24 Louisa Street
This interesting house was built by Robert and George Kennedy circa 1908 on part Lot 36, Plan M246, now 24 Louisa Street (originally Louise Street).
The lands that made up Plan M246 were originally part of Plan 1198 which was registered on December 13, 1897. Before that it was part of Plan 164, the original subdivision plan registered in Mimico in 1856.
In Plan 1198 the lands were owned by Robert Jenkins of the City of Toronto. He died on September 29, 1899 and it was Thomas Jenkins his brother, and executor of his estate, who registered Plan M246 on June 4, 1906 which was the re-division of Lot 4 of Plan 1198 into 63 smaller lots.
On February 13, 1908 brothers Robert and George Kennedy bought Lot 36 from Thomas Jenkins for $200.
The house first appears in the Toronto City Directory in 1910 listed as 36 Louise Street, suggesting that it was occupied the previous year. George Kennedy's occupation is listed as tile maker so he most likely worked at the Ontario Sewer Pipe Company at the top of Burlington Street. The house is built much closer to the street than the other houses. It has been suggested that this might have been because it was a store but there is no indication that it was used for a retail purpose in the Toronto City Directories.
According to the 1913 Goad's Fire Insurance Plan (below) it was built as a wooden clapboard house (coloured yellow indicating wood). A brick veneer must have been applied to it by 1924 as it appears in the 1924 Goad's Fire Insurance Plan coloured orange indicating brick.
The brothers were living in the house when the enumerator for the 1911 census dropped by. Their entry in the 1911 census tells us that they were both born in Ireland and had emigrated to Canada in 1906. Robert was the eldest being 36 years of age, born in January 1877, while George was 28 years old and born in January 1883. Their occupations were listed as labourer and while Robert listed his income in 1910 as $489, George said he made $480.
On April 19, 1911 Robert Kennedy bought Lot 31 on Alexander Street, the next street to the west, for which he paid Thomas Jenkins $250. And the following year on November 26, 1912 his brother George Kennedy bought Lot 30 next to it from Thomas Jenkins for $300.
Louisa Street - 1913 Goad's Fire Insurance Plan. Plate 9
#24 is numbered 150 on the west side of Louisa Street
In 1913 the Toronto City Directory shows the two brothers living in the house (numbered 36 Louise at that time). By 1914 the brothers had moved out of the house and George Kennedy is listed living on the east side Alexander Street (where he remained till 1920). However they retained ownership of the house on Louise Street and rented it out.
On July 15, 1919 George Kennedy, now a married man, sold his share of the house on Louise Street to his brother Robert for $1.
Robert Kennedy retained ownership of the house for the rest of his life (along with Lot 31 on Alexander Street as well). He died in Lakeview (Mississauga) on May 7, 1949 and his executor David Kennedy of the Town of Mimico, became the owner of the property on February 23, 1950.
David Kennedy lived in the house until his death on October 16, 1955 when the property was transferred to his wife and executor, Lorna Irene Graham Kennedy. She held the property until she sold it to Joseph and Marjorie Paszt on January 24, 1958 for $5,500.
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