Gallery #2 These designs include many that you can see in a ten-minute walk through the neighbourhood. They range from simple cabins to substantial two-storey homes.
Gallery #3 features the most popular style of the time, “the rage” (as in “all the rage”) of the pre-World War One cities in North America. Many of these designs carried on through to the end of “the Roaring Twenties”
Gallery #4 Summer Cottages. Many of these were built in Cottage Country, but many were also built as year-round homes in Toronto.
Gallery #5 Barns, hunters’ lodges, “auto houses” (garages), additions, store fronts, school house, etc. and “The Power of Cash”.
If you enjoyed this and want to see more catalogues like this you can go to the Toronto Public Library’s (TPL) digital archives and flip through them online or download them to your computer. Here is the search page for the TPL digital archives: https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/
This link will take you to Sovereign’s 1916 catalogue:
No Typhoid in O’Keefes, Toronto Star, April 1, 1911. No joke, typhoid was a real problem in the neighbourhood at the time, especially on Rhodes Avenue and Craven Road.Sovereign Homes ad, Toronto World, April 1, 1911. One of the most popular kit house manufacturers. Many houses in the area are readi-built designs, flat-packed like a famous European furniture maker, and shipped out to be put together by the buyer or a contractor.Glenmount and Kingsmount ad, Toronto Sunday World, March 31, 1912Greenmount Park, Toronto Star March 30, 1913. This was Ravina Crescent and the PocketCanada Bread, Danforth Ave Toronto Star, April 1, 1930Dump truck nuisance, Greenwood garbage pit, March 27, 1962Dump truck nuisance, Greenwood garbage pit, March 27, 1962Dump truck nuisance, Greenwood garbage pit, March 27, 1962Dump truck nuisance, Greenwood garbage pit, March 27, 1962
In these rather unhappy days I chose pictures from the last week of March that made me feel happier. I hope you enjoy them! Joanne Doucette
Charles Coxwell Small, York Pioneers, old painting March 25, 1930 (note wheelchair)
This picture is of Charles Coxwell Small, the Family Compact member who owned all the land from Coxwell Avenue to Woodbine Avenue and from Ashbridge’s Bay to Danforth Avenue. He used a wheelchair because he was partially paralyzed as the result of a stroke. His workplace, the old courthouse on Adelaide Street east of Victoria Street, made itself accessible with ramps so that he could continue in his job. We’ve changed a lot as a society since the mid-nineteenth century and I’m glad of that too. As a person with a disability I need ramps and elevators and, basically, any place with stairs is off limits to me. The world is a happier place for inclusion, equality and diversity.
A Tale of Two Families, Maclean’s, March 1911
This story is about an immigrant family who went from living in a tarpaper shack in a Shacktown (like that of Gerrard-Coxwell’s neighbourhood). They worked hard and “made good” going from their humble home to a comfortable well-built house. When I was growing up outside of Toronto an immigrant family moved into a chicken coop next door to us. It was a tarpaper shack too, a smelly one at that. But the whole family worked hard and over time the tarpaper shack too became comfortable bungalow. Happy memories!
Charles Coxwell Small, York Pioneers, old painting March 25, 1930A Tale of Two Families, Maclean’s, March 1911A Tale of Two Families, Maclean’s, March 1911
One of my happy spaces and a happy place for many of us.
Architectural rendering of Gerrard Branch, 1923, by Shepard & Calvin
And it makes me happier thinking of hard-working people who had a stroke of luck. A family in my village also won the Irish Sweepstakes. My mother always said, “Money can’t make you happy, but it sure can make being miserable a whole lot easier.”
Irish Sweepstakes winners, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949The Griegs, Irish Sweepstakes winners, Ashdale Ave, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Parents of Irish Sweepstakes winners, Ashdale Ave, Toronto Star, March 26 1949Overjoyed at news, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Mrs. Mary Knox, mother-in-law, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Irish Sweepstakes winners, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Irish Sweepstakes winners, Ashdale Ave, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Home, Irish Sweepstakes winners, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Grandmother and nieces, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949Brother of winner, Ashdale Avenue, Toronto Star, March 26, 1949
Our local merchants have made my life happier over and over again.
Stricklands, Butcher offers a roast of beef, It must be cooked properly to give consumer value, March 21, 1973 by Graham Bezant
And even on the darkest days, there are rainbows in the sky and on the sidewalk. I took this photo on Woodfield Road.
Woodbine Avenue, looking south from south of Merrill Avenue E, March 16, 1965 TPLWoodbine Avenue, looking south from south of Merrill Avenue E, March 16, 1955 by James V. Salmon, TPL
Golfview Avenue, Globe, March 15, 1912How the East is Growing Toronto Sunday World, March 15, 1914Spinsters Convention Glenmount Toronto Star, March 15, 1919Heavy mare 380 Ashdale, Toronto Star, March 15, 1919Helen June Huchinson, Bowmore Road School, family of 10 Toronto Star, March 15, 1930 Toronto Star, March 15, 1922 WilliamsonWoodbine Avenue looking south from south of Merrill, March 15, 1965 by James V. Salmon, TPL
Sale Norway House, Globe, March 14, 1859Robins ad Gerrard Street East, Toronto Star, March 14, 1908John Nelles Bastedo, Toronto Sunday World, March 14, 1909Danforth Tech Toronto World, March 14, 1914Brick manufacturers prepare for building boom, Toronto Star, March 14, 1919Globe March 14 1922W.W. Hiltz to build stores Danforth, Woodbine, Dawes Toronto Star, March 14, 1922
107 Kelvin Park South and Norway 1924Cairns Ave. looking west from Gainsborough Rd, March 11, 1929 detailCairns Ave. looking west from Gainsborough Rd, March 11, 1929 detailCairns Avenue looking west from Gainsborough Rd, March 11 1929 detailLooking east from Coxwell Ave over Cairns Avenue, March 11, 1929 DetailLooking east from Coxwell Ave over Cairns Avenue, March 11, 1929 Detail
The Midway Historical Society of Toronto 