[URBAN NOTE] "The creation of Toronto’s first City Hall and market buildings"

[rfmcdonald]

Spacing Toronto hosts an essay by Stephen Otto, originally written in 1985, about the genesis of Toronto's first city hall.

In July 1833 the Colonial Advocate took notice of the increased pace of commerce and improvements in York: “everything is going on charmingly … In short York bids fair to become one of the first cities of importance, for commerce, extent and neatness, in British America.”

That year the assessors counted 6,094 people, a startling increase over the 2,860 residents in 1830 when the Home District magistrates had advertised for plans to be submitted by early June for a new brick market hall, “about one hundred feet by forty” in size. When completed two years later, the Town Hall and market building was the largest structure erected in the capital of Upper Canada. A visitor noted it had, “no equal of the kind even in New York or in the States.” The lofty Town Hall was prominent along the south side of King Street, while the market structure with its monumental archways into the square was a major element in the panorama of York seen from the lake. Their scale seemed better suited to a much larger place, which York was rapidly becoming.

The market hall was to be sited on the eastern end of the market reserve, a generous space of five and a half acres bounded by the present Front, Church, King, and Jarvis Streets. It would replace a wooden building housing 22 butchers, which in 1828 had attracted the notice of George Henry, author of The Emigrant’s Guide, or Canada as it is. “The present market house, which is extensive,” he said, “appears scarcely large enough to accommodate the inhabitants of this fast increasing town.” This temple to lean trim and fair weight was surrounded by farmers selling butter, eggs, fruits, vegetables, grains, wood and hay from their wagons. After the magistrates examined the plans and estimates sent in they had second thoughts, perhaps about the suggested dimensions or the anticipated costs of such a building. In any event, new instructions must have been given to builders and architects because several months later, in January 1831, five fresh proposals were ready to be considered. These were narrowed down to two and a committee was appointed to confer with the authors, James G. Chewett and James Cooper, “in explanation of their plans.”

Until later, no professional architects existed in York. Chewett, who was well known to members of the committee, had been trained as a land surveyor and draftsman by his father, the deputy Surveyor General for Upper Canada. He is known to have prepared occasional designs, although it is uncertain which of these, if any, were built. Cooper was a less familiar figure. Possibly he was a builder, the “Mr. Cooper” whose designs were adopted for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at Niagara in early 1831.