Authority:Toronto Community Council Report No. 2, Clause No. 32
as adopted by City of Toronto Council on February 2, 3 and 4, 1999
Enacted by Council:
CITY OF TORONTO
Bill No. 82
BY-LAW No.
To designate the property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) as being of
architectural and historical value or interest.
WHEREAS authority was granted by Council to designate the property at No. 540 Dovercourt
Road as being of architectural and historical value or interest; and
WHEREAS the Ontario Heritage Act authorizes the Council of a municipality to enact
by-laws to designate real property, including all the buildings and structures thereon, to be of
historical or architectural value or interest; and
WHEREAS the Council of the City of Toronto has caused to be served upon the owners of the
land and premises known as No. 540 Dovercourt Road and upon the Ontario Heritage
Foundation, Notice of Intention to designate the property and has caused the Notice of
Intention to be published in a newspaper having a general circulation in the municipality as
required by the Ontario Heritage Act; and
WHEREAS the reasons for designation are set out in Schedule "B" to this by-law; and
WHEREAS no notice of objection to the proposed designation was served upon the Clerk of
the municipality;
The Council of the City of Toronto HEREBY ENACTS as follows:
1.The property at No. 540 Dovercourt Road, more particularly described and shown on
Schedule "A" to this by-law, is designated as being of architectural and historical value or
interest.
2.The City Solicitor is authorized to cause a copy of this by-law to be registered against the
property described in Schedules "A" and "C" to this by-law in the proper Land Registry
Office.
3.The City Clerk is authorized to cause a copy of this by-law to be served upon the owners
of the property at No. 540 Dovercourt Road and upon the Ontario Heritage Foundation and to
cause notice of this by-law to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the
City of Toronto as required by the Ontario Heritage Act.
ENACTED AND PASSED this day of March, A.D. 1999.
___________________________________________
MayorCity Clerk
SCHEDULE "A"
In the City of Toronto and Province of Ontario, being composed of parts of Lots 19 and 20 on
Plan D-262 registered in the Land Registry Office for the Metropolitan Toronto Registry
Division (No. 64), the boundaries of the land being described as follows:
COMMENCING at a point in the southerly limit of the said Lot 19, said point being distant
22.25 metres easterly from the westerly limit of Lot 19;
THENCE northerly parallel to the easterly limits of Lots 19 and 20 a distance of 19.81 metres
to a point in Lot 20, said point being distant 4.57 metres from the southerly limit of Lot 20;
THENCE easterly parallel to the southerly limit of the said Lots 20 and 19 a distance of 37.19
metres to a point, said point being distant 4.57 metres northerly from the southerly limit of Lot
20 and 1.52 metres westerly from the easterly limit of the said Lot 20;
THENCE southerly parallel to the easterly limits of Lots 20 and 19 a distance of 19.81 metres
to the southerly limit of Lot 19;
THENCE westerly along the southerly limit of Lot 19 a distance of 37.19 metres to the point
of commencement.
The said land being most recently described in Instrument CT275711.
The hereinbefore described land being delineated by heavy outline on Plan SYE2913 dated
February 6, 1999, as set out in Schedule "C".
SCHEDULE "B"
Heritage Property Report
Massey-Quick House
540 Dovercourt Road
August 1998
Table Of Contents
Basic Building Data
1.Dovercourt Neighbourhood
2.540 Dovercourt Road
Architectural Description
Context
Summary
Sources Consulted
Attachments:
IShort Statement of Reasons for Designation
IILocation Map
IIIPhotographs
IVArchitectural Drawings *
*source: Horwood Collection, Archives of Ontario; reproductions supplied by Crawford Shaw
Historical Society
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Heritage Toronto
Heritage Property Report
Basic Building Data:
Address:540 Dovercourt Road (northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street)
Ward:20 (Trinity-Niagara)
Current Name:Dufferin Grove Housing Co-op
Historical Name:Massey-Quick House
Construction Date:1895-1896
Architect:D. B. Dick
Contractor/Builder:Bennett and Wright
Additions/Alterations:dates unknown: door opening replaced by window opening on principal
(east) façade; wood sunporches added to south and north walls; wood fire escape added to rear
(west) wall
Original Owner:Robert Grant
Original Use:Residential (double house)
Current Use*:Residential (9-unit co-op)
Heritage Category:Neighbourhood Heritage Property
Recording Date:August 1998
Recorder:HPD:KA
* this does not refer to permitted use(s) as defined in the Zoning By-law
Historical Background:
1.Dovercourt Neighbourhood:
Following the founding of the Town of York in 1793, Lieutenant Governor John Graves
Simcoe divided the area bounded by the Don River and present day Queen, Dufferin and
Bloor Streets into nearly 30 Park Lots which were distributed to members of Upper Canada's
political and military elite. Close to Dufferin Street, Park Lot 26 was initially reserved for the
unnamed Solicitor General of the province. However, in 1798, the lot was divided in two,
with the north half granted to Alexander McNab, Clerk of the Executive Council, and the
south half given to William Chewitt, Deputy Surveyor General of Upper Canada. The
properties remained undeveloped when George Taylor Denison purchased the south and north
halves in 1816 and 1822, respectively.
George Taylor Denison was the eldest son of John Denison (1755-1824), patriarch of one of
the most influential families in the development of Toronto. George Taylor Denison inherited
almost all of his father's extensive land holdings, including several Park Lots between Spadina
Road and Dufferin Street. Portions of Park Lots 25 and 26 were transferred to his eldest son,
Richard Lippincott Denison, who named the property "Dover Court" for his
great-grandmother's ancestral home in Essex.
2.540 Dovercourt Road:
While members of the Denison family developed expansive estates on their Park Lots, by the
mid-19th century they responded to the westward expansion of the City of Toronto by
subdividing and selling portions of their properties. In 1877, Plan D262 was registered for
Denison land on the west side of Dovercourt Road between College and Bloor Streets. Lot 19
at the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street was acquired in 1892 by
Robert Grant, a prominent Toronto contractor who resided at 528 Dovercourt Road.
A native of Scotland, Robert Grant (born 1840) immigrated to Toronto in 1870, forming a
brief partnership with engineer Lionel York. Although his qualifications are unknown, Grant
advertised his services as an "architect" in an 1873 Directory. By the next year, however, he
joined architect D. B. Dick in a partnership that formally lasted through 1876. David Brash
Dick (1846-1925) received his training at the Edinburgh School of Design and in the offices
of the Scottish architectural firms of W. L. Moffatt and Peddie and Kinnear. He evidently
arrived in Toronto via Chicago where he participated in the rebuilding campaign that followed
the Great Fire of 1871. Grant and Dick designed the semi-detached house at 30-32 Lowther
Avenue in 1875, followed by the Consumers' Gas Company of Toronto Chambers at 17
Toronto Street in 1876. Both properties are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. The
latter commission led to Dick's significant body of work for Consumers' Gas and its president,
James Austin. He is best known, however, for his projects on the University of Toronto
campus, including the restoration of University College in 1890 and his subsequent designs
for Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto Library.
Beginning in 1877, Robert Grant concentrated on property development, engaging other
contractors to construct his projects. In April, 1894, Grant received a building permit for "one
pair of semi-detached 2-storey-and-attic brick dwellings" with a value of $8000 at the
northwest corner of Dovercourt and Dewson. The project was designed by his former partner,
Dick, as evidenced by drawings for the project housed in the Horwood Collection at the
Archives of Ontario (see Attachment IV). Grant engaged the firm of Bennett and Wright to
construct the double house. Historical records show the building as incomplete in 1894 and
early 1895, and vacant in 1896. The first tenants were recorded in 1897 when Arthur L.
Massey occupied #538 Dovercourt (now absorbed into #540), while #540 was the residence of
John E. Quick. Little is known about Quick, who was listed in various City Directories as a
baggage agent for the Grand Trunk Railway, a secretary and a mariner. Arthur Lyman Massey,
however, was the grandson of Hart Massey, founder of the internationally recognized
manufacturer of agricultural implements. Following the untimely death of Arthur's father and
Hart's heir, Charles Massey, and an estrangement within the clan, control of Massey-Harris
passed to Arthur's uncles and cousins. Arthur L. Massey was listed as an accountant during his
tenancy at 540 Dovercourt Road.
In 1898, 540 Dovercourt was occupied by a prominent Torontonian, George Taylor Denison
IV. A barrister with the family firm of Macklem and Denison, he evidently resided here prior
to developing his own property at the south end of Dovercourt. Robert Grant retained the
double house until 1910 when Loretto Ladies Colleges and Schools acquired it as rental
properties. In 1926, the building was converted into a nine-unit apartment house known as
Dover Hall Apartments. The Dufferin Grove Housing Co-op purchased the property in 1978.
Architectural Description:
The Massey-Quick House is designed in the Queen Anne style, characterized by its
asymmetrical composition, mixture of materials and varied forms. The double house is
constructed of red brick on a coursed stone base with brick, sandstone and wood trim.
Rising 2½ stories, a hipped roof with cross-gables on all four slopes covers the building.
There is a gabled dormer on the north slope, and a hipped dormer on the rear (west) slope.
Some of the gables and dormers are filled with shingles.
The principal (east) façade on Dovercourt Road is organized into four bays of varied widths
with entrances placed in the first and third bays. On the south end of this wall, a two-storey
porch protects the entry to the portion of the house formerly identified as #538. Partially
enclosed, the porch has wood columns and brackets. In the second bay, a projecting
frontispiece has a two-storey bay window beneath a gable with returned eaves and a
Palladian-styled window opening. Off-set near the centre of the wall, a round-arched entrance
porch with a stone keystone provided access to the north half of the semi-detached house. The
original panelled wood door with transom has been replaced with a window opening. It is
flanked by a window with sandstone detailing. At the north end of the wall, round-arched
window openings in the first storey are topped by a gabled wall dormer with a round-headed
window opening, brick corbels, and brick detailing in a Greek key pattern. Most of the
window openings in the east wall are flat-headed with stone labels and sills.
The long south wall on Dewson Street repeats many of the features introduced on the
principal façade. The first and second stories are divided by an elaborately detailed sandstone
belt course. Beneath the cross-gable, a projecting frontispiece has rows of flat-headed window
openings with sandstone and brick trim. A pedimented gable containing a round window
opening with louvered wood shutters surmounts it. An oval window marks the lower storey.
The north wall displays a variety of window openings. In the cross-gable, pairs of flat-headed
window openings are separated by brick panels and topped by a round arch containing
basketweave brickwork. The rear (west) wall has a projecting wing with a gable roof and a
combination of round-arched and flat-headed window openings.
Context:
The property at 540 Dovercourt Road is located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road
and Dewson Street. It is part of a streetscape of residential buildings that share its setback but
not its size. To the north, the Dovercourt-St. Paul's Presbyterian Church (built) on the
northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Hepbourne Street is included on the City of Toronto
Inventory of Heritage Properties.
Summary:
The property at 540 Dovercourt Road is identified for architectural and historical reasons. The
Massey-Quick House was completed in 1896 according to the designs of the important
Toronto architect D. B. Dick for his former partner, contractor Robert Grant. Early occupants
of the semi-detached house were members of Toronto's leading families. The evolution of the
neighbourhood witnessed the successful conversion of the building into an apartment house
and later a multi-unit co-op. The Massey-Quick House is an impressive example of the Queen
Anne style. Located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street, the
property is a visible feature in the Dovercourt neighbourhood.
Sources Consulted:
Arthur, Eric. Toronto. No Mean City. 3rd ed. Revised by Stephen A. Otto. Toronto: University
of Toronto, 1986.
Assessment Rolls. City of Toronto. Ward 6, Division 2. 1894-1898.
Blumenson, John. Ontario Architecture. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1990.
Building Permit #1588 (12 April 1894).
City of Toronto Directories. 1895-1899.
Crawford Shaw Historical Society. "Heritage Property Report: 540 Dovercourt Road". May
1998.
Gagan, David. The Denison Family of Toronto, 1792-1925. Toronto: University of Toronto,
1973.
Hudson, Edna. Bellevue Avenue. An Architectural and Social Study. Toronto: Toronto
Region Architectural Conservancy, July 1993.
"The Late Mr. David B. Dick". The Builder (July-December 1925).
Martyn, Lucy Booth. Aristocratic Toronto. Toronto: Personal Library, 1980.
"The Massey Mystique". Weekend Magazine (16 June 1979) 11-14.
McHugh, Patricia. Toronto Architecture. A City Guide. 2nd ed. Toronto: McClelland and
Stewart, 1989.
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Attachment I
Short Statement of Reasons for Designation
Massey-Quick House
540 Dovercourt Road
The property at 540 Dovercourt Road (Massey-Quick House) is recommended for designation
for architectural and historical reasons. The property contains a double house completed in
1896 for contractor Robert Grant. First occupied by Arthur L. Massey and John E. Quick, the
double house was designed by Toronto architect D. B. Dick.
The Massey-Quick House displays the mixture of materials, asymmetrical composition , and
varied forms associated with Queen Anne styling. The building is constructed of brick on a
stone foundation and trimmed with brick, stone and wood. Rising 2½-stories, the house is
covered by a gable roof with cross-gables, dormers and chimneys. Important features are the
round-arched principal (east) entrance, two-storey southeast porch, bay window (east wall),
and pattern of round-arched and flat-headed window openings.
Located on the northwest corner of Dovercourt Road and Dewson Street, the Massey-Quick
House is a prominent feature in the Dovercourt neighbourhood.
