Description:

30 Maynard Avenue is a 2.5 storey Bay and Gable house located on the west side of Maynard Avenue approximately 20 meters south of Leopold Street in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. 30 Maynard Avenue was constructed in 1889/1890 and was one of the first houses built on Maynard Avenue.   


First Occupants — John Torrance Jack and Family:

30 Maynard Avenue was first home to John Torrance Jack (1844-1926) and his family. The Jack family resided at 30 Maynard Avenue until the mid-to-late 1920s.  

As of 1890, John Torrance Jack was employed as the manager of H. R. Ives & Company — a hardware manufacturing firm based at 20 Front Street East. H. R. Ives & Company manufactured and sold stove pipes, metal fencing, wire, and other metal products. By 1894, Jack was employed as a travelling representative and salesman of the Safety Barb Wire Company. 

John Torrance Jack's April 1926 obituary provides the following biography: 

"After only a week's illness, John Torrance Jack passed away yesterday at home, 30 Maynard Avenue. The late Mr. Jack was born in Stirling, Scotland on 2 April 1844, making him 82 years of age at the time of his death. At the age of 5, he was brought to Canada with his parents, who settled in Elora, later moving to Orillia. Mr. Jack was a resident of Toronto for the past forty years, being a commercial traveller for wire rope. He had business connections and friends in practically every city in the Dominion and for 42 years was a member of the Dominion Commercial Travellers' Association. He had been retired for the past eight years. He was an elder of Dunn Avenue Presbyterian Church and was prominently identified with the development of the primary department there. 

In 1869, he was married to Miss. Sarah Annie Millen of Orillia, who predeceased him eight years ago. Surviving him are two sons, Grant R. Jack, Commissioner of Works for the Township of East York, and Hubert H. of Toronto, and three daughters, Mrs. G. A. SMith of Toronto, Mrs. R. B. Nelles of Niagara Falls, and Mrs. J. H. Luff of Montreal." 


Sarah Annie Jack was noted to have been active in the Presbyterian Church and Missions of Toronto. Through Sarah Annie Jack, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union occasionally held meetings at 30 Maynard Avenue.



Later Occupants and Use: 


Conversion to Rooming House:

30 Maynard Avenue was converted to use as a rooming house during the mid-to-late 20th century.  Many former tenants of the rooming house were patients of the Queen Street Mental Health Centre. 


Present Use: 

Since 1998, 30 Maynard Avenue has housed the Toronto Care Homes' Maynard Residence. Toronto Care Homes is an organization that operates supportive residences for individuals living with mental illnesses. 



(Research by Adam Wynne)