Residence.

Details of Site Location: 303 Welling Street West, on the south side west of Clarence Square.

Boundary History: The building was extremely large, occupying the better part of an acre.

Current Use of Property: Two large commercial buildings, replacing some earlier industrial uses.

Historical Description: In 1874, John Gordon built a house on the south side of Wellington directly across the street from the home of Hugh John Macdonald, son of Sir John A. Macdonald. Gordon was a senior partner in the dry goods importers and wholesalers Gordon, MacKay and Company. This firm had been founded in Hamilton in the 1850s and moved to Toronto in the 1870s, setting up a warehouse at the corner of Wellington and Bay. Gordon was also president of the Toronto Grey and Bruce Railway. He hired John James Browne to design his house, and the result was one of the most beautiful in the city. In Italianate style, it had paired front gables, wide eaves with elaborate brackets, and a widow’s walk at the centre, behind which were windows illuminating a central staircase. The brick house was heavily ornamented with carved stone details in the quoins and arches over the windows. The front portico was double columned in a series of tall, narrow arches. Each column was banded and had bracket-like elements at the base. The interior was also highly ornamented, including a large oval plaster moulding in the drawing room that dominated the room and made its rectangular shape appear round. Heavily outlined curves were popular in interiors of the period, and in this house they were not only on the cornices and ceiling mouldings but also in the deeply carved marble mantel and arched frame of the mirror over the mantel. John Gordon lived in this sumptuous house until he moved to Paris, France, in 1879. The house stayed empty until 1884, when Gordon’s brother-in-law, Sir William Mortimer Clarke, moved in. Clarke remained in the house until 1912, except for the five years (1903-08) he served as Lieutenant-Governor, when he lived in Government House. His last home was on Avenue Road just north of Bloor. The Clarkes were the last residents of the Wellington Street house It was sold in 1912 and demolished to open a right-of-way for CPR tracks.

Relative Importance: When the government opened Garrison Common west from Spadina and prompted the building of Clarence Square, it was intended to be an important residential area. For a time it was, with many fine homes built for or be important people. Both Gordon and Clarke are among those. The terrace on the north side of Clarence Square has survived in part and fronts on a small park, but all of the large fine homes of the area have vanished.

Planning Implications: As an important residential street, Wellington West deserves commemoration. Since Clarence Square has survived in part, it would be appropriate to mount a large plaque at that location with a map showing many of the most important houses that once existed to the west. Gordon and Clarke also deserve commemoration in the plaque or monument.

Reference Sources: Toronto Reference Library; John Ross Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto; City of Toronto Archives.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project.