By Courtney Boost, Heritage Toronto for COLLECTIONS by Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage
For many in Toronto, King Street West is an urban playground. On a Friday night, you emerge from St. Andrew
subway station to meet your friends for dinner and take in a show in the heart of Toronto’s Entertainment District. With hard pavement under your feet and street lights illuminating the sidewalk, it’s easy to get swept up in the hustle and bustle of King Street West.
For tourists and residents alike, the main stretch of the Entertainment District, along King Street West between Simcoe and Peter Streets, is one of the most popular destinations, evolvingin recent years into a residential neighbourhood of its own. The area has borne witness to several changes in streetscape and industry over the last two centuries. From a sparsely populated rural edge of town to a manufacturing hub to an entertainment hot spot — this neighbourhood has seen it all.
One of the first notable structures on the street was the second Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Known as Elmsley House, it was built in 1798 on the southwest corner of King and Simcoe Streets, then the outskirts of the Town of York. In 1830, the GovernmentHouse was joined by Upper Canada College — then a public school and feeder school for King’s College (forerunner of the University of Toronto). The College was a sizeable addition to King Street West, occupying the entire block between John Street and Simcoe Street, north to Adelaide Street.
Following the expansion of the railway, gas lighting, street sewers, and nearby steamboat port, the street quickly became a hub of industry. Between 1840 and 1900, the area developed in a wave of residential and commercial expansion. Much of this expansion consisted of low-rise brick structures which allowed for commercial ventures on the ground level with residential housing above.
By 1901, Toronto was the largest city in Ontario with a population of 208,040, outnumbering Ottawa’s by almost 150,000. King Street West remained densely inhabited with residential and commercial properties until the Great Fire of 1904. The fire, which destroyed a nine hectare stretch of manufacturing buildings along Bay Street between Front and Wellington, caused many factory owners to move their operations northward to King Street West. This was made even more favourable by the availability of the prime real estate where Elmsley House (destroyed by fire in 1862) and Upper Canada College once stood.
Among the most significant additions to King Street West at this time was the Royal Alexandra Theatre, built in 1907. Commissioned by a young Toronto stock broker and philanthropist, Cawthra Mulock, and designed by architect John Lyle, the fire-proof Beaux-Arts style theatre was constructed using the finest imported materials and installed by classically trained European artisans. Mulock tragically died a decade later during the 1918 influenza epidemic, but his “Royal Alex” has lived on and is considered to be the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in North America. Designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1985, it remains a focal point of Toronto’s Entertainment District. As road transportation increased in the early 1900s, many residents of the area relocated to less crowded areas, and several factories and commercial warehouses were constructed along the north side of King Street West.
Walking west from Simcoe Street, you can see the Canadian General Electric Company’s head office at 212 King Street West, designed by Darling and Pearson. Built in 1908, it was the first in a series of three buildings constructed for the company. The Anderson Building, at 284 King Street West, is one of the few surviving buildings with original terra cotta cladding. Further west, directly across from the TIFF Bell Lightbox, is the Eclipse Whitewear building, today a popular Tim Horton’s franchise.
These and other commercial buildings transformed the King Street West streetscape, positioning it at the forefront of the manufacturing industry in Toronto. By 1911, the majority of Torontonians were labourers, with the city’s growing industries bringing in $300-million annually by 1919. Prior to the Second World War, the majority of factories and commercial warehouses along King Street West were light industry manufacturers, producing everything from clothing to baking supplies, and prints to ladies’ undergarments.
During the 1950s, the manufacturing industry of King Street West was at its peak. Thanks to post-war consumerism, the city ramped up production, experiencing historically low unemployment as a result. The turn was short-lived, however, as construction of Highway 401 and cheap land led manufacturers to relocate their factories to less expensive sites in the new suburbs, where their workforce had migrated, leaving only the buildings as a reminder of King Street West’s industrial past.
Marking the beginning of King Street West’s reputation as an entertainment destination was “Honest Ed” Mirvish’s purchase of the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1963. Before long, Mirvish transformed a group of surrounding factories and warehouses into a miniature empire of dining and entertainment establishments, such as Old Ed’s Restaurant, which specifically employed waiters 65 years of age or older.
Between 1970 and 2000, several factory buildings on and surrounding King West were destroyed to make way for various entertainment centres and condominium complexes. Two of the notable structures which drastically changed the streetscape of King Street West include Roy Thompson Hall, home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which sits on the site of the Second Government (Elmsley) House, and the TIFF Bell Lightbox, located one block west of the original Upper Canada College campus — parcels of land that continue to be valuable to our culture and heritage. Despite these destructions, many other factory structures were converted and adaptively reused as offices, studios, lofts, stores, and restaurants.
With exponential population growth from 750 residents in 1996 to more than 7,500 in 2005, the area has evolved into a significant residential community.
Far from its humble beginnings, King Street West is as lively as ever. Considering the countless restaurants, night clubs, and entertainment within steps of each other, it’s no wonder this area is a highlight within Toronto’s noted Entertainment District. Next time you stroll down King Street West, look up and appreciate the few remaining remnants of the area’s industrial past amongst the flashy streetscape of today. After all, who knows what the street will evolve into next? Though recently scaled down and now incorporating several heritage buildings, the proposed Mirvish + Gehry project is slated to drastically alter the streetscape once again.
