Public Notice

IN THE MATTER OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT

R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER O.18 AND

CITY OF TORONTO, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

8 CAWTHRA SQUARE

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DESIGNATE THE PROPERTY

TAKE NOTICE that Council for the City of Toronto intends to designate the property, including the lands, buildings and structures thereon known municipally as 8 Cawthra Square under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.O.18, as amended, as a property of cultural heritage value or interest.

This notice is being served to the Owner of the Property, the Ontario Heritage Trust, and any Objectors and Interested Persons.

The property at 8 Cawthra Square, is worthy of designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural value and meets Regulation 9/06, the provincial criteria prescribed for municipal designation under the categories of design/physical, historical/ associative and contextual value.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value

The house is a unique example of the Queen Anne Revival style due to is high-quality materials and distinctive design. The characteristic use of various wall textures, asymmetrical facade and dominant front bay and gable stylistically defines the house. The generous use of stone, spacious detached form, and its irregular and picturesque gable-on-hip roofline sets it apart from many other Queen Anne Revival style houses in Toronto.

The house once featured elaborate and exuberant spindle work bargeboards, gable screens, and verandah friezes, as well as cresting on the verandahs and roof ridge. Originally, the high quality of materials with the elaborate spindle work and cresting - combined with the highly distinctive rooflines - marked the house as being more refined than the more typical Queen Anne Revival-style houses to line Toronto streets. While some decorative features of the front verandah has been lost, the rear verandah retains much of the original spindle work detail.  The house retains significant integrity and continues to stand apart from many Queen Anne style houses in Toronto.

The property also has historical value for recalling the socio-economic and development history of the immediate and broader area, surviving as one of a dwindling number of residences in the Church Wellesley village area to do so.

When originally developed, the area was one of the most desirable in the city with the main corridors of Jarvis, Church and Sherbourne streets containing grand houses and the intermediate streets comprising many substantial but less grand houses such as this.  Such properties attracted the professional and upper-middle class residents, including managers and business owners, including its first owner and occupant, Thomas Bryce, a prominent lumber merchant, builder and one time Alderman on city Council. By the mid-1900s, many area houses had become rentals, boarding houses and apartments attracting single people who would come to define the demographic make-up of the Church-Wellesley Village area. The subject property reflects the socioeconomic history of the street and area. 

Further, the property contributes to the historic character of the immediate and broader physical context of the street and the neighbourhood.

Cawthra Square was developed as an upscale residential enclave, between two of the grandest streets in the city - Jarvis and Church streets. The high-quality materials and design of the subject property - combined with it being an integral component of a row of houses making up the north side of the street - help to define, maintain and support the character of the street.

Additionally, the property helps to define, maintain and support the historic late 1800s and early 1900s character of the broader area. Immediately adjacent Jarvis Street between Cawthra Square and Gloucester Streets is entirely comprised of properties designated and listed on Toronto's Heritage Register, including the George Gooderham House (1891) at the corner of Cawthra Square, which was designated in 1976. The block of Gloucester Street behind the subject property, and Monteith Avenue, immediately adjacent to Cawthra Sq to the west are highly concentrated with properties on the Heritage Register which are designated or listed. The block bound by Cawthra Square, Church, Gloucester and Jarvis Streets contains the highest concentration of Heritage Register properties in the Church -Wellesley Village area.

Heritage Attributes

Design or Physical Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the property at 8 Cawthra Square as a unique example of Queen Anne-Revival-style design include:

• The two-storey, rectangular form, scale and massing of the house with rectangular rear extension
• The gable-on-hip roof with rear cross gable and front facing gable; side gable-roof dormer; tall, corbelled chimneys; gable peak with wood-shingle cladding; slate roofing
• The red-brick exterior with rough-dressed stone detailing comprising belt course, window sills and lintels, and first-storey, front-façade cladding
• The fenestration comprising rectangular openings; the second-storey bay window; the second-storey front-façade doorway with transom; the east elevation stained and leaded glass window
• The front verandah placement and its upper-deck components including cornices and ceiling; The rear wraparound verandah with its spindle work frieze, solid and spindle work brackets, and turned balustrade
• The main central doorway with recessed porch clad in wooden tongue-and-groove cladding, the Queen Anne-style panelled wood door with multi-pane glazing arranged around a single pane, and door surround mouldings

Historic and Associative Value

Attributes that contribute to the value of the property at 8 Cawthra Square for its contribution to an understanding of the historical socio-economic and development history of the immediate and broader Church-Wellesley village area:

The substantive architectural design of the house including its Queen-Anne Revival style, spacious two-storey form, and high-quality materials and detailing which recalls the area's historic and upscale residential character of detached and semi-detached houses.

Contextual Value

Attributes that contribute to the contextual value of 8 Cawthra Square as helping to define, maintain and support the historic late 1800s and early 1900s character of its context immediate context and broader area include:

• The location on Cawthra Square, between Church and Jarvis Streets
• The house contributes to the concentration of late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century houses on Jarvis Street, Gloucester Streets and Monteith Avenue included on the City's Heritage Register
• The building's placement on Cawthra Square with similar setback and orientation to the street as the other historic houses in the block

The substantive architectural design of the house including its Queen-Anne Revival style, spacious two-storey form, and high-quality materials and detailing which recalls the area's historic and upscale residential character of detached and semi-detached houses.

Notice of Objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate

Notice of an objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property may be served on the City Clerk, Attention: Registrar Secretariat, City Clerk's Office, Toronto City Hall, 2nd Floor West, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N2.; Email: RegistrarCCO@toronto.ca within thirty (30) days of April 23, 2024, which is May 23, 2024. The notice of objection to the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property must set out the reason(s) for the objection and all relevant facts.

Getting Additional Information:

Further information in respect of the Notice of Intention to Designate the Property is available from the City of Toronto at:

https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2024.PH11.20.