Cherry Street Diner
The Cherry Street Hotel is a heritage building on the southeast corner of Front Street and Cherry Street, in Toronto's West Don Lands.[1] The structure originally served as a school, the Palace Street School. The structure underwent several expansions, and served as a hotel for most of its life. From 1965 through 2007 it was the home to the Canary, a restaurant that preserved a 1960s era decor, and was subsequently used for location shots for films set in that era.[2][3]
In 1882, when the structure was still a school, Georgina Stanley Reid was appointed its principal, stirring controversy.[4] According to Nancy Kiefer, writing in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, this controversy is often attributed to Reid being Toronto's first female principal to be paid the same as a man. Kiefer however wrote that some of the opposition came from other female teachers, who had more experience, or who had the first class teaching certificate Reid lacked.
The school was closed in 1887, its students transferring to a school on nearby Sackville Street.[4]
The neighbourhood that surrounded the structure has undergone many changes. By the late 20th Century, while there were newer light industries nearby, many of the nearby industries, like the Gooderham and Worts distillery had closed.[5] When the city implemented redevelopment plans, the structure, and the CN Railway Police building across the street were preserved when almost all the buildings west of Cherry Street were demolished.
In 2013 construction began on larger and taller buildings, that will dwarf the hotel. Initially those buildings will serve as the 2015 Pan American Games Athlete's Village.[6]
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Rick McGinnis (2010-01-22). "The Gutting of the Canary Reveals Its Past, but Can it Survive the Wrath of the Pan Am Games?". Blog TO. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- ↑
David Fleischer (2009-12-29). "Reel Toronto: Get Rich or Die Tryin'". Torontoist. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
More bad doings here, at the former Canary Restaurant. There’s some love for the interior…
- ↑ "This Canary is singing the blues: The venerable Canary Restaurant has died, unable to survive the lean times while awaiting waterfront revitalization". Canoe.com. 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
Nancy Kiefer. "Reid (Reed, Read), Georgina Stanley (Riches)". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
On 6 Sept. 1882 Riches was appointed principal of Palace Street School, at the corner of Front and Cherry streets. The appointment immediately generated controversy. A number of female teachers with higher certificates protested “ill-judged favoritism.” In addition, two petitions were presented, one froth the ratepayers of St Lawrence Ward and the other from the parents of children attending the school, against a female head.
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"West Don Lands precinct plan" (PDF). City of Toronto. 2005-05. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
The re-use of the historic street pattern, wherever possible, combined with the preservation of key landmark buildings that remain, also forms a critical basis to the development of this Plan. The successful redevelopment of the historic Distillery becomes a key reference point, as does the recommended preservation of the Canary Restaurant and former CN Police Building at the intersection of Front and Cherry Streets. This intersection forms the heart of the community that emerges here over time, with the historic buildings at the corners, providing a key link to the area’s past.
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Amy Dempsey (2012-05-30). "Is Toronto's newest neighbourhood named after a yellow bird?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
Long before it was a greasy spoon, the brick building that housed the Canary was the Palace Street School. Constructed in 1859, it is now the oldest surviving public school building in the city.
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