Original Photo: 

This photo is part of a partnership between Urban Toronto as part of "Heritage Toronto Mondays".

The home of Dr. Moorhouse at Dundas and Spadina reminds us of a time when Spadina Avenue was a picturesque residential street. Spadina was laid out by doctor, lawyer, and judge William Warren Baldwin who owned an estate above the ridge at Davenport Road called Spadina. He laid out Spadina Avenue in the early 1800s once commenting: "I have cut an avenue through the woods all the way so that we can see the vessels passing up and down the bay." The street's original double width of 132 feet set it apart from most other streets in Toronto, a character that largely remains today.

Dr. Moorhouse built his home on the northeast corner of Dundas and Spadina in the 1880s when it was lined with other estates, churches, and market gardens. It was three storeys high, designed in an eclectic style, dwarfing surrounding buildings. At that time, there was a Chesnut tree promenade on Spadina that gave the street an air of elegance and sophistication. The promenade later vanished in the 1920s. Dr. Moorhouse lived in the home for more than two decades during a time of great transition on Spadina when industrial buildings were being built. Also, the area became home to Jewish immigrants who lived and worked in the area, erecting synagogues, businesses, and theatres. As a sign of the changing times, Moorhouse's home was demolished and replaced with the Standard Theatre, called one of the finest Yiddish theatres in North America. Opening in 1921, it was designed by Benjamin Brown and renamed the Strand in the 1930s. It later became a popular burlesque theatre known as the Victory and subsequently a Chinese language theatre in the 1970s. Today, the once residential character of Spadina Avenue lined with estates has nearly vanished, but the area's later incarnation as a home for Jewish immigrants survives with the presence of many of the community's former structures. The Standard Theatre survives as the home for several businesses.

Research by Maya Bilbao
Photo research by Gary Switzer of MOD Developments