August 31, 1999

To:Toronto Community Council

From:W. (Wally) Kowalenko, City Surveyor, Technical Services Division

Subject:Naming of Private Lane - Pear Tree Mews (Ward 21-Toronto Davenport)

Purpose:

This report recommends that the private lane at the rowhouse development at 1 Rankin Crescent be named Pear Tree Mews.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

The estimated costs of $600.00 for the street name signs are to be paid by the developer.

Recommendations:

1. That the private lane at the rowhouse development at 1 Rankin Crescent, illustrated on the enclosed Map A, be named "Pear Tree Mews."
2. That NEXXT Development Incorporation be required to pay the costs, estimated to be in the amount of $600.00, for the fabrication and installation of the appropriate signage; and
3. That the appropriate City officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect to, including the introduction in Council of any Bills that may be required.

Council Reference/Background/History:

I have a request from Jerald Silverberg of NEXXT Development Corporation (1 Atlantic Avenue, Toronto, On M6K 3E7) to name the proposed private lane at the rowhouse development at 1 Rankin Crescent, "Pear Tree Mews." Mr. Silvergerg's reasons for his selection are set out in Appendix "A".

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

The proposed name has been circulated to Councillors Betty Disero and Dennis Fotinos, Toronto Planning, Heritage Toronto, the West Toronto Junction Historical Society and Fire Services for comment. The name has the support of Councillors Betty Disero and Dennis Fotinos and Toronto Planning. Fire Services and the West Toronto Junction Historical Society do not support the proposed name. Heritage Toronto has no comment on the proposal. The correspondence respecting this matter is set out in Appendix "A".

Conclusions:

The proposed name is not duplicated in the City of Toronto and is arguably consistent with the policy for naming streets and lanes approved by the former Toronto City Council on July 11, 1988 (Clause 4, Executive Committee Report No. 22).

Contact Name:

Desmond Christopher

Telephone: (416)392-1831

Fax: (416)392-0081

E-mail: dchristo@toronto.ca

W. (Wally) Kowalenko

City Surveyor

BH

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Appendix "A"

Letter from Jerald Silverberg of NEXXT Development Incorporation

Please accept this letter as an application to name the private drive at the above location Pear Tree Mews. The location of this drive is as shown on the enclosed site plan. Units 8-24 front on Rankin Crescent. Units 25-41 front on the proposed "Pear Tree Mews".

The pear tree originally came from Europe, East Asia and North Africa and likely made its way to the Toronto area around the late 1700's. The tree was originally cultivated for its fruit and then developed into an ornamental tree as new varieties were introduced.

The above noted project will have an extensive number of ornamental pear trees as part of the landscaping proposal for this site.

Memorandum from Richard Stromberg, Heritage Toronto

We are in receipt of your memorandum dated March 23, 1999 requesting Heritage Toronto to comment on a proposal to name a new private lane at 1 Rankin Crescent "Pear Tree Mews."

The proposed name does not appear to comply with the City's policy on street and lane naming to commemorate persons, places, and events with a demonstrated relevance to the City and the neighbourhood. However, we appreciate the fact that the name relates to the proposed landscaping features of the proposed townhouse development serviced by the lane. Heritage Toronto has no comment on the proposal.

Memorandum from Sandra Hoeflich, Fire Services

Further to you memorandum of March 8, 1999 requesting comments on the proposed naming of the lane at the rear of 1 Rankin Crescent.

Fire Services opposes the proposed name Pear Tree Mews, as it matches too closely with Pear Tree Road, Mississauga.

Letter from Diana Fancher, West Toronto Junction Historical Society

Re Naming of the private lane at 1 Rankin Crescent - Pear Tree Mews (Ward 21)

I sent the developer a list of numerous historically appropriate street names at his request. And, while we wouldn't want to force him to choose an historical name, he could a least choose something in keeping with the area.

Pear Tree Mews is not only inappropriate it is a sort of tacky parody on suburban street names. A mews is originally a falcon stable which would have been part of a wealthy house hold in England and presumably these sites in urban settings were eventually developed as housing.

There are no mews in North America. A mews would most certainly not have contained pear trees either. Additionally, there are no streets in the western part of the City of Toronto named after trees alone (although tree names are combined with other landscape terms hillier areas, (eg. Oakmount, Birchview, Pinecrest). Tree names are characteristic of the east side of the city and probably in suburban subdivisions somewhere.

The appropriate ending for the street name would be "Place", "Terrace", "Court" or "Lane". Streets in the immediate area of his development, as I explained to Mr. Silverberg, are named mainly after people, including famous authors. There are a variety of appropriate names to choose from. Rankin Crescent is an historical name.

I would also like to point out to Mr. Silverberg that there is a local compaign to plant trees which are native to the Carolinian forest and would therefore contribute to the local ecosystem and compliment nearby High Park. The parks department could supply him with a list as no doubt could any reputable nursery. Having personal experience with pear trees myself, I would urge him to try something else. If the pears survive the bugs (or the residents survive the bug sprays) they make an awful mess on the lawn and/or sidewalk, since the pears tend to drop all together. Fruit trees require a lot of care and pruning to flourish, something that urban residents are not always willing to do. All it takes is for one person to neglect his/her fruit tree to aggravate the whole block. Native forest trees on the other have are much more likely to thrive without effort.

So, finally, I would like to urge the city and Mr. Silverberg to choose a name more in keeping with the area and also to plant native trees.

Attached is the material I sent to Mr. Silverberg on appropriate names. It was originally compiles for naming a park in the area.

Yours sincerely,

Diana Fancher

BACKGROUND

Most of the Junction Triangle was subdivided in 1887 by plans M-13 and M-22, filed by Simeon Heaman Janes who was, according to the Toronto World, "the richest man in Toronto" by 1897. An earlier plan, M-1, filed by real estate a agent J.P. Clark, had established Royce and Cooper avenues and dedicated Carlton Park.

Toronto subdividers generally named their streets for family, friends, ancestral homes and creditors. Janes named his streets for English, French and American authors with one for British statesman Randolph Churchill put in for good measure. However Janes did make an exception, Campbell Ave. was named for mortgage holder and previous landowner Mrs. Elizabeth Prudence Campbell. Janes' other creditors Mary Cooper, Sarah and Allan Royce, were already commemorated.

Many of Janes' original street names have disappeared. Some like Longfellow and Tennyson were closed. Others were changed when the area became part of Toronto or when other streets were extended. These included Shakespeare, Milton, Irving and Churchill.

Street names that survive today are Addison, Hugo, Macaulay, Ruskin and possibly Wallace. I would like to think that Wallace was named for my own favourite Victorian author, Alfred Russell Wallace, the best and most readable of the British explorer-biologists, but it could also be named for American novelist Lewis Wallace, another contemporary. Wallace may also have been a street extension from the east.

By way of background, members of the Janes family had been in the wholesale millinery and fancy goods business in 1875, although by the time Janes began subdividing this area he had his own real estate company. An 1888 advertisement for the company reads, "Business Properties and city or adjoining vacant land in large blocks are Specialities".

Around 1892 Janes built a magnificent chateau on the crest of Avenue Road overlooking the city. By 1895 he had commissioned the Janes Building at 75 Yonge Street where he located his real estate business, S.H. Janes & co.

Janes was known to be an advocate of the commission form of municipal government in the 1890's. On May 23, 1897, he was among the first to ride the Toronto's newly inaugurated Sunday streetcars, reported by the World to do so in order to save the Sunday labour of his coachman, footman and two horses.

POSSIBLE PARK NAMES

Why not give the literate real estate speculator and streetcar rider his due by naming one of the parks

"Janes Park"?

Or give Mrs. Elizabeth Prudence Campbell who lived on the family farm in the area another claim to fame by naming the eastern part Elizabeth or Prudence. There's something about "Prudence Park" that seems to go with the location.

The immediate area of the western park was subdivided by plan M-23, also in 1887, by the ill-fated Toronto Land & Investment Corporation west broke soon after. The streets were named Harold, Maude, Ernest and Elsie. Of these only Ernest survives. Harold and Elsie were closed and Maude renamed Randolph. It would be nice to see a woman's name on a park and "Maude Park" would be appropriate. "Harold & Maude Park" would add a cozy touch of humour.

Another possibility would be to name the western park "Belles Lettres" which is French for "literature regarded as fine art", according to my unabridged dictionary. There may also be an equivalent expression in Italian or Portuguese.