Description:

99 Sudbury Street is a 2-storey former factory (industrial) building located on the south side of Sudbury Street approximately 50 meters west of Dovercourt Road in the West Queen West Triangle neighbourhood of Toronto. 99 Sudbury Street was constructed in circa 1898/1899 (certainly pre-1913) for The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. (also known as The Toronto Glass Works). 

The architect of the Toronto Glass Company Ltd. factory was Col. Arthur Richard Denison, a prolific Toronto architect who was also a member of Toronto's prominent Denison family.  For more information on Col. Denison, please see this Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada — 1800 to 1950 article: http://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/1637


The exterior of 99 Sudbury Street — originally of a red brick construction — has been painted black, which is obscuring the building. 


As of early 2022, 99 Sudbury Street is the only surviving factory / industrial building in the West Queen West Triangle. The West Queen West Triangle — bounded by Queen Street West, Dovercourt Road, and the CNR/CPR Rail Corridor  — emerged as an industrial district during the late 19th and early 20th century. With the exception of 99 Sudbury Street, all former factory, industrial, and warehouse buildings in the West Queen West Triangle have been demolished for subsequent waves of redevelopment, most notably numerous condominium towers and other high-rise residential structures which have been constructed from the 1990s onward. 




99 Sudbury Street serves as an architectural vista for the southern terminus of Lisgar Street. The Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway rail corridor abuts the building to the immediate south. The block of Sudbury Street which 99 Sudbury Street is situated on also contains one of the area's last surviving street rail spurs. 


In 2014/2015, neighbouring 55 Sudbury Street — the office building associated with the glassworks — was listed on the City of Toronto Heritage Register. The adjacent factory (industrial) building at 99 Sudbury Street was not added to the heritage register at this point in time.


Please note the 99 Sudbury Street building also includes the municipal address 99R Sudbury Street. 


The Toronto Glass Company Ltd.: 

99 Sudbury Street was likely constructed in circa 1898/1899 for The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. (also known as the Toronto Glass Works). The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. was Toronto's first industrial glass manufacturing operation and was also one of the first industrial enterprises to be established in the West Queen West Triangle.


The architect of the Toronto Glass Company Ltd. factory was Arthur Richard Denison, a prolific Toronto architect who was also a member of Toronto's prominent Denison family.  For more information on Denison, please see this Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada — 1800 to 1950 article: http://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/1637

The Growing Time: Steady Growth of the City's Manufactures — an article published in The Globe (Toronto) in November 1898 — notes that The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. had recently constructed or was in the process of constructing a 2-storey brick factory building on Blair Street (now Sudbury Street) between Abell Street and Dovercourt Road at the cost of $1600. This likely refers to 99 Sudbury Street. 

During the mid-1890s, debate arose as to whether The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. should be exempted from taxation. 

An early 20th century insurance plan of the factory complex indicates that 99 Sudbury Street housed the batch making, mould storage, box making, and shipping departments as of that point in time. Please note that buildings at this factory complex do not appear on Goad's Fire Insurance Plans — commissioned by the City of Toronto — until the 1913 edition.


Thomas B. King has provided the following history of The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. in Glass in Canada (1987): 


"The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. (1893-1899) — Toronto's first glass operation was started by four glassworkers from the Burlington Glass Works in Hamilton: William Barrett Griner, glassblower; William Keegan, glass melter; Herbert Henry Malcolmson, mould maker; and John Clarke Malcolmson, superintendent. Ontario letters patent were issued on September 15, 1893, and the first directors were J. C. Malcolmson, W. B. Griner and George Morris, an interested Hamilton businessman. The site was on the south side of Blair Street (now Sudbury Street) at the corner of Abell (now Dovercourt Road).  

Operations were started in 1894 and were built around a single day-and-night tank, known as the Green House (for bottle production). The tank was coal-fired and the finished ware was annealed in wood-fired ovens. Starting in the early stages, some pressed ware was made. 

The Annual Return for December 31, 1895 provides some interesting information:

Directors — David Williamson (Montréal); John Watt (Hamilton); and Ralph King (Hamilton).  

Shareholders: Ralph King, in trust, $100; John Watt, in trust, $10 600; David Williamson, in trust, $100; David Yuile, $100;  and William Yuile, $10 700. 

Directors David Williamson and John Watt were also directors of Diamond Glass, of which Hamilton Glass was a subsidiary, and Ralph King was a manager at Burlington Glass, also controlled by Diamond Glass. The five shareholders were all part of the management of Diamond Glass. It can only be concluded that if Diamond Glass didn't sponsor the splinter group that started Toronto Glass, they had certainly established control within a year of its first operations. 

During the period 1897-1898, another furnace, this time a flint tank (for non-bottle ware) was set up in the east half of the property. The gas for firing the furnace was produced on the premises from coal. Continuous belt lehrs with a mechanical intermittent drive were used to anneal the finished ware. Production included fruit jars, round pickle bottles, various styles of flasks, electric oil bottles, panels, and a great variety of patent medicine bottles. Much of this prescription ware was made by hand. They used a standard plate mould into which was inserted the nameplate for each individual customer. This was a very simple operation and here and elsewhere has produced thousands of similar bottles, each showing the wording from the customer's individual plate. Platemaking was a full-time job for a letter-cutter in the mould shop.  

Griner was not only a well-qualified glassblower, but was an expert flameworker (lamp-worker) as well. He and several members of his family have been credited with turning out quantities of flamework. 

The Toronto Directory for 1897 includes the following names of significant workers at Toronto Glass, together with entries from directories in the other locations in which they worked: 


John Watt, President (Hamilton, 1889)

John C. Malcolmson, Gaffer (Hamilton, 1889)

William F. Chapman, Clerk

William Barrett Griner, Blower (Hamilton, 1889)

Thomas Murphy, Blower (Hamilton, 1889)

Patrick Wickham, Blower (Hamilton, 1895, 1897, Montreal 1899)


The last return on file is stamped by the Provincial Secretary's Department on March 27, 1899, indicating that shareholders had not changed since the return of December 31, 1898. As on December 31, 1898, John Watt was president and Messrs. Williamson and Ralph King were still directors. Watt's address is shown as 610 King Street East, Hamilton; David Williamson's is c/o Diamond Glass Company, Montréal; and King's is c/o Toronto Glass Company, Toronto. 

On October 17, 1899, by deed and bill and sale, The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. was acquired by the Diamond Glass Company Ltd. for a consideration of $19 423.31 and became the Toronto Works of Diamond Glass." (pages 85-87). 


Historical newspaper articles further note that The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. suffered a large fire in June 1899 which destroyed a wooden storeroom and damaged adjacent buildings on the western portion of the complex. Workers were noted to have kept working (including blowing glass) in other areas of the factory during the fire. It is possible this fire contributed to the formal sale of The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. to The Diamond Glass Company Ltd. in October 1899.


The Diamond Glass Company Ltd. — which purchased The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. in October 1899 — was initially formed in Montréal in 1890 (albeit it incorporated an older glassworks facility). During the late 19th and early 20th century, The Diamond Glass Company Ltd. went through a rapid expansion and acquired numerous regional and smaller glassworks. In 1902/1903, The Diamond Glass Company Ltd. changed its name to the Diamond Flint Glass Company. Subsequently, in 1913, the Diamond Flint Glass Company became The Dominion Glass Company following additional company acquisitions. Later, in 1971, The Dominion Glass Company was renamed DomGlas and became a subsidiary of Consolidated-Bathurst, whic h was eventually purchased by the Power Corporation. The Power Corporation sold their Sudbury Street properties during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. 

For more information on the history of The Diamond Glass Company Ltd., the Diamond Flint Glass Company, and the Dominion Glass Company, please consult Thomas B. King's Glass in Canada (1987). A historical chronology of The Toronto Glass Company Ltd. factory site has also been provided by the City of Toronto Heritage Preservation Services in their Research Evaluation and Summary report for 55 Sudbury Street: https://www.toronto. ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/te/bgrd/ backgroundfile-72427.pdf


Later Uses:  

During the early 21st century, 99 Sudbury Street has housed a gymnasium; a catering company and events venue; a film production studio; and Mildred Pierce, a popular West End restaurant and event space.


Demolition: 

99 Sudbury Street was demolished in fall 2022 by Metrolinx to allow for the construction of the King-Liberty GO Station.

(Research by Adam Wynne)

• Architect - A.R. Denison  <-- More buildings by this architect.