Riverside’s Smith block to receive heritage designation

Dennis Hanagan — 

Seven Riverside buildings, all more than a century old, are slated to be included in the city’s heritage register to ensure their historical character will be preserved.

The Toronto Preservation Board made the decision at its Jan. 21 meeting. City council has to give final approval. All seven are on the south side of Queen St. E. between the East Don Roadway and Broadview.

Six of them, from 639 to 655 Queen E., are part of what is known as the Smith Block, completed in 1890. As well as inclusion on the register, they’re to be designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

The block’s centre three addresses—645 to 649— were destroyed by fire in 1961. “It’s odd [the vacant centre] has never been touched for redevelopment,” board vice-chair Bernard Rasch remarked at the meeting.

The block is valued for its association with John Smith who arrived with Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1793. Subsequent Smith generations contributed to the development of the Town of York and the Don Mount/Riverdale neighbourhood—today known as Riverside—for a century.

The other building at 685 Queen E. is to be included on the city’s Heritage Register. The two and a half storey, brick clad building completed in 1904 “represents sole medical practitioners” Dr. John. B. Fraser and Dr. W. Ambrose Fish who lived and practiced in the late 19th and early 20th century Riverdale, says a report from the city’s Heritage Preservation Services.

All seven properties are within the current Queen St. E. Heritage Conservation District Study area.