The Toronto Athletic Club, also known as the Stewart Building, is a historic building located at 149 College Street in

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. It was designed by

E. J. Lennox Edward James Lennox (September 12, 1854 – April 15, 1933) was a Toronto-based architect who designed several of the city's most notable landmarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Old City Hall and Casa Loma. He ...

and built in 1894 to support the activities of the club; it included the first indoor pool in Toronto. A similarly named but unaffiliated Toronto Athletic Club now exists in the

Toronto-Dominion Centre The Toronto-Dominion Centre, or TD Centre, is an office complex in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of downtown Toronto owned by Cadillac Fairview. It serves as the global headquarters for its anchor tenant, the Toronto-Dominio ...

Building

The building was designed in a

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

style favoured by Lennox. Its exterior is sandstone, a material that Lennox used in other buildings in Toronto, such as the Old City Hall and the

Ontario Legislative Building The Ontario Legislative Building (french: L'édifice de l'Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is a structure in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It houses the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor ...

at Queen's Park, nearby. An indoor pool was built in the basement but was filled in when the building first became a school. The building is approximately in size. Including the land, the building cost $128,873 to construct, and a further $15,000 was spent on equipment.

History

The building was built as a result of the efforts of

John Beverley Robinson John Beverley Robinson (February 21, 1821 – June 19, 1896) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and businessman. He was mayor of Toronto and a provincial and federal member of parliament. He was the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario between ...

, an amateur boxer,

mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

and

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario The lieutenant governor of Ontario (, in French: ''Lieutenant-gouverneur'' (if male) or ''Lieutenante-gouverneure'' (if female) ''de l'Ontario'') is the viceregal representative in Ontario of the , who operates distinctly within the province bu ...

. Robinson was the president of the Toronto Athletic Club organization when it built the building, and he served as its president until 1895. The building is on the site of a former home of Robinson. The building served as the Toronto Athletic Club until 1899, when possession of the building was lost due to

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

when the club was in financial difficulty and ceased operations. After the demise of the club, a new

Toronto Amateur Athletic Club The Toronto Amateur Athletic Club (TAAC) or Torontos was an athletics organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club fielded teams in various sports, including ice hockey and rugby football. The Toronto Amateur Athletic Club also had a gymnas ...

but in a different location. The City of Toronto purchased the building as the new home of the Toronto Technical School. When the school moved in 1915, 149 College became a military building until 1931 when it was converted to municipal use housing

Toronto Police Headquarters Toronto Police Headquarters (french: Quartier Général de la Police de Toronto) is the headquarters of the Toronto Police Service, located at 40 College Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the first purpose-built police headquarters in Tor ...

and the Department of Public Welfare. The building was subsequently named the Stewart Building after Mayor

William James Stewart William James Stewart (February 13, 1889 – September 18, 1969) was a Canadian politician. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada. Stewart also owned and operated the Bates and Dodds Funeral Home on Queen Street West in Toront ...

. When police headquarters moved to a building on King Street in 1960, the building became the home of 52 Division of the

Metropolitan Toronto Police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

, until the division moved to its new building on Dundas Street in 1977. The building was then sold to the

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

in 1979, becoming its second campus until 1997. It then served as the home of the Collège des Grands-Lacs from 1999 to 2001. Since 2008, it has been used by the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, including some programs of the

Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is the University of Toronto's graduate business school, located in Downtown Toronto. The University of Toronto has b ...

References

External links

Toronto Athletic Club Building
at Lost River Walks

at Canadian Architecture {{coord, 43.65925, N, 79.39197, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Toronto E. J. Lennox buildings Organizations based in Toronto Romanesque Revival architecture in Canada