House moves to University Avenue and Queen Street West
By the 1970s, the house had become a standout on what was now Adelaide Street East. What was once described as “the Most Aristocratic Section of the City of Toronto” was now primarily industrial and commercial space. The house had not served primarily as a home since the turn of the century, and its current occupants, the Coutts-Hallmark Corporation, wanted to demolish the building in favour of a parking lot.
Source:
Photographs – Toronto City Archives – Fonds 427, Series 1907, File 4
The 16 August 1897 edition of the Globe reports a wedding held at 54 Duke Street between Edith Maude, John Fensom’s youngest surviving daughter, and Joseph Lawson of Lawson & Wilson Bookbinders.
According to the 1876 Fisher and Taylor City Directory, John Strathy moved his immediate family into the house that year. They last appear on Duke Street in the 1878 Toronto City Directory.
The 1877 Directory reveals that J.R. Strathy, one of the sons, was a partner in Badgerow, McDonald and Strathy on 4 Toronto Street. The next year, according to the 1878 Directory, the firm was just Badgerow and Strathy.
According to a letter received in 1972 by Campbell House from a descendant, Colin Strathy, the family photograph was taken in 1876 and depicts Miss Elizabeth Strathy, Arthur G. Strathy, Mrs Susan Strathy (wife of John), and Robert Strathy (J.R.). The photograph shows Campbell House’s original porch – a rectilinear design with a much stronger character than the current semi-circular portico imagined by Anthony Adamson before the early photograph surfaced.
The 1871 Census sheds light upon the family members who may have filled the house later that decade. In that year, the Strathy family had six members under patriarch John, a 59-year-old Scottish Anglican barrister. His wife, Susan, was 47 at the time, and of Irish birth. One of the four children was 20 year old Robert, who was then a “Student at Law.” The other three children (Elizabeth – 13, George – 11, Arthur – 6) were going to school at the time.
1878 Workplace listingLetter from DescendantMiss StrathyStrathy Family on house porch
Sources:
Directories – Toronto Public Library (http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=DC-1316821003; http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=DC-758720002; http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=DC-758720)
Family Photograph – Campbell House Archives, Campbell House 1844-1972 Research Binder
Miss Strathy Photograph: City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 4323
Thompson Smith only appears in the Brown’s City Directory for 1846-7. He is listed as a timber merchant in the directory. He does not appear in any other extant city directories, and copies of 1845, 1847, and 1848 do not exist anymore. His name did not surface in any censuses during research, but that does not mean that he is not there as digital searches of censuses are often imprecise.
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