Authority:     North York Community Council Report No. 2, Clause No. 15,
               as adopted by Council on March 4, 5 and 6, 1998
Enacted by Council:  October 30, 1998    CITY OF TORONTO

                                       BY-LAW No. 812-1998

                     To designate the land and buildings at 250 Beecroft Road
                   as being of architectural and historical value or interest.

        WHEREAS the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, authorizes the Council of a municipality to
enact by-laws to designate real property, including all  the buildings and structures thereon,  to
be of historic or architectural value or interest; and

        WHEREAS the Council of  the former City of North York has, in  November 1997, caused to be
served upon the owners of the lands and premises known municipally  as the Dempsey Brothers Store,
250 Beecroft Road, and upon the Ontario Heritage Foundation, notice  of intention to designate the
property,  and has caused the  notice of intention  to be  published once in a  newspaper having a
general circulation in the municipality; and

        WHEREAS the reasons for designation are set out in Schedule  B  hereto; and

        WHEREAS no notice of  objection to the proposed designation  was served upon the  Clerk of
the former City of North York;

        The Council of the City of Toronto HEREBY ENACTS as follows:

        1.     The real property more  particularly described in Schedule   A  to this  by-law and
municipally known  as 250  Beecroft Road (the Dempsey  Brothers Store), is designated  as being of
architectural and historical value or interest.

        2.     The  City Solicitor is  authorized  to cause a copy of this by-law to be registered
against the property described in Schedule  A  to this by-law in the proper land registry office.

        3.     The City Clerk is authorized to  cause a copy of this by-law to be served upon  the
owner of  250 Beecroft Road and upon the  Ontario Heritage Foundation and  to cause notice of this
by-law to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the City of Toronto.

        ENACTED AND PASSED this 30th day of  October, A.D. 1998.

CASE OOTES,                                                                NOVINA WONG,           
        Deputy Mayor                                                                    City Clerk

(Corporate Seal)

                                           SCHEDULE  A 
The Joseph Sheppard House - Dempsey Brothers Store
250 Beecroft Road
Part of PIN: 10143-0295 (R)

Part of Blocks  1 and 4, Plan 2097 North York, being shown as Parts 1 and  8 on Reference Plan 64-
R13976, SAVE AND EXCEPT Parts 15, 16,  21, 22 and 29 on Reference Plan  64R-13302, in the City  of
Toronto (formerly in the City of North York).

                                           SCHEDULE  B 
The restored Joseph Sheppard/Dempsey Brothers Store, located at  250 Beecroft Road (relocated from
4804 Yonge Street) is recommended for Designation on architectural and historical grounds.
The Joseph Sheppard/Dempsey  Brothers Store  is a  landmark heritage  building in  North York  and
takes  on great  significance in connection  with the early development  of its locale.   Built in
1860, by  Joseph Sheppard  II, the  building was  constructed as  a general  store and  originally
included the Sheppard  family s residence.  In  1866, a post office was  added.  The post  office,
and subsequently  the immediate  surrounding community,  was called   Lansing .   Situated at  the
crossroads of Yonge  Street and Sheppard Avenue,  the store served as a  depot for the coach  from
Yorkville  to Richmond Hill.   It then became the  milk depot for  local farmers  and was the main
source of  all manufactured  goods in the  vicinity.   In 1888, Benjamin  R. Brown  took over  the
operation of  the store.  He  purchased it  in 1904 and sold  it to George and  William Dempsey in
1923.  From that  time, the building operated  as the  well-known Dempsey Brothers Hardware  store
and was owned by a member of the Dempsey family until the late 1980s.

Architecturally, the  Dempsey  store is  a unique  example of  a rural  mid-19th century  building
constructed in the Georgian  Survival style with NeoClassical  influences.  Its recent restoration
has reintroduced those picturesque architectural  elements that were added to the exterior of  the
building during the closing decades of the 19th century.

The  Store measures 2-½ storeys in height  with a slightly off-centred, 4-ranked,  front facade at
the upper storey  level.  The high  pitch of the gabled  roof is characteristically  Georgian, but
the compounded wooden eaves, cornice returns  and extended overhang at the  sides of the structure
are details more characteristic of NeoClassic buildings.

The  original sash  windows at  the upper  storey have  six-over-six muntin  arrangements and  are
NeoClassic in their styling.   The attic windows  at the gable-ends (symmetrically 2-ranked)  have
three-over-one muntin  arrangements on the  south side  and one-over-one on  the north  - all  are
early  20th  century  replacements.   The  upper storey  windows  on the  front  elevation feature
segmentally-arched heads,  while those  on the south,  west, and north  sides feature  jack-arched
(flat) lintels.  Most windows have stone sills.

The  window configuration of  the ground floor  has been  reconstructed to  reflect the building s
original storefront appearance. Situated at the south-east corner  of the building, the storefront
is  symmetrical within its own configuration.   It is composed of a  centre, double-door, recessed
entrance with  transom (the recess has  an obtusely angled,  glazed design on both  of its sides),
flanked by  two large storefront windows  having 9-lights  each.  A third  identical window having
the  same 9-light arrangement  exists at the return of the  storefront on the south elevation. The
storefront  windows are  also flanked  by full-height,  wooden pilasters.   Also  rebuilt on  this
facade, is the separate ground  floor entrance denoting the original  residential component of the
store.  It consists of  a 4-sectioned panelled door, rectangular  3-light transom and  segmentally
arched  brick  head.   A  fifth six-over-six  window with  segmentally-arched  head has  also been
reinstated to the right of this entrance.


The verandah  covering the  storefront is  significant, reconstructed,  last quarter  of the  19th
century addition to the  Store.  It comments on the fashionable tastes and preferred architectural
treatments  of  the late-Victorian  era  adapted  to  the structure.    The  verandah consists  of
chamfered posts and elaborate fret-work at each consecutive bay (12 structural  bays in total).  A
wooden sign-band of generous height meets the roof  of the verandah at the exterior  wall and also
spans the entire east-front and a section of the south elevation of the building.

Adding to the  picturesque character of the Joseph Sheppard/Dempsey  Brothers Store is the use  of
dichromatic brickwork on the exterior.   The corners are constructed in  a quoined pattern of buff
coloured brick,  but the  most elaborate use  of dichromy  can be found  below the  eave area  and
gable-ends  (continuing  at the  eave  datum line).   Here  the  buff brick  pattern  takes on  an

inverted,  3-tiered, corbelled  configuration  with  lower brick  band and  serves to  broaden the
appearance of the wooden cornice and eave area.
On the interior,  original elements such as  historic trims, baseboards,  window casings  and door
surrounds have  been conserved, restored and reintroduced  in the display room (former store area)
and upper storey areas.  The north stairway  constructed from pine has been conserved  in situ and
is  also a significant  element of  the interior.   Other important original  features include the
pine plank  floor located in the upper storey  area and narrow strip  wood flooring in the display
room, vestibule and lower stairhall.