TORONTO

August 27, 1998

To:City of Toronto Community Council

From:Managing Director, Toronto Historical Board

Subject:Designation Under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act - 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House)

Purpose:

This report recommends that the property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) be designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

Not applicable.

Recommendations:

1. That City Council state its intention to designate the property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

2.That the appropriate officials be authorized to take whatever action is necessary to give effect hereto.

Background:

At its meeting of August 26, 1998, the Board of Heritage Toronto had before it the attached report recommending the designation of the property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The property owner was advised of the request and wrote a letter supporting the designation.

Comments:

Short Statement of Reasons for Designation

Massey-Quick House

540 Dovercourt Road

The property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) is recommended for designation for architectural and historical reasons. The property contains a double house completed in 1896 for contractor Robert Grant. First occupied by Arthur L. Massey and John E. Quick, the double house was designed by Toronto architect D. B. Dick.

The Massey-Quick House displays the mixture of materials, asymmetrical composition, and varied forms associated with Queen Anne styling. The building is constructed of brick on a stone foundation and trimmed with brick, stone and wood. Rising 2½-stories, the house is covered by a gable roof with cross-gables, dormers and chimneys. Important features are the round-arched principal (east) entrance, two-storey southeast porch, bay window (east wall), and pattern of round-arched and flat-headed window openings.

Located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street, the Massey-Quick House is a prominent feature in the Dovercourt neighbourhood.

Conclusion:

Heritage Toronto recommends that City Council designate the property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Contact Name:

Ms. Kathryn Anderson

Preservation Officer, Historical Preservation Division, Toronto Historical Board

Tel: 392-6827, ext. 239

Fax: 392-6834

George Waters,

Acting Managing Director

(g:\report\1998\cc98\cc98022.thb)

copy:

Councillor Joe Pantalone, Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Suite 209, Toronto, M5V 3C6

Councillor Mario Silva, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Suite 8, Toronto,

M5H 2N2

HERITAGE TORONTO

August 10, 1998

To:Chair and Members, Toronto Historical Board

Subject:540 DOVERCOURT ROAD (MASSEY-QUICK HOUSE) -

INCLUSION ON THE CITY OF TORONTO INVENTORY OF HERITAGE PROPERTIES AND DESIGNATION UNDER PART IV OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT

From:Managing Director, Toronto Historical Board (thb98033.hpd)

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That City Council state its intention to designate the property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) pursuant to Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act to be of architectural and historical value.

2.That the appropriate officials be authorized to take whatever action is necessary to give effect hereto.

COMMENTS

1.Background:

In a letter dated May 15, 1998, Heritage Toronto was requested to consider the property at 540 Dovercourt Road for designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. On July 29, 1998, representatives of the property owners sent a letter supporting the request.

The property is not included on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Properties. Heritage Toronto staff evaluated the property according to the Board's criteria which indicates that it merits inclusion as a Neighbourhood Heritage Property (Category C).

A Short Statement of Reasons for Designation, intended for publication, follows. A Heritage Property Report (Long Statement of Reasons for Designation), including visuals, is attached. Both documents constitute the Reasons for Designation.

1.Short Statement of Reasons for Designation:

The property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) is recommended for designation for architectural and historical reasons. The property contains a double house completed in 1896 for contractor Robert Grant. First occupied by Arthur L. Massey and John E. Quick, the double house was designed by Toronto architect D. B. Dick.

The Massey-Quick House displays the mixture of materials, asymmetrical composition, and varied forms associated with Queen Anne styling. The building is constructed of brick on a stone foundation and trimmed with brick, stone and wood. Rising 2½ stories, the house is covered by a gable roof with cross-gables, dormers and chimneys. Important features are the round-arched principal (east) entrance, two-storey southeast porch, bay window (east wall), and pattern of round-arched and flat-headed window openings.

Located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street, the Massey-Quick House is a prominent feature in the Dovercourt neighbourhood.

George Waters

Acting Managing Director

RS/KA

encl.Heritage Property Report

HERITAGE TORONTO

Heritage Property Report

Massey-Quick House

540 Dovercourt Road

August 1998

Heritage Property Report

Massey-Quick House

540 Dovercourt Road

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Basic Building Data1

1. Dovercourt Neighbourhood

2.540 Dovercourt Road

Architectural Description

Context

Summary

Sources Consulted

Attachments:

IShort Statement of Reasons for Designation

IILocation Map

IIIPhotographs

IVArchitectural Drawings *

• source: Horwood Collection, Archives of Ontario; reproductions supplied by Crawford Shaw Historical Society

HERITAGE TORONTO

Heritage Property Report

Basic Building Data:

Address:540 Dovercourt Road (northwest corner of Dovercourt

Road and Dewson Street)

Ward:20 (Trinity-Niagara)

Current Name:Dufferin Grove Housing Co-op

Historical Name:Massey-Quick House

Construction Date:1895-1896

Architect:D. B. Dick

Contractor/Builder:Bennett and Wright

Additions/Alterations:dates unknown: door opening replaced by window opening

on principal (east) façade; wood sunporches added to south

and north walls; wood fire escape added to rear (west) wall

Original Owner:Robert Grant

Original Use:Residential (double house)

Current Use*:Residential (9-unit co-op)

Heritage Category:Neighbourhood Heritage Property

Recording Date:August 1998

Recorder:HPD:KA

* this does not refer to permitted use(s) as defined in the Zoning By-law

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

1.Dovercourt Neighbourhood:

Following the founding of the Town of York in 1793, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe divided the area bounded by the Don River and present day Queen, Dufferin and Bloor Streets into nearly 30 Park Lots which were distributed to members of Upper Canada's political and military elite. Close to Dufferin Street, Park Lot 26 was initially reserved for the unnamed Solicitor General of the province. However, in 1798, the lot was divided in two, with the north half granted to Alexander McNab, Clerk of the Executive Council, and the south half given to William Chewitt, Deputy Surveyor General of Upper Canada. The properties remained undeveloped when George Taylor Denison purchased the south and north halves in 1816 and 1822, respectively.

George Taylor Denison was the eldest son of John Denison (1755-1824), patriarch of one of the most influential families in the development of Toronto. George Taylor Denison inherited almost all of his father's extensive land holdings, including several Park Lots between Spadina Road and Dufferin Street. Portions of Park Lots 25 and 26 were transferred to his eldest son, Richard Lippincott Denison, who named the property "Dover Court" for his great-grandmother's ancestral home in Essex.

1.540 Dovercourt Road:

While members of the Denison family developed expansive estates on their Park Lots, by the mid-19^th century they responded to the westward expansion of the City of Toronto by subdividing and selling portions of their properties. In 1877, Plan D262 was registered for Denison land on the west side of Dovercourt Road between College and Bloor Streets. Lot 19 at the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street was acquired in 1892 by Robert Grant, a prominent Toronto contractor who resided at 528 Dovercourt Road.

A native of Scotland, Robert Grant (born 1840) immigrated to Toronto in 1870, forming a brief partnership with engineer Lionel York. Although his qualifications are unknown, Grant advertised his services as an "architect" in an 1873 Directory. By the next year, however, he joined architect D. B. Dick in a partnership that formally lasted through 1876. David Brash Dick (1846-1925) received his training at the Edinburgh School of Design and in the offices of the Scottish architectural firms of W. L. Moffatt and Peddie and Kinnear. He evidently arrived in Toronto via Chicago where he participated in the rebuilding campaign that followed the Great Fire of 1871. Grant and Dick designed the semi-detached house at 30-32 Lowther Avenue in 1875, followed by the Consumers' Gas Company of Toronto Chambers at 17 Toronto Street in 1876. Both properties are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. The latter commission led to Dick's significant body of work for Consumers' Gas and its president, James Austin. He is best known, however, for his projects on the University of Toronto campus, including the restoration of University College in 1890 and his subsequent designs for Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto Library.

Beginning in 1877, Robert Grant concentrated on property development, engaging other contractors to construct his projects. In April, 1894, Grant received a building permit for "one pair of semi-detached 2-storey-and-attic brick dwellings" with a value of $8000 at the northwest corner of Dovercourt and Dewson. The project was designed by his former partner, Dick, as evidenced by drawings for the project housed in the Horwood Collection at the Archives of Ontario (see Attachment IV). Grant engaged the firm of Bennett and Wright to construct the double house. Historical records show the building as incomplete in 1894 and early 1895, and vacant in 1896. The first tenants were recorded in 1897 when Arthur L. Massey occupied #538 Dovercourt (now absorbed into #540), while #540 was the residence of John E. Quick. Little is known about Quick, who was listed in various City Directories as a baggage agent for the Grand Trunk Railway, a secretary and a mariner. Arthur Lyman Massey, however, was the grandson of Hart Massey, founder of the internationally recognized manufacturer of agricultural implements. Following the untimely death of Arthur's father and Hart's heir, Charles Massey, and an estrangement within the clan, control of Massey-Harris passed to Arthur's uncles and cousins. Arthur L. Massey was listed as an accountant during his tenancy at 540 Dovercourt Road.

In 1898, 540 Dovercourt was occupied by a prominent Torontonian, George Taylor Denison IV. A barrister with the family firm of Macklem and Denison, he evidently resided here prior to developing his own property at the south end of Dovercourt. Robert Grant retained the double house until 1910 when Loretto Ladies Colleges and Schools acquired it as rental properties. In 1926, the building was converted into a nine-unit apartment house known as Dover Hall Apartments. The Dufferin Grove Housing Co-op purchased the property in 1978.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

The Massey-Quick House is designed in the Queen Anne style, characterized by its asymmetrical composition, mixture of materials and varied forms. The double house is constructed of red brick on a coursed stone base with brick, sandstone and wood trim.

Rising 2½ stories, a hipped roof with cross-gables on all four slopes covers the building. There is a gabled dormer on the north slope, and a hipped dormer on the rear (west) slope. Some of the gables and dormers are filled with shingles.

The principal (east) façade on Dovercourt Road is organized into four bays of varied widths with entrances placed in the first and third bays. On the south end of this wall, a two-storey porch protects the entry to the portion of the house formerly identified as #538. Partially enclosed, the porch has wood columns and brackets. In the second bay, a projecting frontispiece has a two-storey bay window beneath a gable with returned eaves and a Palladian-styled window opening. Off-set near the centre of the wall, a round-arched entrance porch with a stone keystone provided access to the north half of the semi-detached house. The original panelled wood door with transom has been replaced with a window opening. It is flanked by a window with sandstone detailing. At the north end of the wall, round-arched window openings in the first storey are topped by a gabled wall dormer with a round-headed window opening, brick corbels, and brick detailing in a Greek key pattern. Most of the window openings in the east wall are flat-headed with stone labels and sills.

The long south wall on Dewson Street repeats many of the features introduced on the principal façade. The first and second stories are divided by an elaborately detailed sandstone belt course. Beneath the cross-gable, a projecting frontispiece has rows of flat-headed window openings with sandstone and brick trim. A pedimented gable containing a round window opening with louvered wood shutters surmounts it. An oval window marks the lower storey. The north wall displays a variety of window openings. In the cross-gable, pairs of flat-headed window openings are separated by brick panels and topped by a round arch containing basketweave brickwork. The rear (west) wall has a projecting wing with a gable roof and a combination of round-arched and flat-headed window openings.

CONTEXT:

The property at 540 Dovercourt Road is located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street. It is part of a streetscape of residential buildings that share its setback but not its size. To the north, the Dovercourt-St. Paul's Presbyterian Church (built) on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Hepbourne Street is included on the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage Properties.

SUMMARY:

The property at 540 Dovercourt Road is identified for architectural and historical reasons. The Massey-Quick House was completed in 1896 according to the designs of the important Toronto architect D. B. Dick for his former partner, contractor Robert Grant. Early occupants of the semi-detached house were members of Toronto's leading families. The evolution of the neighbourhood witnessed the successful conversion of the building into an apartment house and later a multi-unit co-op. The Massey-Quick House is an impressive example of the Queen Anne style. Located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street, the property is a visible feature in the Dovercourt neighbourhood.

Sources Consulted:

Arthur, Eric. Toronto. No Mean City. 3^rd ed. Revised by Stephen A. Otto. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1986.

Assessment Rolls. City of Toronto. Ward 6, Division 2. 1894-1898.

Blumenson, John. Ontario Architecture. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1990.

Building Permit #1588 (12 April 1894).

City of Toronto Directories. 1895-1899.

Crawford Shaw Historical Society. "Heritage Property Report: 540 Dovercourt Road". May 1998.

Gagan, David. The Denison Family of Toronto, 1792-1925. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1973.

Hudson, Edna. Bellevue Avenue. An Architectural and Social Study. Toronto: Toronto Region Architectural Conservancy, July 1993.

"The Late Mr. David B. Dick". The Builder (July-December 1925).

Martyn, Lucy Booth. Aristocratic Toronto. Toronto: Personal Library, 1980.

"The Massey Mystique". Weekend Magazine (16 June 1979) 11-14.

McHugh, Patricia. Toronto Architecture. A City Guide. 2^nd ed. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1989.

Kathryn Anderson

August 1998

ATTACHMENT I

Short Statement of Reasons for Designation

Massey-Quick House

540 Dovercourt Road

The property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) is recommended for designation for architectural and historical reasons. The property contains a double house completed in 1896 for contractor Robert Grant. First occupied by Arthur L. Massey and John E. Quick, the double house was designed by Toronto architect D. B. Dick.

The Massey-Quick House displays the mixture of materials, asymmetrical composition , and varied forms associated with Queen Anne styling. The building is constructed of brick on a stone foundation and trimmed with brick, stone and wood. Rising 2½-stories, the house is covered by a gable roof with cross-gables, dormers and chimneys. Important features are the round-arched principal (east) entrance, two-storey southeast porch, bay window (east wall), and pattern of round-arched and flat-headed window openings.

Located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street, the Massey-Quick House is a prominent feature in the Dovercourt neighbourhood.