Description:

117 Pembroke Street, Toronto is a large 2.5 storey Victorian mansion located at the southeast corner of Pembroke Street and Glenholme Place in the Garden District of Toronto. 117 Pembroke Street dates to between the mid-to-late 1850s and 1880, although has had additions added over time including a rear (east) addition added between 1903 and 1924 and a small addition along the Glenholme Place (north) elevation added post-1924. In the early-to-mid 2010s, stucco was added to the exterior of the building. This stucco obscures underlying exterior architectural details.

Originally a single-family residence, 117 Pembroke Street was converted to a boarding house and apartment house during the early 20th century. 117 Pembroke Street was later converted to a hotel and has frequently been associated with this use since 1945/1946. The current (2021) establishment operating at the property is the Pembroke Inn.

In William Somerville Boulton's 1858 Atlas of the City of Toronto and Vicinity, a house appears on the site of 117 Pembroke Street, albeit its footprint was smaller than the extant building. By 1880, much of the present-day building footprint was extant. Further research is required to determine whether the 1850s house was expanded; whether it was demolished and replaced with the extant building; and/or whether the 1858 Atlas depiction did not depict the full footprint of the building. Notably, between the 1850s and 1882, the property was home to William Elliot and his family. Elliot was a prominent and wealthy businessman who may have undertaken renovations to the property. The architect(s) of 117 Pembroke Street are not known at present.

Pre-dating c. 1880, 117 Pembroke Street is representative of early residential development on Pembroke Street. Prior to 1890, the property was known as 105 Pembroke Street. No address number was assigned to the property prior to the early-to-mid 1870s. 117 Pembroke Street originally contained large private gardens and grounds which were built on during the 20th century.

Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge - the resident of 117 Pembroke Street from 1883 until 1894 - was the eponym of adjacent Glenholme Place and the Glenholme Apartments. 

Early Occupants and Uses:

William Elliot and Family:

Between circa the mid-to-late 1850s and 1882, 117 Pembroke Street was home to William Elliot and his family. The Elliots are the first known residents of 117 Pembroke Street. William Elliot (1812-1893) was a prominent businessman who was engaged with a number of enterprises. William Elliot likely commissioned the expansion(s) of and/or reconstruction of 117 Pembroke Street between c. 1858 and 1880. 

William Elliot was born on 22 December 1812 in Hammersmith, London, England. His family emigrated to Dundas, Ontario during the 1820s. 

In September 1834, William Elliot married Mary Watt Oliphant (1812-1890). William and Mary Elliot subsequently had 5 children - 4 daughters and 1 son - born between 1835 and 1854. Robert Watt Elliot (1835-1905) - their son - eventually became a successful businessman and a partner with his father at Elliot & Company. 

William Elliot was initially engaged in farming activities near Dundas during the mid-1830s. However, by the 1840s, he subsequently had joined the large drug and stationery company Lesslie and Sons, which had stores in Dundas, Kingston, and Toronto. During the 1850s, the Elliots moved to Toronto having "exhausted the commercial possibilities of Dundas" (Creighton 1990).  

In Toronto, William Elliot entered the wholesale drug business and "became a partner of Benjamin Lyman in Lyman, Elliot, and Company" (Creighton 1990). In 1870, Lyman, Elliot, and Company was dissolved and William Elliot entered into a business partnership with his son Robert Watt Elliot known as Elliot & Company. Elliot & Company manufactured and sold a diverse and extensive range of pharmaceuticals across Canada. The company had manufacturing mills at 20-28 Beverley Street and offices at 3 Front Street East. William Elliot retired in 1886 after a major fire damaged the Front Street premises. After 1886, Robert Watt Elliot ran the company. Robert Watt Elliot also lived next door at 109 Pembroke Street.

Alongside Elliot & Company, William Elliot played an important role in a number of other 19th century businesses, developments, and institutions including: 

• As a founding Director of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1867 and later as its Vice President from 1879 to 1887. 

• As a Co-Founder (with Senator William McMaster) of the Standard Publishing Company in 1882.

• As an Organizer and Founder of the Toronto Chemists' and Druggists Association in 1867, which was expanded that year to become the Canadian Pharmaceutical Society. William Elliot served as its second President. 

• As the President of the Toronto Board of Trade from 1870 until 1871.

• As a key organizer of the provincial Pharmacy Act of 1871 which set regulations for pharmacists in Ontario established the Ontario College of Pharmacy. William Elliot served as the first President of the Ontario College of Pharmacy and a second term as President from 1877 until 1879.

• As a Founder, Deacon, and Trustee of the Jarvis Street Baptist Church (established in 1875). 

• As a Director of the Northern Railway, the Toronto General Trusts Company, and the Freehold Permanent Building Society.

• As a President of the People's Loan and Savings Company. 

In 1884, William Elliot moved to 311 Sherbourne Street which was located at the northeast corner of Gerrard Street East and Sherbourne Street. 

William Elliot died in Toronto in 1893. 

Photographs of William Elliot have been included with this entry.

For more information on William Eliot, please see Philip Creighton's 1990 biographical article of him published in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. 

Later Occupants and Uses:

Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge and family:

Between 1883 and 1894, 117 Pembroke Street was home to Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge and his family. Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge was a prominent lawyer and judge.

Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge (1846-1920) was born in Drummondville, Upper Canada in 1846. His family emigrated from Northern Ireland in the late 1830s. Sir Glenholme Falconbridge studied at grammar schools in Barrie, Richmond Hill, and Toronto and enrolled at the University of Toronto in 1862. During the early 1870s, Sir Glenholme Falconbridge articled as a law student and entered the field of law. By the late 1870s, he had become a a partner at Bethune, Osler, and Moss (later known as Moss, Falconbridge, and Barwick).  In 1885, he was made a bencher and Queen's Counsel at the Law Society of Upper Canada. Two years later, in 1887, he was appointed a judge in the Queen's Bench division of the Ontario High Court of Justice. Thirteen years later, in 1900, Sir Glenholme Falconbridge became the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. Sir Glenholme Falconbridge served on a number of provincial commissions and committees during this period, including one which reviewed fraud during elections and another which reviewed the state of civil rights in Ontario. Sir Glenholme Falconbridge was knighted by King Edward VII in 1908.

Alongside his law activities, Sir Glenholme Falconbridge was engaged with a number of other enterprises, including:

• As Chair of Modern Languages at the Yarmouth Seminary in Nova Scotia from 1871 to 1872.

• As the Registrar of the University of Toronto from 1871 to 1881.

• As a Senator of the University of Toronto from 1881 to 1896. He resigned from the senate in 1896 in protest of Goldwin Smith receiving an honorary LLD.

• As a trustee of Jarvis Street Collegiate during the 1880s.

• As Chairman of the Toronto Public Library Board from 1905 to 1908.

• As Chairman of the Ontario Fish and Game Protective Association during the early 20th century. 

• As President of the Ontario branch of the Secours National during World War I. This organization raised funds for relief work in France.

William Glenholme Falconbridge married Mary Phoebe Sullivan (1850- 1929) in April 1873. William and Mary Glenholme Falconbridge had 9 children - 7 daughters and 2 sons - born between 1874 and 1884 (2 died in infancy). Upon his knighthood, Mary Glenholme Falconbridge became known as Lady Glenholme Falconbridge. Sir Glenholme Falconbridge later moved to 80 Isabella Street, where he died of pneumonia in 1920. Lady Glenholme Falconbridge died in 1929. Photographs of the Glenholme Falconbridges have been included with this entry.

While the Falconbridges moved out of 117 Pembroke Street in 1894, Fire Insurance Plans indicate they still owned the property as of 1903. An 1894 newspaper ad indicates the Falconbridges were seeking to either lease or sell the property as of that point in time. It is possible they opted to go with the former option during this period in time.

Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge was the eponym of adjacent Glenholme Place and the Glenholme Apartments. 

For more information on Sir William Glenholme Falconbridge, please see Jamie Benidickson's 1998 biographical article of him published in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. 

Reverend John Usborne and family:

In circa 1895, 117 Pembroke Street was home to Reverend John Usborne and family. Reverend Usborne (1842-1926) was a successful lumber businessman who decided to become ordained as an Anglican in 1887 to facilitate work among the poor. In Toronto, he was associated with congregations at St. Clement's near Eglinton Avenue, as well as a congregation in Leslieville. He also engaged in number of trips to Hawaii and Tonga to construct chapels and churches. He immigrated to Hawaii in 1897. 

William Braithwaite and Lydia Braithwaite:

In the late 1890s to mid-to-late 1900s, 117 Pembroke Street was home to William Braithwaite and Lydia Braithwaite. William Braithwaite was a city engineer, whereas Lydia Braithwaite operated a boarding house from 117 Pembroke Street. Further research is required to determine how William and Lydia Braithwaite were related. 

William J. Street:

Between circa. the late 1900s and the mid-to-late 1930s, 117 Pembroke Street was home to William J. Street. William J. Street was a contractor and plumber. He likely undertook the conversion of 117 Pembroke Street from a single family residence / boarding house to an apartment house (later known as the Pembroke Apartments and Glenholme Apartments). 

The Pembroke Apartments and Glenholme Apartments:

During the 1920s and 1930s, 117 Pembroke Street was used as an apartment house. During the 1920s, the apartment house was known as the Pembroke Apartments. By 1930, the name had changed to the Glenholme Apartments. The conversion of 117 Pembroke Street to an apartment house during the 1920s follows a known trend of large houses in downtown Toronto being converted to apartments and/or rooming houses following World War I. William J. Street (see above) was the proprietor of the apartment house and resided on site.

Please note 117 Pembroke Street was used as a boarding house as early as the the mid-1900s. However, the name of the apartment house (Pembroke Apartments and Glenholme Apartments) does not appear in the City of Toronto Directories until the 1920s. The conversion to a formal apartment house was potentially accompanied by additional renovations, such as creating self-contained units. 

The rear (east) addition on 117 Pembroke Street - added between 1903 and 1913 - likely dates to the house's conversion to a boarding house and/or apartment house. 

Use as a Hotel:

Since 1945/1946, 117 Pembroke Street has frequently been used as a hotel.

Between 1945/1946 and circa the mid-1970s, 117 Pembroke Street housed the Pembroke Hotel. In March 1974, the Pembroke Hotel had a fire. The building was reported to have been vacant for several years as of 1974. Further research is required to determine when the building was reintroduced to use as a hotel following the fire in 1974 and whether it had any alternative uses in the interim. 

During the 2000s, 117 Pembroke Street was operating as the Downtowner Inn. By the early 2010s, 117 Pembroke Street was operating as the Pembroke Residences Ltd. - a franchise of the Knight's Inn hotel chain. In 2015, Pembroke Residences Ltd. went into receivership, although a Knight's Inn franchise continued to operate at the property until 2018. Since 2018/2019, the building has housed the Pembroke Inn. 

(Research by Adam Wynne).