John Cox Cottage, at 469 Broadview Avenue,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, is the oldest known house in the city still used as a residence, and it still resides on its original site. The property, immediately to the east of what was

John Scadding John Scadding (1754 – March 1, 1824) was an early settler in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto, Ontario, Canada). He is remembered for constructing the Scadding Cabin, which is now the oldest surviving building in Toronto. He served as a c ...

's original lot, was deeded to John Cox by Governor Simcoe in 1796. The first stage of the structure was a small × log cabin facing due south, and was completed no later than 1807 — making it, arguably, the third oldest structure remaining in the city (and perhaps the second, should the

Osterhout Log Cabin The Osterhout Log Cabin is a log cabin located within Guild Park and Gardens, Guildwood, Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated along the Scarborough Bluffs, the cabin is one of the oldest remaining buildings in Scarborough, Toronto. T ...

prove younger as artifacts appear to bear out). It is older than both the

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Begun in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes, and one of Toronto's oldest buildings. The lighthouse is perhaps b ...

, and the various barracks in

Fort York Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...

. Built originally out of square-cut logs (as is

Scadding Cabin Scadding Cabin (or Simcoe Cabin) is a 1794 log cabin on the grounds of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was constructed for John Scaddinghttps://www.yorkpioneers.com/plaques/ and is now the oldest surviving building in Toronto. ...

), it overlooks what is now Riverdale Park and is aligned in the traditional strict east-west orientation, making it appear somewhat twisted to the north of the Toronto street grid, which was built successively around it. This true east-west orientation allows for the maximum use of daylight hours, to minimize the use of the expensive

artificial lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

options of the period. The walls containing the living room - including the external south wall and half the west wall, plus half the internal east wall separating the kitchen and living room - remain concealed original log; while the northern parts where expanded during a very early Victorian renovation (completed by architectural firm Langley, Langley and Burke). Some of the ''original'' square cut logs from the east wall, looking remarkably like Scadding cabin, are still visible from ''inside'' a recent rear kitchen addition. The kitchen addition itself has kept with the spirit of the house, built using logs from a carefully disassembled "younger" log cabin (circa ~1840): however, the size, cutting and precision of the ''original'' logs closely matches those of Scadding Cabin, built by

The Queen's York Rangers la, celer et audax, lit=swift and bold , colors = Green and amethyst blue , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = , march = "Braganza" , notable_commanders ...

, and can be differentiated by eye from those of the latter addition. The original attic with its cedar roof still survives under the later Victorian roof and is visible from inside the house.

References

{{coord, 43.668647, N, 79.352722, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Houses in Toronto Log houses in Canada City of Toronto Heritage Properties

See also

References