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Description:
85 Spadina Road is a 2.5 storey Queen Anne Revival house located on the east side of Spadina Road approximately midblock between Lowther Avenue and Bernard Avenue in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto. 85 Spadina Road serves as an architectural vista for the eastern terminus of Kendal Avenue. 85 Spadina Road was built in 1899 and designed by Toronto architect Robert Mitchell Ogilvie on commission for Norman Blain Gash.
85 Spadina Road was listed on the City of Toronto Heritage Register in February 1974.
Originally a residential property, 85 Spadina Road was converted to a TTC Station Entrance in 1977. Further information on this has been included below.
In 2010, Heritage Toronto added a plaque detailing the history of the property to the front of the building. A photograph of the plaque has been included with this entry.
Original Architect — Robert Mitchell Ogilvie:
The architect of 85 Spadina Road was Robert Mitchell Ogilvie. The Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada: 1800-1950 has provided the following biography of Ogilvie:
"Robert Mitchell Ogilvie: born 13 March 1860, began his career in Toronto in 1887 by designing many semi-detached houses for speculative development and sale in the Annex neighbourhood of that city. He employed Andrew L. Ogilvie, perhaps a brother, as a draughtsman in his office in 1890 and formed a partnership with him in June 1891. One of their apprentices was William M. Dodd. In early 1894 his residence on Davenport Road was destroyed by fire; this calamity may have precipitated his move to Huntsville, Ont. to assist in the rebuilding of the town after the disastrous fire there in May of that year. He remained there for more than a year and advertised regularly in local newspapers. His best known work there is All Saints Anglican Church (1894-95), a English Gothic work executed in local fieldstone. Ogilvie returned to Toronto in late 1896 and continued to work under his own name until September 1904 when he accepted the position of staff architect in the Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa. He received a permanent appointment to the position on 25 August 1905 and in this role designed dozens of day schools, boarding schools [residential schools], band council houses, residences and ancillary buildings on Indian reservations from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. His plans for residential schools, often substantial three storey buildings based on symmetrical and classically inspired precedents, differed from site to site and from province to province, depending on the geography, climate and local buildings materials available in the region. He died in Ottawa on 9 April 1921. His successor at the Department of Indian Affairs was R. Guerney Orr."
First Residents — Norman Blain Gash and Family:
85 Spadina Road was first home to Norman Blain Gash (1863-1944) and family between its construction in 1899 and late 1944.
Norman Blain Gash was a lawyer and public servant. The Globe and Mail provided the following biography of Norman Blain Gash in his 21 October 1944 obituary:
"Norman Blain Gash, K. C., L. L. B., of the law firm of Beaty, Snow, & Gash, died yesterday at his residence, 85 Spadina Road, at the age of 81. Mr. Gash had practiced in Toronto since he was called to the Ontario Bar in 1891. He was created King's Counsel in 1908.
In a long and brilliant legal career, Mr. Gash had on many occasions represented both the Dominion and Ontario Governments in civil and criminal cases. He was appointed by the Ontario Government in 1916 as a Royal Commissioner to report on the education and welfare of the blind.
He had been a member of the Toronto Public Library Board since 1907 and was its chairman in 1911, 1916, 1922, 1929, 1933, and 1940. He was a member of the Ontario Council of the Canadian Bar Association from 1916 to 1918 and was vice-president of the Ontario Bar Association from 1915 to 1918 and president in 1919-1920.
Born in Dunnville, September 1 1863, Mr. Gash was the son of the late Matthew Gash and Jane Adams. He was educated at the Dunnville public and high schools and at Victoria University, Coburn, where he was a medallist in classics. Before graduation at Osgoode Hall Law School, he read law with Kingsmill, Cattanach, & Symons and with Coatsworth, Hodgins, & Company in Toronto.
Surviving are his daughter, Edith Raymore Gash, and his son, Arthur B. Gash, who served in France with the RFA in the last war and is now on active service in Italy."
Norman Blain Gash was pre-deceased by his wife Annie Eleanor Gash (née Ross). Annie Gash (1873-1938) died in January 1938.
In April 1899, Norman B. Gash filed a public complaint to Mayor John Shaw as Bell Telephone refused to connect newly constructed 85 Spadina Road to the telephone network. Reportedly, the telephone poles on Spadina Road had run out of room for more lines and the City of Toronto had refused to issue permits to add more. The issue was later resolved.
85 Spadina Road was sold following the death of Norman Blain Gash in October 1944.
Later Residents and Uses:
Please note the following list of former residents and uses is not exhaustive and aims to provide a general overview. Dates are also approximate.
Following the Gash family's sale of 85 Spadina Road, the property was converted to a rooming house. The first proprietors of the rooming house were the Boggs family. 85 Spadina Road remained tenanted as a rooming house until the 1970s when the property was acquired by the City of Toronto. Of note is that this acquisition followed the cancellation of the Spadina Expressway, which would have seen 85 Spadina Road and neighbouring homes demolished to allow for the construction of a sunken highway.
Barbara Pentland:
In 1948, Barbara Pentland (1912-2000) — an eminent Canadian composer — resided at a studio at 85 Spadina Road. Pentland wrote the fourth movement of her first symphony at 85 Spadina Road. Pentland had moved from Winnipeg to Toronto in 1942 and taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music. In 1949, she moved to Vancouver to take a position teaching at the University of British Columbia. Please note that further research is required to identify how long Barbara Pentland lived at 85 Spadina Road.
1966 Murder-Suicide:
In November 1966, Barry Cluzel murdered his wife Bertha Cluzel and then committed suicide at 85 Spadina Road. Bertha was dying of cancer and had been bedridden for over 5 years. The Cluzels rented two rooms at the back of the house. The police referred to the incident as a "mercy killing."
Use as a Subway Station Entrance:
In 1977, 85 Spadina Road was converted to a TTC Station entrance The station-related renovations were designed by the architectural firm Adamson Associates. The station entrance at 85 Spadina Road formally opened in January 1978. The underground portion of the station contains the Barren Ground Caribou (1977/1978) quilted artwork by Joyce Wieland.
The conversion of 85 Spadina Road to a subway station sparked controversy in 1976/1977. A series of letters between Eric Arthur (of the University of Toronto), Jim Lemon (of the Annex Resident's Association); and William Dendy (of the Toronto Historical Board) were published in The Globe and Mail in March and April 1976. Copies of these letters have been included in the sources section of this entry.
Since its conversion to a Subway Station Entrance in 1977, the upstairs of 85 Spadina Road has been vacant.
As of March 2022, the exterior of 85 Spadina Road is in a deteriorated state. Masonry elements — particularly around the base of the building and the decorative sandstone elements — are in a visibly poor and damaged state. Several of the second floor window panes are also missing and boarded over with plywood.
(Research by Adam Wynne)
