St. James Town: New World Laundry
New World Coin Laundry
600 Parliament Street
Casaccio Bros. Tailors and Importers Advertisement, Toronto Daily Star, July 27, 1926, p. 10
Aerial Photograph of St. James Town. Detail: 600 Parliament Street. 1964. Courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives.
Aerial Photograph of St. James Town. Detail: 600 Parliament Street. 1969. Courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives.
New World Coin Laundry, St. James Town. September 26, 2021. Image by Herman Custodio
A neighbourhood demolished
The conversion of the St. James Town neighbourhood from Victorian homes to modern high-rises began in the mid-1960s. To make way for the proposed buildings, over 250 homes were slated for demolition north of Wellesley Street and west of Parliament Street. Tenants of the area’s boarding houses were evicted while property owners were offered market rate payments for their homes.
Although many sold their properties for development, there were holdouts. One such holdout was the owner of a semi-detached home at 600 Parliament Street, Lucio Casaccio. His family had owned the property since 1910, and ran a tailoring business, Casaccio Bros., out of the front portion of the home.
Fighting development
When the developers came knocking at his door, Casaccio refused to sell for less than $100,000. At the time, market value for the home was estimated at $12,000. Developers refused, but were able to purchase the majority of the homes surrounding Casaccio’s property, including 598 Parliament Street, which was connected to Casaccio’s home. Developers ripped down the attached semi and built a Y-shaped, 32-storey building called “The Halifax” at 280 Wellesley Street East.
Lucio Casaccio continued to fight the building’s developers even after the Halifax was completed. In 1968, he sued Howard Investments Ltd., the firm behind the Halifax’s construction, for $1,000,000. In an unusual legal argument, Casaccio claimed the company violated his property’s air rights by swinging materials over his building during construction. Ultimately, Casaccio was awarded $1,200 by a judge, but also required to pay $60,000 in legal costs.
Neighbourhood changes
After Lucio Casccio died in 1971, his family eventually sold the 600 Parliament property. Today the former Casaccio home still stands, but has been heavily remodelled over the years. It is currently open as “New World Coin Laundry.” The building serves as a visual reminder of resistance to urban renewal in the 1960s. This half of a semi-detached continues to tell the story of the evolution of the St. James Town neighbourhood even after the original owners left.
Further Reading
-“Tailor sues builders for millions,” The Toronto Star (February 29, 1968), p. B79
-Mark Parliament, “The $80,000 house no one wants,” The Toronto Star (July 31, 1972), p. 8.