November 15, 2005
The 200 Year History of the St. Lawrence
Market - Part Two
By Bruce Bell
Bruce Bell is the history columnist for the Bulletin, Canada’s
largest community newspaper. He sits on the board of the Town of
York Historical Society and is the author of two books ‘Amazing
Tales of St. Lawrence Neighbourhood’ and ‘TORONTO: A
Pictorial Celebration’. He is also the Official Tour Guide
of St Lawrence Market. For more info visit brucebelltours.com
By the late 1890’s Toronto, once a lonely sparsely populated
colonial government outpost of a burgeoning British Empire, was now
a booming capital city of almost 200,000 citizens.
The new municipality along with its buildings were now taking on
Imperial pretensions, and as the centre core of the new metropolis
was moving westwards it was decided to build a more opulent City
Hall to replace the outdated and well just plain boring Front Street
City Hall.
The question then became what to do with the antiquated old one?
For the most part everything that was a reminder of our colonial
past was coming down, smashed into the ground for if the unadorned
wooden structures were left standing they would remind us that we
were not what were pretending to be (see my opening sentence). Snob
appeal on a grand scale.
Toronto’s Second City Hall encased within the South St. Lawrence
Market
But not all of our Victorian forbears were for giving up on our
early roots. A Market Commission was formed and they recommended
to the City that the Front Street City Hall undergo a major renovation,
which would last from 1899 to 1901.
The architect chosen, John Siddall, decided to do away with the
east and west wings and remove the clock tower, but rather than
tearing down the entire City Hall he instead created a treasure.
If you stand facing St. Lawrence Market from across the street
you can still see the yellow brick outline that was the center block
of our 2nd City Hall. Of course, you can get a better view from
inside the Market. That center block, once the home to the Council
Chambers and now the Toronto Archive Art Gallery, is a wonderment
of reclamation.
With its graceful arches, hidden alcoves and the great fan window
that looms over the inside of the Market, the former Council Chamber
is a reminder that unfashionable and dated structures need not be
discarded so hastily.
Siddall placed an enormous roof (known as Siddall’s Shed)
over the new building, built supporting trusses to hold it and raised
the Council Chamber floor to allow more height over the main entrance.
Unfortunately he and City Planners also decided to tear down the
masterpiece of Victorian commercial splendor that was Toronto’s
third farmers market (built after the Great Fire of 1849) and constructed
instead a fourth Market to be an exact copy of the new South Market.
The old centre of town was now to get two Markets, North and South
with an enormous canopy (which lasted until 1954) spanning Front
Street connecting the two. So with this mammoth awning in place
preventing any light from entering the street below and together
with the polluting gasoline engine making its appearance the area
now devoid of any of the picturesque vistas it had once known, the
newly renovated St. Lawrence Market opened for business in 1904.
And the neighbourhood, once quaintly known as Muddy York, began
its 60 year descent into an urban rotting hell including the Market's
most stylish addition, St. Lawrence Hall.
During the first half of the 20th century the once elegant St.
Lawrence Hall (also built after the Great Fire of 1849) and its
Grand Ballroom became everything from a men’s hostel to an
army and navy surplus outlet to the first home of the National Ballet
of Canada. It too began to deteriorate after the great move westward
and its once gleaming white brick façade began to blacken
with years of soot and grime.
Worse was the fact that succeeding generations of Torontonians
were becoming totally unaware not only of its presence but of its
glorious past.
In 1960 a real estate firm wanted to buy up the land bounded by
King, Jarvis, Market and Front streets, the original Market Square
(as stated in the 1803 document signed by Gov. Peter Hunter) and
build a modern high rise and a parking garage. One plan called for
the entire St. Lawrence Market area to be completely eradicated
off the map and replaced with an enormous entertainment complex
rivaling New York City’s Lincoln Centre.
The famed Gooderham or Flatiron at the apex of Church and Front
was to be replaced with a giant obelisk and today’s Berczy
Park behind it was to be home to giant glass and steel skyscrapers.
What is now St. James Park beside the Cathedral on King was to be
home to the new CBC Broadcasting headquarters.
The land that a century and a half earlier was set aside for a
Public Market and what is now the North Market was to be turned
into a paved concourse. The Market area was to be no more.
This almost happened, remember no one lived around these parts
to object, and except for a few lone voices of dissent including
historian and architect Eric Arthur there was nothing to stop the
developers who were already obliterating the downtown core.
Urban Renewal was sweeping across North America and nothing was
going to stop the powers that be from turning our cities into modern
mega-metropolises, if Europe could re-build after WW2 then so should
we. Why should they have all the glass and steel and super highways?
Mind you they had to, we just wanted to. Sometimes Toronto’s
renewal projects worked brilliantly like with the space-aged New
City Hall (though I would liked to have seen the massive and opulent
3000 seat Shea’s Hippodrome theatre that once stood there),
and at other times urban renewal was a complete and utter waste.
The Grand Post office that once stood on Adelaide at the head of
Toronto Street was regarded as one of the most beautiful buildings
on the continent and the first public building built by the new
Federal Government after Confederation. Its replacement, an enormous
glass and steel monstrosity that recently underwent a reno-job,
was the norm as far as the ‘new look’ of structures
was concerned.
In the middle of all this destruction and mayhem lay the fate of
our beloved Market and the Great Hall that bore its name. At a meeting
involving various like minded historical preservation groups it
was suggested that they urge the City to acquire St. Lawrence Hall
immediately.
On September 29th 1961 Royal Assent was given to the National Centennial
Act which set out ‘the organization and financial pattern
for the great observance of Canada’s 100th birthday.’
George Bell, Toronto Parks Commissioner, recommended a park be built
next to St. James and the renovation of St. Lawrence Hall as part
of Toronto’s Official Centennial Project.
Unlike the other 20,000 buildings that were destroyed during Urban
Renewal, St. Lawrence Hall was to be spared, but not so the north
Market. Built in 1904 as an exact copy of today’s South Market,
the 4th market to stand on that site was demolished and replaced
with what is today without exception the ugliest public building
in Toronto, the North Market or Farmers Market as it is better known.
On the evening of December 28, Governor-General Roland Michener
along with architect Eric Arthur officially re-opened St. Lawrence
Hall by igniting a still in use gas fireplace in the Great Hall
in front of a glittering crowd. At the end of the evening Mayor
Dennison announced that Northern Affairs Minister Arthur Laing had
designated St. Lawrence Hall a National Historical site.
In 1971, the City’s planning board and a consultant’s
report had proposed that the South Market be demolished. At a public
meeting held in the fall of 1971 something extraordinary happened,
a crowd of angry citizens who wanted to keep the landmark market
shouted down the City planners. The long suppressed voice of a citizens
led movement that was years in the making, was finally being heard.
In 1969, John Sewell running for City Council, used as a political
poster, a picture of himself standing amongst the rumble of a demolished
building with a caption reading "When will this stop"?
The group who wanted to save St. Lawrence Market called themselves
Time and Place and they recommended that it be renovated and The
Council Chamber, which sat unused for 70 years, turned into a public
gallery.
So with money from all three forms of Government in place, the
outside was cleaned, a new floor was poured, the brick piers supporting
the roof trusses were re-enforced, and one half of the roof was
replaced.
Downstairs, which once housed the former jails and later was used
for wholesale storage and the unloading of trucks, was gutted and
refurbished. After years of being covered-up and forgotten, the
original foundation bricks and graceful vaulted arches that today
skip above our heads as we shop at Phil’s or buy rice at Rubes
or grind our coffee on the lower level, were exposed.
St. Lawrence Market when first opened 200 years ago was the only
game in town. Today it’s just one of thousands. It’s
survived the onslaught of the Super Market revolution of the 1950’s,
home deliveries, fast foods, corner stores, frozen foods, chicken
franchise, microwave dinners, MacDonald’s, fad diets, 24/7
shopping and the internet. But it still stands as a testament to
our past.
It defines who we are as Canadians and as Torontonians, it’s
where we came from and it’s where we are headed. To our European
visitors who come to our city and say Well isn’t that cute,
our market back home just celebrated its 1000th birthday!
You can tell them as charming as our little birthday may be, the
reason the Market is where it is in the first place was because
for centuries previous Canada’s First Nations used this spot
as their spring fishing grounds making the catching and trading
of fish in the St. Lawrence Market area a practice that could be
over 10,000 years old.
How cute is that?
Useful Books:
Here is Bruce's brand-new book about Toronto
Related Articles:
Here's my story about Bruce Bell's St.
Lawrence Market Tour
Bruce's historic account of the Gooderham
and Warts Distillery
Bruce's historic account of Toronto
Island - Part I
Bruce's historic account of Toronto
Island - Part II
Bruce's historic account of The
Royal York Hotel
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