Change and Control in the East Annex, Toronto, 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, Bloor Street, Avenue 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.