig­ West Annex streets of Brunswick, Howland, and sity of Toronto, 1971); Peter G. ure 11). Goheen, Victorian Toronto, 1850 Albany in terms of occupational structure and Within these broad categories there are to 1900: Pattem and Process of assessed values, but had a higher tenancy rate. 10 Growth (Chicago: University of variations and themes which give the area much of Some striking patterns emerge from the Chicago, 1970); Gunther Gad and its character and cohesion. In particular, there were Deryck Holdsworth, "Building for occupancy data. Socially, the middle period of 1895- four principle designs developed for semi-detached City, Region and Nation," in V.L 1920 was the most homogeneous. Mobility at that Russell, ed., Forging a Consensus: houses, depending on whether the building was to time often occurred within single streets, and there Historical Essays on Toronto be expressed as a single or double house. Buildings (Toronto: was pronounced mobility within the study area. This erected after 1920 introduced a variety of modern Press, 1984); J.W. Watson, is typical for the time, when mobility was closely "Centre and Periphery: The architectural pursuits, including revivals of historic related to socio-economic standing and, obviously, Transfer of Urban Ideas from styles. Twentieth century construction in the district is Britain to Canada," in John Patten, the ability to ensure security of tenure. Four cases of less easily characterized by specific elements, but ed., Th e Expanding City: Essays in long-term occupancy occurred on Bedford Road, Honour ofProfessor Jean Go1t1nwu1 tends to a straightforwardness in material, form , and where residents lived in their original houses for (London: Academic Press, placement of openings, and a simplicity of detailing. 1983); J.W.R. White hand, more than 40 years. This number was rarely "Fringe Belts: a Neglected matched on other streets, although each had at least Aspect of Urban Geography," COMMUNITY CONTROL IN THE EAST ANNEX one resident of 40 to 60 years standing. Institute of British Geographers Annex residents for many years resisted changes to Transactions 41 (June 1967). The modest storey-and-a-half rough-cast

110 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 18:3 + 4 11 their neighbourhood. Early residents were anxious predominated. Figure 10 (left). The Teagle family to protect the quality of their area, and to do so they The opening of the nearby St. George sub­ house at 55 Boswell Avenue, first exploited whatever means were available. Planning way station in 1966 introduced new development pres­ built in the centre of the lot in the 1870s, with a front added out to controls developed relatively slowly in Canada, with sures, characterized by land assembly, high-rise the street in 1905. (AM. de Fort­ the first comprehensive zoning bylaw in Toronto development, and increased commercialization of uses. Menares, 1992) being adopted in 1954. As a conservative force, There are upwards of30 buildings in the area which zoning benefitted the early residents only as long as postdate 1930; their greatest impact has come from a Figure 11 (right). 52 Elgin Avenue, the founding interest dominated and controlled significant change in the scale of development. The designed in 1898 for AH. Sydene, a clerk at the Legislative Assembly, change. As the owner-occupants representing the assembly of six lots on Prince Arthur Avenue to build by architect F. H. Herbert. Situated founding interests declined in numbers, they were an apartment block, and of eight lots on Avenue Road at the end of a street laid out in replaced by more commercially-oriented interests, to build a condominium between Elgin and Lowther, 1874, its architecture is typical of 12 and zoning responded to these new concerns. introduced significa nt changes to the streets on a the Annex. Open land beside the The Annex changed considerably in the house part of the severance scale that affects the en tire district. is 20th century, as better suburbs such as Lawrence from adjacent Bedford Road Residents are once aga in attempting to properties. (AM. de Fort-Menares, Park and Forest Hill were built to the north and regain control of their neighbourhood, to stop 1992) northwest, inducing Annex residents or potential demolitions and control development. Design residents to locate elsewhere. The departure in 1931 guidelines for land use, building alterations, vegeta­ of Lady Eaton from 182 Lowther Avenue (near tion, street paving, and lighting have been developed Spa dina) was a clear signal of the declining prestige by consultants working with a ratepayers' committee of the whole Annex area.13 Rooming houses and as part of a Heritage Conservation District study. multiple-family occupancy in the Annex during the These guidelines are being considered by City of housing shortages of the 1920s also contributed to Toronto planners, along with stronger zoning con­ I 2 Peter W. Moore, "Zoning and the changing character, as did the tenants who were trols based on the type of heritage zoning used in Neighbourhood Change: The accommodated. Residents resisted rooming houses Ottawa, enforced through the provisions of the Ann ex in Toronto, 1900-1970," by hiring private detectives to stake out suspicious Th e Canadian Geographer 26, Planning Act and the H eritage Act. While households. In 1921 they successfully had Bedford, no. I (spring 1982): 2 I-36. regulating private development and property design Bernard, and Lowther avenues restricted to single­ 13 Lemon and Speisman, 1. 6, p. 7. may be seen as a form of social control, it has the Another urbanite who fl ed to the family detached residential use. 14 In 1943, multiple­ benefit of targeting the public rather than the co untry was E.R. Wood, who family occupancies were sanctioned by the federal private behaviour of those to whom it applies. moved to Bayview. Wartime Prices and Trade Board because of the I4 Stuart Schoenfeld, "Formati on housing shortage. The Board effectively cancelled of a Nei ghbourhood: The Defini­ THE EAST ANNEX ILLUSTRATES A CRITICAL SHIFT in loca l zoning restrictions to allow roomers and board­ tion of the Annex and its Bo un­ the scale of urban development in the city. Research dari es," The Annex Book, 1.4, p. ers in any dwelling in Canada. 15 Single-family has shown that this shift, which is legible in the streets 5. residential use in the Annex declined from 71 per­ and buildings of the East Annex, is historically 16 I5 Moore, 32. cent in 1939 to 25 percent by 1972. rooted in the social and physical make-up of the 16 Elizabeth Cull el aL , Th e Awzex Institutional use is the usual stage of neighbourhood, creating a character which has Study: An In dependent Input into development to follow prestige suburban residential, persisted to the present day. Efforts currently under­ the Part If Planning Process. An Interim Report (Toronto: York and institutions had been present in the Annex since way will determine whether the singular character of University, Urban Studies Pro­ 19 10, beginning with a Catholic school on Prince the East Annex will survive into the future. gram, 1972), 33. Courtesy Com­ Arthur Avenue, but in this area residential use has muni ty History Project, Toronto.

18:3 + 4 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC t1 1