Architectural styles

Heritage Designated Houses from Sherbourne to Parliament along Howard and Glen Road:

Different architectural styles of Heritage houses:

  • Georgian: 1714-1830’s          Example:  The Grange (1817), Campbell House(1822) in downtown Toronto.

Please note the different architectural styles in the area indicative of a wealthy, upscale residential neighborhood.

  • Bay-and-Gable:  1860’s        Example: 2 Glen Road (William Muir House, 1884),  Houses at 605-607 Sherbourne (1870)
  • Victorian: 1830-1910            Example: 6-16 Glen Road Houses (1883-1888). Occupants in 1885 included merchants, an estate agent and the owner of a livery stable.
  • Second Empire Style: 1865-1900  Example:  The William McBean stores and houses at 21-35 Howard (1877), James Cooper House at the corner of Sherbourne and Linden (1881)
  • Queen Anne: 1890-1900’s:  The Anson Jones House at 603 Sherbourne (1895, Edmund Burke, architect), The Gooderham Mansion (1883, currently the Selby, Architect David Roberts Jr.)
  • Arts and Crafts: mid 1890’s  Example:  9 Glen Road, Former Rectory of St. Simon’s Church (1907, Eden Smith, Architect).
  • Edwardian: 1897-1918’s        Example: Roslyn Apartments, 1 and 7 Glen Road (Built 1909-1911. Occupants included realtors, merchants and manufacturers), Thomas Cruttenden  Building at the corner of Sherbourne and Howard (1902).

Of special Note:  The William Whitehead House, ( 1887, architect unknown, having been moved from 76 to 32-34 Howard) is a classic Victorian Bay-and-Gable home with decorative Queen Anne Revival styling distinguished by its classical and medieval-inspired elements.

Architecture styles specific to Toronto:

  • Bay-and-Gable:  Of the 3000 houses in Cabbagetown half are of Bay-and-Gable styling.
  • Annex Houses:  These houses typically feature large recessed archways branching from short squat columns with decorative elements pulled from Queen Anne style. Mainly built in the Annex area of Toronto. Architect known for using this style in the Annex in Toronto is E. J. Lennox (Also built Old City Hall and Casa Loma).

Many of the architectural styles went through periods of revival, ie: Queen Anne revival and Georgian revival, where elements of previous styles influenced the architectural designs of different historical periods. There is a connection between the Queen Anne Revival and the Arts and Crafts movement.  Both were rooted in a rekindled interest in the vernacular architecture of the medieval and Elizabethan periods.  The architects generally identified with the Arts and Crafts style designed many buildings that are now considered Queen Anne Revival.  St. Simon-the-Apostle Church (1888, with only the sacristy, organ loft and belfry of the original chapel existing in their original form) is an example of this crossover in Arts and Crafts and Queen Anne revival architectural styles.

Victorian architecture with all of its diverse revival styles became very popular and Victorian-style housing dominated a number of the city’s older neighborhoods.  Cabbagetown, Trinity-Bellwoods, Parkdale, Rosedale, and The Annex hold some of the largest collections of Victorian houses in North America.

 

 

 

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