St. James Park (Toronto)

The Great Fire of Toronto of 1849, April 7, 1849, also known as the Cathedral Fire, was the first major fire in the history of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Much of the Market Block, the business core of the city, was wiped out, including the predecessor of the current St. James Cathedral. The 1831 building of the Toronto City Hall and St. Lawrence Market south of King was damaged and was torn down.

The Cathedral Church of St. James is an Anglican cathedral in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the location of the oldest congregation in the city, with the parish being established in 1797. The cathedral, with construction beginning in 1850 and opening for services on June 19, 1853, was one of the largest buildings in the city at that time. It was designed by Frederick William Cumberland and is a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture.The church building is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, and it is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Toronto. Royal St. George's College, on Howland Avenue, is the church's choir school and is open to boys in grades 3 through 12.

St. Lawrence Hall is a meeting hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the corner of King Street East and Jarvis Street. It was created to be Toronto's public meeting hall home to public gatherings, concerts, and exhibitions. Its main feature was a thousand-seat amphitheatre. For decades the hall was the centre of Toronto's social life before larger venues took over much of this business. Today the hall continues as a venue for events including weddings, conferences, and art shows.

The Toronto Sculpture Garden is located at 115 King Street East in a small 80 by 100 foot (25 by 30 m) park directly across the street from Cathedral Church of St. James (Toronto), in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It operated as an independent entity from 1981 to 2014 and is administered by the city's parks department.

Daniel Brooke Building is a 19th-century Georgian building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada located on the northeast corner of Jarvis Street and King Street. The building is one of the last remaining buildings of the old Town of York. Built in 1833 for owners Daniel Brooke and John Murchison, it was rebuilt before 1849 and damaged by the Toronto Fire of 1849.The building has been home to a number of commercial enterprises. In 1843, James Austin and Patrick Foy opened a retail and wholesale grocery business in the building. This was Austin's first venture in what would eventually make him one of Canada's most prominent 19th-century business leaders. The grocery operated at the location until 1859. After the 1849 fire, the building housed The Patriot newspaper, whose offices on the south-east corner had been destroyed. From the 1930s, the lower level housed the Sportsman's Shop, a Toronto icon that mostly sold army/navy surplus. The upper levels were mostly abandoned.On June 20, 1973, the City of Toronto government listed the property on the City of Toronto Heritage Property Inventory. and designated it as being of cultural heritage value or interest, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act by City of Toronto By-law No.793-85 on October 23, 1985. In the 1980s, the property came under the ownership of King George Properties, which rehabilitated the building in 1988 and adjoining heritage properties 61–63 Jarvis Street (1860) and 172 King Street East (1907). In 1998, the block was integrated into a condominium project known as King George Square, with a new tower in behind.

The Beard Building was a seven-storey, 25.38 m (83.3 ft) Richardsonian Romanesque highrise in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is considered to be Toronto's first skyscraper. Designed by E. J. Lennox and completed in 1894, initial plans were for a nine-storey, iron-framed structure, but a more traditional wood/brick combination with seven storeys was settled upon.The Beard Building consisted of a bank at street level, a commercial and office tower, and a hotel. A branch of The Bank of Commerce occupied the building's main space on its ground floor. Above that, the hotel never opened due to the design of the building. However, the space above the ground floor was leased to businesses as office space. The building was named after George T. Beard, the original landowner of the site.The Beard Building was demolished in 1935 and was replaced by a gas station a few years after being demolished.

St. Lawrence Market North is a public market in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It hosts a variety of markets, including a farmers' market, an antique market and Christmas trees daily from mid-Nov. to Dec. 24. The site has been a farmer's market since 1803. Several buildings have been built for the Market North, the most recent in 1968. The new Market North structure is now under construction. The St. Lawrence Market combines the North building, the St. Lawrence Hall and the St. Lawrence Market South building.

The Old Fire Hall is the name given to the original home of The Second City company in Toronto and is located at 110 Lombard Street. The Old Fire Hall was built in 1896 and was partially destroyed in the Great Fire of 1904. Second City performed there from 1977 until 1997, when it moved to 56 Blue Jays Way (in 2005, the company moved to 51 Mercer Street). Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Mike Myers, Catherine O'Hara, Gilda Radner, Martin Short and Dave Thomas, among others, all got their starts there. From 2001 until 2011, the Old Fire Hall was the home of Gilda's Club Toronto. Named after Gilda Radner, who had performed with Second City at the Old Fire Hall prior to joining Saturday Night Live, Gilda's Club is a support group and meeting place for people living with cancer. In 2012, the Old Fire Hall became the new home of the Complections College of Makeup Art and Design.

The Toronto Mechanics' Institute, originally named the York Mechanics' Institute, was an educational institution in 19th century Toronto that became the city's first public library. It was one of a series of mechanics' institutes that were set up around the world after becoming popular in Britain. Established in 1830, it was designed to provide technical and adult education.Paying members had access to lectures, courses, and a library. In 1853 the Institute erected a new permanent home at the corner of Church and Adelaide Streets, but it struggled to attract new paying members. In 1883 the Institute was thus transformed into a municipally-supported public reference library. The idea was promoted by alderman John Hallam, but it met considerable resistance in city council. No other city in Canada at this time had a completely free public library. Hallam brought the initiative to a public referendum, and the citizens of Toronto voted in its favour on January 1, 1883. The 5,000 book collection of the Mechanics' Institute became the first books of the Toronto Public Library and James Bain was selected as the first chief librarian. As chief librarian, he focused on building the library's special collection documenting Canadian history. He also applied to Andrew Carnegie for a grant to build more branches and to replace the Mechanics' Institute as the central reference library. The building remained the main branch of the Toronto Public Library until 1909 when the Carnegie grant allowed the library to open its new location at College and St. George (today the Koffler Centre). It remained a library branch until 1927, and was torn down in 1949. Today a condominium complex (84 Adelaide Street East) stands on the site, although it is marked with a heritage plaque.

Mechanics' Hall was a concert hall on the ground floor of the Mechanics' Institutes building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hall was used for theatrical productions, music concerts, public meetings, and lectures from 1856 to 1883. Located on the east side of the downtown area at Church and Adelaide streets, the building was designed by Cumberland and Stone. The hall was designed with raised semi-circular seating and sat 500 people. Its construction was finished in 1856 but was later altered in 1861. During the 1860s the hall was the home of the Musical Union, a Toronto-based choral society. In 1874 the Toronto Philharmonic Society made their debut at the hall under conductor F.H. Torrington. In 1883 the Mechanics' Institutes building was sold to the city of Toronto. The city turned the building into Toronto's first public library and the hall was converted into storage space. In 1930 the building was demolished.

St. Lawrence is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area, a former industrial area, is bounded by Yonge, Front, and Parliament Streets, and the Canadian National railway embankment. The Esplanade off Yonge St., lined with restaurants, cafés and hotels runs through the middle of the area. In previous times, the area was sometimes referred to as 'St. Lawrence Ward' or more often today as 'St. Lawrence Market', synonymous with the large retail vendor market which is the neighbourhood's focal point. The area is the site of a large city-sponsored housing project of the 1970s, which revitalized an old 'brownfields' area. The boundaries of the St Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and the St Lawrence Market BIA are somewhat larger than those noted above. Both groups have boundaries that extend from Yonge to Parliament Streets and Queen Street East to the rail corridor.

The Albany Club in Toronto, Ontario, was founded in 1882 and is one of Canada's oldest private social clubs. Named after Queen Victoria's youngest son, the Duke of Albany, the club has been situated at its present location of 91 King Street East since 1898.