In 1839, barrister and soldier George Taylor Denison II built a manor on land given to him by his father. It encompassed the lands surrounding contemporary Rusholme Road between Dundas Street West and Bloor Street between Dovercourt Road and Gladstone Avenue. The lot was parcelled from Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe's twenty-seventh park lot. Denison named his estate "Rusholme" after a relative's ancestral manor near Manchester, England.

Mirroring the lifestyle and practices of traditional English country estates, Rusholme was a centre of aristocratic social life, including upper class balls, hunting, and a highly methodological approach to farming. In addition to employing a full household staff, the family had a coach emblazoned with their crest that would roll out onto Dundas Street (then called Denison Terrace) through an entrance at Rusholme Road complete with gatekeeper's cottage. During the American Civil War, Denison supported the Confederates and even once received Confederate General Robert Edward Lee as a guest at Rusholme.

In the mid 19th century, property values rose with the steady urbanization of Toronto and Denison sold parcels of land along Dundas Street for £200 an acre. After his death in 1873, the now-shrinking Rusholme Estate remained in the family for another 80 years through his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. The latter finally converted the manor from gas to electricity. Perhaps fittingly, this made it one of the last residences in Toronto to switch. After Denison's grandson's death in 1953, the manor, now subsumed by a fully fledged Edwardian neighbourhood, was sold by his widow to an apartment building developer. 

(Research and text by Alessandro Tersigni.)