Lake Shore Road/Sussex Drive Homes - 1926

Harold R. Watson, Architect - Lake Shore Road/Sussex Drive Project

base map courtesy of Toronto Maps

In 1926 the large lakefront estate lot on the south east corner of Church Street (present day Royal York Road) and the Lake Shore Road (present day Lake Shore Blvd West) was subdivided by Plan M 494.

Harold R. Watson, Architect was engaged to design the new houses for the majority of the lots.  Watson had already designed the homes on Eighth Street for the New Toronto Housing Commission in 1918, an unbuilt project on Murrie Street for the Mimico Housing Commission in 1919, as well as the Mimico Public School in 1922.  The construction of these smaller homes on this former Mimico Beach Estate lot was controversial, and Mr. Fetherstonhaugh on the adjacent Lynne Lodge Estate objected to the project.  However it went ahead anyway.

Watson was born in Toronto in 1895, the son of Albert Watson and Emma Wigley.  In 1916 he married Myrtle Irene Jack, daughter of John Jack and Sarah Dawson.   They went on to have five children together before her untimely death in 1928 of peritonitis following the birth of their last child.

The homes along present day Lake Shore Blvd W. and Sussex Drive show his skill as an architect.   The homes constitute a little country village, all executed in similar design and materials.  Their high pitched roofs and towering chimneys are distinctive, as is his use of brick on the first floor and stucco above.  The design employs many of the features he used in his Eighth Street project including exterior walls made of brick on the lower and stucco on the upper floor and small front porches that are covered by an extension of the roof line.  


The present day addresses include 2641, 2643, 2645, 2647 and 2649 Lake Shore Blvd. West as well as 2, 4 and 6 Sussex Drive.  The homes at 8 and 10 Sussex Drive were also part of this project but they were demolished in 2010 as part of the construction of a new house.

2 Sussex Drive

© Michael Harrison 2011

4 and 6 Sussex Drive

© Michael Harrison 2011

2641 Lake Shore Blvd. W.

© Michael Harrison 2011

2649 Lake Shore Blvd. West

© Michael Harrison 2011

William Adamson House - 40 Cavell Avenue

William Adamson House - Cavell (Southampton) Avenue

courtesy of the Canadian Architect and Builder, Vol. 4 No. 1, 1891

This large home was designed by Gibson and Simpson, Architects in 1890 for William Henry Adamson, and built on his large lot on Southampton Street (later Cavell Avenue) in 1891 at the top of Victor Avenue.

Adamson House, Southampton Avenue, detail 1913

Goad's Fire Insurance Plan of Mimico, 1913, courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

William Henry Adamson was the son of Henry Adamson and Ann Abigail and born in 1859.  On May 18, 1881 he married Alice Corlett, daughter of Robert and Margaret Corlett in Yorkville.

They originally lived in the city of Toronto but moved to their new house in Mimico after it was completed in 1891.  There they raised their 4 children:  Harold (b. 1882); Frank (b. 1884); Florence (b. 1886); and, Robert (b. 1888). 

He began his work with the Ontario Railway Company but later worked for the Western Assurance Company.  He remained in Mimico until about 1904.  The 1911 census finds the family living at 117 Maitland Street in Toronto.  By 1921 he had created his own company WH Adamson and Sons, Insurance Adjustors and was living on Keele Street.

The home was then acquired by John Verner (JV) McAree, the famous Toronto Mail and Empire columnist who wrote the well read "Fourth Column".  In 1934 a collection of his work was published in book form with the title Fourth Column.  When the paper was merged with the Globe to become the Globe and Mail in 1936 the column continued, but McAree also wrote on politics and other topics as well.  In 1953 he would publish Cabbagetown Store, which was a memoir of his childhood in his family's home and store in Toronto's Cabbagetown.  He named the house "Fairview" and lived there for the rest of his life.

He worked until the very last day of his life, his last column appearing in the Globe and Mail on March 25, 1958, three days after his sudden death on March 22, 1958 in his Cavell Avenue home at the age of 81 years.  His funeral was held at Wesley United Church in Mimico on March 25, 1958 after which he was buried in St. James Cemetery.  He was survived by his wife Margaret and four daughters.

The home was sold and demolished and a sixplex was built on the site in 1960.

Mimico Orange Hall - 46 Mimico Avenue

Mimico Orange Hall

© Michael Harrison 2011

The cornerstone for the Mimico Orange Hall was laid in a ceremony attended by several hundred people on April 18, 1919.  Grand Master Horatio Clarence Hocken, local Member of Parliament was given the honour of laying the cornerstone.  Dr. Forbes Godfrey, local Member of Provincial Parliament also made remarks.

The building is dedicated to the memory of the men of Sir Edward Carson Loyal Orange Lodge of Mimico who died in World War I.

Mimico Orange Hall - detail

© Michael Harrison 2011

The Hall was put to a number of uses in the community.  The Mimico Baptist Church first held its services here beginning in 1920 until their purpose built church on Hillside Avenue was ready in 1923.

The building is now the Mimico Daycare Centre but remains as a reminder of the Orange Order that was well organized throughout Ontario and Canada in the 19th and early 20th centuries during which it played a major role in the political process.

The building does not appear on the City of Toronto's heritage inventory.

William Palk House - 46 Stanley Avenue

William Palk House - 46 Stanley Avenue

© Michael Harrison 2011

The large impressive home on the north east corner of Stanley and Victor Avenues was built about 1907 for William H Palk.

William Palk was born in 1857 in Toronto and was the son of Thomas Palk and Mary Nicols.  Palk worked as a gilder at Matthews Brothers and Company in Toronto.  The company manufactured mouldings, picture frames and mirrors.

In 1888 he married Annie McDonald and they had four children:  Norman (b. 1889); Jenne (b. 1891); Mildred (b. 1895) and Grayce (b. 1899).  

They originally lived in Toronto but by 1894 were living on Church Street (present day Royal York Road) in Mimico. 

They moved to their new impressive house on Stanley Avenue in 1907.

The family remained in the house until sometime after 1922 but would later move to 14 Glendale Avenue.

It was there that William died on October 26, 1936.  A private funeral was held there on October 28th after which his body was transported to St. James Cemetery in Toronto for burial.


The building does not appear on the City of Toronto's Heritage Inventory.

Andrews Dods - Trinadad House - 50 Stanley Avenue

Andrew Dods (Trinadad) House - 50 Stanley Avenue

© Michael Harrison 2011

The large home at the north west corner of Stanley and Victor Avenues was built in 1912 for Andrew Dods.

Dods was born in Alton, Ontario in 1882.  He was married in Port Hope, Ontario to Mary Grace Geary on January 1, 1906.  They would have three daughters:  Marjorie (b. 1907); Catherine (b. 1909) and Mary (b. 1911).  Later after she passed away he would marry Florence Hatton.

They originally lived in the City of Toronto but moved to Mimico in about 1908.  They first lived on Station Road but moved into their impressive new house at 50 Stanley Avenue in 1912.

What brought Dods to Mimico was his job at the Ontario Sewer Pipe Company which was Mimico's largest industry located at the north end of Burlington Street.  Dods began work there as an office boy eventually working his way up the corporate ladder to became President.  In 1929 the company was sold and he took his equity stake and moved onto other ventures.  

Dods undertook a number of leadership roles in the municipal government.  When Mimico became a Town in 1911 he was appointed as the first clerk for the Town of Mimico.  He later served as a municipal councillor, and as a member of the Public Utilities Commission.

Dods was also active politically and was a member of the Conservative party.

In 1930 he was appointed as the local magistrate.  He undertook the role for four years until he was informed by the new Liberal government in 1934 that his services were no longer required.  

He died on December 27 1946 at his home and is buried in the family plot in Alton, Ontario (present day Caledon, Ontario).

The name "Trindad" over the front door is a play on words.  It is derived from the fact that Dods had three daughters.  So "Trin" for his three daughters and a "Dad" for him - Trinidad.

The building is listed on the City of Toronto's Heritage Inventory, however it is not designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Dr. Forbes Godfrey House – First Ontario Minister of Health - 49 Stanley Avenue

Godfrey House - 49 Stanley Avenue

© Michael Harrison 2010

Godfrey House 1913

detail from 1913 Goad's Fire Insurance Plan - Town of Mimico

Forbes Elliott Godfrey, son of the Rev. Robert Godfrey, a Methodist Minister and Mrs. Mary Godfrey was born in 1867 in York Township but grew up in Owen Sound.   After attending the local primary school he attended Owen Sound Collegiate and then went on to the University of Toronto to study medicine.  After graduating from the University of Toronto in 1889 he went to Scotland for post graduate studies in Glasgow and Edinburgh. 

He was married to Mary Melissa Carson in Logan County, Ohio in 1894.  They moved to Mimico shortly thereafter and lived in a home on Southampton Avenue (present day Cavell Avenue) out of which he operated his medical practice.  Their first and only child Constance was born there in 1900.  In 1908 he commissioned Ellis and Connery, Architects to design a large home and office further south on a property located at the south west corner of Stanley and Albert Avenues. 

Dr. Godfrey's political career began in 1907 when he entered provincial politics as a Conservative and was elected in a by-election in the York West riding.  He took his seat in the Provincial Legislature as a back bencher in the government of James Whitney.

Dr. Godfrey felt strongly that the government should take the lead in combating tuberculosis, a disease that was taking a terrible toll on the citizens of Ontario – especially the young.  He was instrumental in the formation of a government commission to create a provincial plan for its prevention and cure, the end result being the construction of a system of government supported tuberculosis hospitals.  A big supporter of preventative medicine, he was a champion of inoculation against infectious diseases.

When Whitney died following the 1914 election he served as a backbencher in the government of William Hearst, and then in Opposition when the government of E.C. Drury was in power from 1919 to 1923.

In the general election of 1923 the Conservatives returned to power and G. Howard Ferguson became Premier.  Godfrey was invited into Cabinet and became the Minister of Labour; and then in 1924 was also made the first Minister of Health.

As the first Minister of Health in Ontario, Godfrey was responsible for organizing the department from the ground up, and began tackling many of the preventative health initiatives that needed to be addressed.  He brought in measures to protect miners from silicosis; instituted industrial health programs; created public health clinics in remote areas of Ontario and offered free immunization programs for Ontario school children.

On February 14, 1925 his daughter, Constance Godfrey was married to Warren Snyder.  They were both students at the University of Toronto at the time of their marriage.  Snyder was a football player and rower.   His greatest athletic achievement was in 1924 when he won a sliver medal as part of the eight rowing team at the Olympic Games in Paris, France.  After graduating with his medical degree he became Godfrey’s partner working from the large Godfrey home on the corner of Stanley and Albert Avenues.

Godfrey remained in Cabinet until September 1930 when he was forced to resign by ill health though he remained the MPP for York West.  Suffering from pernicious anaemia his health continued to deteriorate until he died on January 6, 1932.

courtesy of The Story of Mimico:  Home of the Wild Pigeon

In the 1960s the home would be purchased by a developer who built apartment buildings on the large grounds and divided the Godfrey House into apartments.  

Slessor Family of Mimico

I recently acquired a number of photographs of the Slessor family who lived at 46 Albert Avenue in Mimico from the early 1920s to the late 1950s.

Peter Slessor was born in Aberdeen Scotland on December 18, 1877.   He was the son of Robert Slessor a Mason and Builder, and Henrietta Slessor.  In his 20s he became an architect.  The online Dictionary of Scottish Architects includes references to the 14 houses that he designed in Aberdeen between 1898 and 1901.

On June 19 1901, Peter Slessor married Jessie Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, a veterinary surgeon, and Marion Gordon.  At the time Peter was living at 28 Salisbury Terrace, Aberdeen and Jessie was living at 30 Hoborn Street, Aberdeen.

Jessie Gordon as a young woman

They had 2 children together.  Ivy was born in 1903 and Errol in 1907.  I am not sure why but Peter decided to immigrate to Canada.  He boarded the Mongolian in Glasgow in May 1907 and landed in Montreal on the 31st.   His wife and children stayed behind in Scotland.

In 1911 he is found in the census living in a rooming house in Montreal.  He listed his occupation as a foreman working for a builder with an annual salary in 1910 of $1050.

It looks like Jessie and the children visited their father in Canada in 1912, and again in 1913 when the children came for a visit with their aunt Gertrude Stone.  I have not been able to find a record of their entry into Canada in 1912 but in 1913 they arrived on September 15 on board the Cassandra.

When World War I began in August 1914 Peter was one of the first to enlist.  He travelled to Valcartier, Quebec and enlisted there on September 23, 1914.  He listed his next of kin as his wife Jessie Gordon living on 2 Bruce Crescent, Ayr, Scotland.  He also indicated that he had 13 years of previous military experience with the Royal Engineers, another 7 with the 91st Canadian Highlanders, as well as 1 year as a Private.  On his attestation papers he is described as 5 feet, 9 inches tall with brown eyes, black hair and a dark complexion.  He was wounded and captured by the Germans and spent most of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Germany.

Jessie and the children finally immigrated to Canada on the Athenia, landing in Quebec City on August 5, 1916.  Jessie listed their destination as Bridgeburgh, Ontario.  It is noted in the passenger manifest that her husband was a prisoner of war and that her Canadian residence was “undecided”.

Upon his release in 1918 from a German prisoner of war camp he received a personal handwritten letter from King George V welcoming him back to the United Kingdom.

They seem to have arrived in Mimico about 1921. He listed himself as an architect in the Mimico section of the Toronto City directory for 1922 (living on the east side of Victor Avenue) but I have not found any reference to any buildings that he designed, and he does not appear in the online Biographical Dictionary of Architects In Canada.  He most probably continued in the building trade which may have been more lucrative than working as an architect.

In 1924 a small article appeared on page 3 of the Toronto Star seeking contact with him.  It stated that the Toronto headquarters of the Great War Veterans Association was seeking information on his whereabouts as his sister Margaret was hopelessly ill in St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco.

It seems that the Slessor family lived quietly in Mimico from the 1920s to the late 1950s, originally living on Victor Avenue but moving to Albert Avenue sometime later.

 Slessor Family

l-r Ivy Slessor (in chair), Jessie Gordon, Peter Slessor, unknown women

circa 1930s - Mimico?  Scotland?

Jessie Gordon on the porch of their home at 46 Albert Avenue, Mimico

circa 1930s - The house across the street is 41 Albert Avenue

Peter Slessor died in the Christie Street (Military) Hospital on August 11, 1938.  His obituary indicates that he was a member of the 13th Black Watch Battalion and that his residence was at 46 Albert Avenue, Mimico.  He was buried in the Veterans Plot in Prospect Cemetery.

Jessie Gordon died in Toronto on October 12, 1957 and was cremated.

Their son Errol continued to live in Toronto.  He worked for Simpson-Sears and died on November 9, 1984 in his 79th year.  He was married with one child.

Their daughter Ivy was a school teacher in northern Ontario.   She was listed in her mother’s obituary in 1957 as living in Foyelet, Ontario and in her brother’s obituary in 1984 as living in Blind River, Ontario.

Ivy Slessor Fall 1932
Foleyet, Ontario?

The photographs that I acquired were found in an old home in Blind River, Ontario a few years ago.  It must have been Ivy’s home. 

Fortunately I was able to acquire them to add to my collection of Mimico photographs and preserve them for the future.  

The house at 46 Albert Avenue is gone, replaced by a small apartment building as happened on many of the large lots in Mimico in the 1950s and 1960s, actively aided and abetted by the municipal government and its officials.  

Hester Drummond House - 230 Royal York Road (To Be Demolished)

Hester Drummond House

© Michael Harrison 2011

The last great home still standing on Church Street (now 230 Royal York Road) is the Hester Drummond House.  The large house was designed by Gibson and Simpson, Architects and built in 1890 for Hester Doel, widow of John W. Drummond.

Hester Drummond

Biographical Record of York County 1907

The home is large, three stories tall with a turret on the north side. It was originally sited on a much larger lot with ample gardens and lawns around the house.  However in the 1960s the lot was severed and the home directly to the north was built.

John W. Drummond was born in Toronto in 1817.  His mother died when he was a child and his father was lost on a whaling expedition and never seen again.  In his youth he was apprenticed to Jacques and Hay furniture manufacturers of Toronto.  He later went to New York City to learn more about the furniture business and upon his return to Toronto in 1840 entered into partnership with his brother-in-law and established his own furniture business.  

He married Hester Doel in 1847 and they had five children.  Their eldest daughter Hester became the wife of Austin Werden, postmaster and merchant at Mimico.  John Drummond died in Toronto in 1881 and about 1890 his widow Hester and their daughter Evelyn moved to their large home in Mimico at the north west corner of Church and Drummond Street.

The house remains as a reminder of the large homes that once graced this area of Church Street (Royal York Road).

The home does not appear on the City of Toronto's Heritage inventory.

In April 2011 it was up for sale at a price of $1,070,000.

Update - April 12, 2023

A development application was submitted on March 6, 2023 to demolish the existing house and "redevelop the property ...[by] constructing a new 8-storey mixed-use condominium with 40 residential units, 103 m2 of ground floor commercial space, 14 surface car parking spaces, and 40 bike parking spaces. The proposed building will be constructed from pre-fabricated mass timber built at-grade."  Heritage planning services did review the building to assess its heritage value but despite its history the building has been essentially stripped of all it heritage attributes some time in the past and therefore they did not conclude that it had the merits to be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. 

Town of Mimico 1930

This is a map of the Town of Mimico from 1930 showing the 3 wards that the town was divided into politically.  However it is more interesting for what it shows.  It includes schools, parks, municipal buildings (Town Hall, Police and Fire Station, Public Library), important institutional buildings (churches, fraternal organizations) and commercial enterprises such as lumber yards, the vast area of greenhouses in northern Mimico, as well as local businesses.  

As you can see the main commercial area was centred on the Lake Shore Road from Superior Avenue to Mimico Avenue.  There were additional businesses located along Mimico Avenue west to Church Street.  To the north of the rail line is another commercial area on the west side of Church Street (present day Royal York Road) between Simpson and Hay Avenues, and vast areas of greenhouses to the east of Church Street.  

The Town Hall (demolished) was located on the east side of Church Street north of Mimico Avenue.  The Police and Fire Station (demolished in 2012) was located on Superior Avenue just north of the Lake Shore Road (now 13 Superior Avenue), next to Connaught Hall, the Masonic Temple.  St. Andrew's Hall is located on the west side of Church Street just north of Macdonald Street.

Miles Park is located on Miles Road east of the Lake Shore Road.

Caesar Coxhead House - 60 Stanley Avenue

Caesar Coxhead House - 60 Stanley Avenue

© Michael Harrison 2010

One of the oldest houses in Mimico is the Caesar Coxhead House at 60 Stanley Avenue.  Built by 1889 (and certainly much earlier) at the top of Superior Avenue it would originally have had a beautiful view of the Superior Creek Valley and Lake Ontario.

Caesar Coxhead

courtesy of The Mimico Story

Caesar Coxhead was born in the County of Wellington on February 10, 1860.  His ancestors were originally from Oxfordshire in England, emigrating to New York.  They later came to Canada living first in Markham and then Pilkington Township in Wellington County.

When he was 18 years of age Caesar apprenticed as a carpenter with his older brother Jonas in Guelph.  In 1884 he was married to Miss Eliza Golby of Galt, Ontario.  In 1885 he began work as a contractor and builder.  Caesar and Eliza moved to Toronto and lived in Parkdale but moved to Mimico in 1889.   The house can clearly be seen in the 1890 Goad's Fire Insurance Plan.  At the time it stood alone surrounded by vacant fields.  Caesar and his wife would raise their six children and live in their Mimico home for many years.

Caesar Coxhead Residence - corner of Superior Avenue and Stanley Avenue

Goad's 1890 Fire Insurance Plan

The design of the house is interesting.  It appears to have originally been rectangular in shape, with a later Victorian addition made to the south (front) facade.  However the image on the 1890 fire insurance plan appears to take the addition into account.  As such, it appears that Caesar Coxhead purchased an existing earlier house (built earlier than 1889) and built the addition to the front of the house.

 Caesar Coxhead Residence - West Elevation

© Michael Harrison 2010

Looking at the west elevation of the house you will note the difference in the colour of the brick between the original house on the left and the addition on the right.  You will also notice the difference in the foundation wall.  In the older part of the house on the left it is stone, while on the right it is concrete.  The original house was built to take advantage of the natural slope of the Superior Creek valley with windows and a walkout from the basement level on the west side.

  Caesar Coxhead Residence - Chimney detail

© Michael Harrison 2010

 Caesar Coxhead Residence - south (front) gable detail

© Michael Harrison 2010

The Coxhead Residence is "listed" under the Ontario Heritage Act and appears in the City of Toronto's Heritage Inventory though not fully protected by being a designated structure under the Act.