Refreshment site.

Details of Site Location: 27-31 King Street West.

Boundary History: This site occupied two commercial building lots.

Current Use of Property: A bank.

Historical Description: Between periodic relocations and street renumberings, the history of McConkey’s is convoluted. Yet it was regarded as the chief restaurant in the city for most of its life. Precursor to the restaurant was a confectionery in the 1840s run by Thomas McConky [sic] as he was listed in the 1843/44 city directory. In 1856, he was listed as T. McConkey, Saloon, at 78 King Street West. The family tradition continued under son George S. McConkey, who was listed in 1889 as Confectioner and Restaurant, 29 King West. This building, constructed in 1880, was the one that achieved real fame. The Ontario Association of Architects moved their meetings from the also-famous Webb’s Restaurant to McConkey’s. George S. had an advertisement in that 1889 directory that reads: “G.S. McConkey, Confectioner and Restaurant, 29 King West, Lunch Rooms and Restaurant open from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. We make a specially of wedding supplies, dinners, suppers and theatre parties.” The restaurant had a long life and was carried on by the next generation in Ernest G. McConkey, who ran the business at 111 Bay and 311-313 Bay. This last listing is in 1941.

Relative Importance: Any restaurant that lasts for nearly 100 years is special indeed and deserves commemoration, but it was the fine food it offered that made it famous.

Planning Implications: It is recommended that the Canadian Restaurant Association undertake to plaque the sites of the city’s most famous and successful restaurants. Restaurants that become famous for their food, and are operated by successive members of a single family, are quite rare, and McConkey’s qualifies.

Reference Sources: City of Toronto Archives; Eric Arthur, Toronto – No Mean City (1964).

Acknowledgements: Enoch Turner Schoolhouse; Maps Project.