Found at 57 Adelaide Avenue East, the making that was when regarded as the city’s Third Court is a shorter length west of Church Road, not far from St. Lawrence Sector.
When the court docket dwelling was crafted, it was in the business and residential heart of the city. The outstanding pre-confederation framework sent justice to the inhabitants of Toronto from 1852 until eventually 1900. Nonetheless, there have been two other courthouses that preceded the a person on Adelaide Street East.
Toronto’s (York’s) first court residence was commissioned by Governor Simcoe, soon right after he arrived in the colonial settlement in July 1793.
However soon after the War of 1812, a lot of the city of York remained severely ruined thanks to the American invasion. The govt made the home of Alexander Montgomery, situated on Richmond Avenue East (amongst today’s Victoria and Yonge Avenue), their new court household.
With a main entrance that south, towards Richmond Road, contemporaries referred to it as the Richmond Street Court docket Property.
The York County Court Household in 1899, when the court was in session. Image by Toronto Community Library
As the town of York ongoing to expand, it was apparent that a bigger court docket dwelling was essential. John Hayden was the contractor for the new more substantial constructing, which price tag the federal government about 1,800 kilos.
Named the “Court Dwelling Sq.,” the structure remained a courthouse from 1827 till 1852.
By the 1850s, the third courthouse was born. Today, it has survived into the modern era as 1 of the couple remaining constructions from the city’s pre-Confederation time period.
It served the county of York from 1852 until eventually 1900, when the courts have been relocated to the new Metropolis Hall (now referred to as the Previous Town Hall), located at the head of Bay Road, at Queen Street West.
The contract for the architectural ideas was specified to Cumberland and Ridout, the identical organization that intended St. James Anglican Cathedral at King Street East and Church Avenue.
An office environment in the courthouse in 1899. Image by way of Toronto Community Library.
The a few-storey York County Courtroom Residence of 1852 was constructed of white bricks and stone, while right now its facades appear darkened by the passage of time. Eric Arthur in his guide No Necessarily mean City described the Greek-motivated front of the developing as “austere, heavy and forbidding.”
This may well be correct, but acquiring very last visited its inside in April of 2019, I can attest to the actuality that it is grand and spacious as befits a setting up of these kinds of prominence.
Its north facade on Adelaide St. East has 4 amazing pilasters, two on every single facet of the entrance. As very well as housing the courtroom, the composition contained the offices of the county treasurer, the clerk of the council, the division court docket, the clerk of the peace and the sheriff.
The building in the centre of the a few structures is the York County Court docket Dwelling (Adelaide Avenue Court Property) in 1867. Photograph through Toronto General public Library.
Many of the original amenities of the courthouse nonetheless continue to be, this kind of as the marble trim all over doorways. Also, I am told that the previous jail cells continue being, a poignant reminder of the grim lifestyle prisoners experienced driving bars in all those yrs.
Through this period, the dying penalty was employed for about 120 crimes. Even so, in 1865, hanging was at last limited as punishment for just murder, rape and treason.
Above the decades, the 3rd courthouse was the sight of quite a few vital activities. On the early morning of March 10, 1862, a sizeable group gathered outside it to notice the hanging of James Brown on a scaffold erected behind the courthouse.
Brown was executed for his part in the death of the journalist and politician John Sheridan Hogan, all through an attack by the dreaded “Brooks’ Bush Gang.” He was the last man to be hanged in public in Toronto.
A tiny morbid record with your al fresco? Image via Terroni.
When the Don Jail opened in 1864, hangings were being moved indoors to a space inside the prison. Now, the web site of the very last community hanging is a pleasurable backyard garden place at the rear of the Adelaide Road Courtroom Residence, where by Terroni customers are able to dine alfresco. 
The Team of 7 and their Arts & Letters buddies were by now taking in at the court docket dwelling in the 1920s. By using Toronto Community Library.
When the Team of Seven was fashioned in 1909, the third Toronto court docket was unoccupied, as the courts experienced been relocated to Bay and Queen. The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto rented it for their meetings.
The private club’s associates included writers, architects, musicians, painters, graphic artists, actors and many others doing work in or with a love of the arts.
Some of the club’s most effectively-known customers were being the Group of 7 — Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, Frederick Varley, Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson, Franklin Carmichael J.E.H. MacDonald and Frank Johnston.
In the course of the a long time the building was home of the Arts and Letters Club, many important cultural situations have been held inside its walls, together with concert events by Pablo Casals and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The club entertained lots of famous men and women, amid them Sir Wilfred Laurier, Vincent Massey, Sir Ernest MacMillan, Dr. Healey Whillan and Sir William Mulock and lots of of Toronto’s richest citizens. Ultimately, the club relocated to St George’s Hall on Elm Avenue, in 1920, wherever it nonetheless is today.
For several decades, the old courthouse housed The Court House Industry Grill and Cafe. Right now, as described, it is a Terroni.
Doug Taylor was a teacher, historian, writer and artist who wrote thoroughly about Toronto heritage on tayloronhistory.com. This posting very first appeared on his internet site on Might 29, 2019 and has been republished here with the permission of his estate. The article has been modified a little bit.