Campbell House nearing its new site at Queen and University
March 31, 1972
City of Toronto Archives
Fonds 124, File 2

On March 31 (Good Friday), 1972, Campbell House began a mile-long journey from its original home at Adelaide and Frederick Streets, to its new location adjacent to the Canada Life Building on Queen Street, just west of University Avenue. .

It took over six hours to tow the 272-tonne building to its new home. The journey required the removal of 82 street lamps and three-quarters of a mile of streetcar cable, in addition to the reinforcement of 65 manholes.

The house was built originally for Sir William Campbell, who was the Chief Justice of Upper Canada from 1825 to 1829. Campbell House remained a private residence until the twentieth century, when it was converted to commercial purposes, along with many other properties in its neighbourhood. Prior to its move, the building was used as a warehouse for the Coutts-Hallmark card company.

Coutts-Hallmark wanted to demolish the building to modernize their facilities. Fortunately, another option presented itself in 1969, when the deteriorating house was offered to the Advocates' Society for $1. The Society spent the next three years raising the funds required to save the house.

After two years of restoration work, Campbell House was officially re-opened in June 1974 by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Today Campbell House serves as a clubhouse for the Toronto Advocates' Society and also is a museum open to the public.

See past editions of this month in Toronto.

January 25, 2010 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Viljo Revell, the Finnish architect of Toronto City Hall. Born in 1910 at Vaasa, a town on the west coast of Finland, Revell studied architecture at the Institute of Technology in Helsinki and opened his practice there in 1935.

He is best known in Canada for his design of Toronto City Hall. However Revell died in 1964 before the project was complete. The building was officially opened in September 1965.

As part of the fortieth anniversary of this event, the Archives created a web exhibit, titled A Step Forward in Time.

This exhibit highlights some of the many architectural records housed at the City of Toronto Archives, which span the period from the 1840s to the present.

Celebrating 125 years of Toronto Public Health, this exhibit presents a selection of archival photographs and documents from 1883 to the present, exploring themes such as health services for children, the struggle for clean water and air and the development of public housing and social services.