Description: 

631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street is a 3-storey plus basement building located at the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Isabella Street in Toronto. 631-637 Yonge / 1-5 Isabella Street was designed by James Wilson Gray in 1904 with construction completed by 1905/1906. The building was originally home to the T. A. Crow Carriage Works.  


631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street was identified as a contributing property within the Historic Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District (presently under appeal) and was listed on the City of Toronto Heritage Register in March 2016.


The Historic Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District Plan (DIALOG, 2016) provides the following architectural description of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street:  


"This is a 3 storey building designed in a simple Edwardian style, and related to the adjacent building at 627-629 Yonge. The façade is divided vertically into 3 parts. A parapet defined by a banding course at the roof line, a continuous band at the third floor window sills, and a tile-clad base at the ground floor with display windows and entrances."  


The exterior of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street has been painted white, which is obscuring underlying architectural details. The ground floor storefronts have underwent some modifications over time.


Architect — James Wilson Gray: 

The architect of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street was James Wilson Gray.  

Gray's original blueprints and written notes pertaining to the design of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street are held by the City of Toronto Archives. Attached are copies. 


The Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada: 1800-1950 provides the following biography of James Wilson Gray: 


"James Wilson Gray (1864-1922), active in Toronto, Ont. from 1885 until his death there in 1922. Gray was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 7 July 1864. He attended courses at Edinburgh University and, at the age of 21 years, he emigrated to Canada in 1885. After settling in Toronto, he trained as a draftsman under Alan MacDougall, who invited Gray to form a partnership in 1886.

When MacDougall was appointed City Engineer of Toronto in 1887, their partnership was dissolved and Gray then opened an office under his own name, and continued to operate his own office for the next 35 years. Gray was a lifelong member of Knox Church in Toronto, the largest Scottish Presbyterian congregation in Toronto, and he was the logical choice in 1891 to design the St. Andrew’s Society Monument in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. This stone cairn and memorial obelisk, nearly 40 feet in height, still stands today. When the Knox congregation decided to build a substantial new church on Spadina Avenue near Harbord Street in 1906, Gray was again a fitting choice to prepare the plans, this time in a creditable Gothic style, although the spire which Gray had planned above the north tower was never completed.

One of his most impressive institutional works in Toronto was the refined Edwardian design for St. Andrew’s College, Rosedale (1902-03), This four storey educational block, stretching nearly 200 ft. along Yonge Street, rivalled the work of other talented Toronto architects such as Darling & Pearson, and Sproatt & Rolph. Regrettably, the entire block was demolished after St. Andrew’s College decided to move to Aurora, Ont. in 1924. For his commercial work, Gray favoured the Renaissance Revival style, and his design for the five storey Tremont House Hotel on Yonge Street (1912) featured a meticulously detailed white terra cotta façade, a material which he would later experiment with on other larger commercial projects.

The largest and most important architectural project carried out by Gray during his career is not, however, to be found in Ontario, but is actually located in Winnipeg, Man. There, Gray completed his design for the distinctive ten storey Confederation Life Building in 1912. The elaborate Renaissance Revival façade, clad entirely in gleaming white terra cotta, must rank as a unique landmark in western Canada, as it incorporates a gently curving façade which acknowledges the bend in Main Street near William Avenue, the busy commercial street in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. The projecting roofline of the cornice, with its deep cantilever, also gives the work a commanding appearance on the street, in contrast to the other conventional rectilinear office blocks erected in that city before WWI.

Gray died in Toronto on 28 March 1922 after an illness lasting two months. A stained glass window, fabricated by Robert McCausland and honouring J. Wilson Gray, Architect, was installed in the north elevation of the sanctuary interior of Knox Presbyterian Church on Spadina Avenue in Toronto in 1922."



Design Specifications: 

Gray's written notes (see attached) on the design of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street provide a detailed description of the construction, materials, and other building-related specifications. Gray's notes (1904) identify the exterior of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street consists of a diverse range of materials, including: brown stone from Nova Scotia and/or the Credit Valley; limestone from Indiana; granite from Barrie; other stones from the Lake Shore and/or Credit Valley; cement; various types of brick, including red, red-purple, and grey brick (with some interior walls also containing white (yellow) brick). Structural timber used on the interior of the building was specified to be wholly white pine. Flooring was a mix of white maple and tiles. Doors, doorframes, and other room entryways were oak and/or oak veneered on pine cores. The wainscotting in the showrooms was oak. Several interior rooms contained metal (fireproof) ceilings. Plate glass separated the ground floor showroom from the horse shoeing room. The decorative cornice — since removed — was constructed of galvanized iron that was painted and stained.


Many exterior details appear to be intact, although have been obscured underneath layers of paint. Present day photographs of interior units also indicate that some original elements may be intact, such as the white pine timbers.

Please note that Gray's notes (1904) indicate that some sections of the building may contain asbestos and lead pipes.  



First Use — T. A. Crow Carriage Works:

Between 1905/1906 and 1920/1921, 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street housed the T. A. Crow Carriage Works. 


Thomas Alexander Crow (also spelled Crowe) (1863-1956) was one of Canada's most eminent carriage builders and horsemen. Crow was born in Ellesmere (Scarborough) in 1863 and was the son of blacksmith and carriage builder Robert Crow and Margaret Porteous Crow. Thomas Crow "entered his father's business when it moved to Leslieville to build wagons and carriages" (The Globe and Mail 1956, 4). The firm later moved to near Yonge Street and Isabella Street in 1880. The new factory at the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Isabella Street was constructed in 1905/1906. 


Carriages manufactured by the Crows were displayed at the Canadian National Exhibition and Royal Winter Fair. Alongside manufacturing carriages, Thomas Crow bred and showed horses where he had a "record of classes won not exceeded by anyone" (The Globe and Mail 1956, 4). Around 1915, Crow entered into a partnership with James Murray and subsequently operated the horse breeding and dealing business Crow & Murray from the property. The Canadian Hackney Society note that Crow & Murray were "considered to be the city's most recognized dealer in high class show horses from the late 1890s until 1925 [and] the clientele served were the leading exhibitors in Canada as well as in the United States." For 59 years, Crow competed "at nearly all the larger horse shows in North America and the Olympia in London" (The Globe and Mail 1956, 4). He often travelled to the shows with as many as 20 horses (The Canadian Hackney Society 2018). 

During the 1920s (and following the death of James Murray), Thomas Crow moved his business to Scarborough. For many years, he served as a director of the Canadian Hackney Society and as its President in 1934-1935. Crow was inducted into the Hackney Hall of Fame in 2018.  Crow also served as a director of the Canadian Hunter Improvement Society, the Stallion Enrollment Board, and on various committees for the Royal Winter Fair and Canadian National Exhibition horse shows. 


Thomas Crow continued his business until retiring in the the early 1950s. He died in Scarborough in November 1956, age 93. He was never married and did not have children.


Gray's blueprints of the 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street indicate that the ground floor contained the forge, the horse shoeing room, the blacksmith shop, a small showroom, and offices; whereas the second floor contained a larger showroom and the wood shop. The basement and third floor contained various storerooms.  



Later Uses: 

Please note the following list of former uses is not exhaustive and aims to provide a general overview. Dates are also approximate.


1920s to 1950s:

Between the 1920s and early 1950s, 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street was home to various automotive-related businesses, including: the Dominion Automobile Company (early 1920s to early 1930s); one of the earliest locations of Canadian Tire (early-to-mid 1930s); Hudson's Motors of Canada (late 1930s to mid-to-late 1940s); and Century Motor Sales (late 1940s to early 1950s). Thomas Crow initially leased the building to the Dominion Automobile Company in 1920. Further research is required to determine when Crow sold it. Photographs and illustrations of the building from this period have been included with this entry. Of additional note is that there were many automotive-related businesses along and in proximity to this section of Yonge Street and neighbouring Bay Street — known as Automobile Row — during the early-to-mid 20th century. 

Neighbouring 627-629 Yonge Street was constructed in 1921 and first housed the Dominion Automobile Company showroom. The buildings were consolidated together as of this point in time. 


1950s-1980s:

During the 1950s to 1980s, 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street housed various businesses, including: Siegel Distributing Company Ltd. (during the 1950s); Leader Amusement Company Ltd., Taylor Phonographs; and Siegal AI Enterprises Ltd. (during the early 1960s); and the furniture store Shelaghs of Canada Ltd. (during the mid-to-late 1960s); an amusement arcade (during the early 1970s); Interesting Jewellery (during the mid-1970s); and the apparel stores South Pacific Clothing Company and Ralph and Alice (during the late 1970s through 1980s).

In 1972, plans were submitted by architects Mandel Sprachman and Hamilton Design Associates for a Waxworks Museum at 631-637 Yonge Street. These plans included renovation of the extant buildings. Further research is required to determine whether these plans ever came to fruition and whether this museum ever opened (either independently or as part of the above-mentioned arcade).  


Nightlife Venues (including Gay Venues):

Denise Benson — a freelance journalist and an expert on Toronto nightlife history — has noted that "in the late 1970s through much of the ’80s, Yonge and Isabella was an epicentre for emergent music, arts, and fashion culture [...] the area came alive at night, with numerous booze-cans and after-hours clubs drawing dancers to upper-level locations on Yonge and decadent discos on side streets."

During the 1970s, the upstairs of 1 Isabella Street housed the Mrs. Nights (Mrs. Knights) and Cheetah Club discos. In 1979, Cheetah Club closed and the space subsequently became the Domino Klub. Benson (2013) notes that the Domino Klub did not have a distinct identity when it first opened, but later evolved into Toronto's first post-punk and new-wave dance club and the "breeding ground for Toronto's early '80s alternative music and fashion scenes." The layout of the venue "allowed enough options for punks, skinheads, fashionistas, and artists of all stripes and sexualities to gather comfortably."  The Domino Klub was also reported to be the first Toronto venue to promote the Irish rock band U2. In 1983/1984, the Domino Klub moved to 279 Yonge Street, as their lease at 1 Isabella Street had expired and the landlord had requested a significant rent increase. 

Following the departure of the Domino Klub, 1 Isabella Street housed Oz. Oz was a "tough gay-and-straight dance club" that had a yellow brick road themed entryway inspired by the Wizard of Oz. Oz closed in 1985.


Following Oz, 1 Isabella Street housed Komrads between 1985 and 1991. Denise Benson notes in Then & Now: Komrads (2014) that Komrads was a gay bar and venue that "helped mobilize Toronto's gay-rights movement" and was a space where many LGBTQ individuals went to "celebrate [their] political wins." Komrads unexpectedly closed due to a change of management in spring 1991.


Later gay venues based at 1 Isabella Street during the 1990s include: Bar 1, Generations, and Radius. Following these venues, the space housed Spincatz — a punk and rave club.


Present Day:

As of May 2022, the ground floor of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street contains Miss Fu in ChengDu, Thank U Coffee, and The Nutrition Bar restaurants / cafés. The upstairs contains a location of the Hone Fitness gym chain.


Redevelopment Application:

In November 2021, YI Developments Ltd. (Rabba's) proposed redevelopment of 631-637 Yonge Street and 1-9 Isabella Street with a 57-storey mixed use building. YI Developments Ltd. (Rabba's) are presently — as of the November 2021 redevelopment application — proposing demolition of 631-637 Yonge Street / 1-5 Isabella Street.  Please note that there was also an earlier redevelopment application for this site in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

(Research by Adam Wynne)

• Architect - James Wilson Gray  <-- More buildings by this architect.