THE HISTORY

Jarvis Street was built through the centre of Hazel Burn (later spelled 'Hazelburn'). Samuel Jarvis called it Hazel Burn, because it had hazel trees and a little stream ("burn").

Jarvis Street:
The Rise and Fall and Rise of Toronto’s Mansion District
By Bruce Bell


Jarvis Street, named for one of Toronto’s earliest residents Samuel Peter Jarvis, was in the late 19th century this city’s most desirable address overflowing with opulent mansions lining its well manicured sidewalks.
The street began in the early 1800’s a dusty trail leading up to Mr. Jarvis’s estate he had named Hazelburn.
That once sprawling estate first built in 1822 (where Jarvis and Shuter Streets now intersect) was part of a larger land holdings deal given to various members of the Toronto ruling elite known as the ‘Family Compact’ as a thank you for various goodwill gestures granted by the crown.
Between 1846 and 1851 Hazelburn was subdivided into smaller lots with new streets now running through its once wooded area and it was during this time that the Jarvis Street we know today came into existence. Jarvis Street during the middle to the end of the 19th century was a broad 80 foot wide tree lined boulevard and quickly became the most enviable street to live.
One of the first great homes to rise on Jarvis Street was Northfield built in 1856 for Canadian statesman and longtime Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat by renowned architect and future mayor of Toronto Joseph Sheard.
Oliver Mowat one of the Canada’s Fathers of Confederation (the Dominion of Canada came into existence with the passage of the British North American Act signed by the Fathers of Confederation July 1, 1867 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) lived in Northfield for only 6 years and was followed by Edward Rutherford president of Consumers’ Gas. Together with his wife and family the Rutherford’s occupied Northfield for 52 yrs during the heyday of Jarvis Street then nicknamed Canada’s Fifth Avenue.
Today this great home still stands at 372 Jarvis Street and is now part of the National Ballet of Canada School.
When the Rutherford family held court at Northfield living on Jarvis Street became a prerequisite for any well to do family wanting a high social position.
Jarvis Street hit it peak as Toronto’s premier neighbourhood with the arrival of the Massey clan one of Canada’s wealthiest and most influential families. After having made a fortune in farm equipment Hart Massey in 1882 bought the former McMaster mansion called Euclid Hall at 515 Jarvis Street (built in 1868 wholesale magnate A.R. McMaster ) and began to remodel it.

 

Soon a magnificent Baronial Gothic manor complete with a then all-the-rage Moorish styled men’s smoking room was to become the social and political centre for all of late 19th century Toronto. This great home is today home to the popular Keg Restaurant and still has most of the original architectural features than made it a must see home.
Next door at 519 Jarvis is another Massey mansion and was once the boyhood home of Canada’s Governor General Vincent Massey and future Hollywood actor Raymond Massey. Today this completely refurnished mansion is home to York College of Industry and Technology.
Another wealthy family to make Jarvis Street home were the Gooderhams. Today the George H. Gooderham house at 504 Jarvis Street built in 1889 by architect David Roberts (who also built most of the landmark Gooderham and Worts Distillery) has been completely refurbished and has become home to a restaurant aptly named ‘The Gooderham House”. This lavish red stoned Romanesque mansion was built for the 21 yr old son of the distillery owner who had his initials carved into the frieze above the front door.

The great homes of Jarvis Street didn’t have to be spectacular huge mansions to make then stand out and one magnificent treasure that proves this beyond compare is the former residence of Charles R. Rundle at 514 Jarvis Street now part of the Gloucester Square Inns of Toronto.
This extraordinary of example of Romanesque/Queen Anne/Music Hall architecture was built by one of Toronto’s and some say greatest architect Edward James Lennox in 1889 and sits on half a lot on the corner of Jarvis and Gloucester Streets. In his heyday Lennox managed to built some of Toronto’s leading landmark structures including the still standing King Edward Hotel on King Street, Casa Loma, ‘Old’ City Hall and the Massey mansion across the street at 519 Jarvis.

During the 20th century Jarvis Street began to decline as the premier address when other more fashionable neighbours like Rosedale and Forest Hill began to take root and the great homes began to decline as well with some being turned into flop houses or just plain abandoned.
However with the resurgence of the Mansion District as a destination for tourists both local and from afar, this astonishing architectural jewel comprised of an entire neighbourhood, is bringing many of these former estates back into the limelight and with it Jarvis Street is returning to its glory years as one of Toronto’s premier streets.

William Jarvis


Samuel Jarvis 1850
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