Description: 

699 Spadina Avenue is a 2.5 storey house located at the southeast corner of Spadina Avenue and Washington Avenue in the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood of Toronto. 699 Spadina Avenue was constructed in 1891/1892 by the Rogers Brothers. 699 Spadina Avenue is in the Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne Revival styles of architecture and is one of the finest examples of these styles within the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood. The exterior of 699 Spadina Avenue has been painted light blue / grey.

699 Spadina Avenue is located within the Huron-Sussex Area of Special Identity.

Builders - Rogers Brothers:  

The Rogers Brothers was a building company consisting of John Rogers and William F. Rogers. The company was based at 150 Beaconsfield Avenue as of 1891/1892. The Rogers Brothers also built neighbouring 695-697 Spadina Avenue at the same time, as well as several houses on Madison Avenue (including 125-127 Madison Avenue in 1895). 

Research is ongoing to identify the architect(s) of 699 Spadina Avenue.


Early Occupants; 

Joseph Huggard (1891/1892 and c. 1900):

In 1891/1892 and again around 1900, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to Joseph Huggard (1839-1927). During the 1880s and 1890s, Huggard was a real estate agent in Toronto and involved in several development projects along College Street. By 1900, his profession was listed as a traveller.

Joseph Huggard was born in 1839 in Chatham, Ontario. By the 1870s he was living in Hamilton. In 1876, he married Anna (Annie) West (1858-1939). The couple had 3 daughters: Maud (born 1878), Louisa (born 1881), and Roxina Jeanette (bornn 1886). By the early 1880s, the family had moved to Petrolia — which had emerged as Canada's Victorian oil town in the preceding decades. During the late 1880s, the Huggards moved again — this time to Toronto. By the early 1910s, the family had moved to Grey North, but later returned to Toronto where Joseph Huggard died in July 1927. 

Dr. W. Warren Baldwin and Family (1892/1893-1895):

From 1892/1893 to 1895, 699 Spadina Avenue was the home and practice of Dr. W. (William) Warren Baldwin (1864-1903) and his family. Dr. Baldwin was a physician and surgeon. He was also a member of the prominent Baldwin family. His father was Robert Baldwin (1834-1885) and his mother was Jemima MacDougall (1834-1873). Dr. Baldwin's paternal grandfather was Robert Baldwin (1804-1858) and his paternal great-grandfather was William Warren Baldwin (1775-1844). 

Dr. Baldwin was in poor health most of his adult life and died at the age of 39 in 1903. 

J. H. Beers & Company's Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of York, Ontario (1907) provides the following posthumous biography of Dr. Baldwin: 

"Dr. Warren Baldwin, B. A., who died at Olive Island, Muskoka, March 23, 1903, was a native of the Queen City, born in 1864, third child of Robert and Jemima (MacDougall) Baldwin, whose other children were: Rev. James McQueen, a missionary of Japan; Robert, deceased; Jemima, Mrs. Dyson Hague of London; David Cecil, deceased; Catherine, wife of J. S. R. Boyd, of Toronto; Elizabeth Mary, Mrs. Barr, of Toronto; Annie Gertrude, deceased; Frederick Walker, a student of Toronto; and Grace Constance. Dr. Warren Baldwin was a cousin of H. St. George and Dr. William Augustus Baldwin, to whose sketches the reader is referred for the early history of the Baldwin family. 

Dr. Warren Baldwin was educated at the Upper Canada College and the Toronto University, graduating from the latter in 1886, with the degree of B. A. On completing his classical course above mentioned Dr. Baldwin took up the study of medicine at Trinity Medical School, and took the degree of M. B. at Toronto University in 1889. He continued his studies in Philadelphia under Dr. Kent, a well-known homeopathic physician of that city. Referring to Toronto, the Doctor practiced for three years, when failing health caused him to locate in Muskoka, where he practiced his profession until his death.

In 1892, Dr. Warren Baldwin and Miss Catherine A. B. Ridley were united in marriage. Mrs. Baldwin is a native of Hamilton, and a daughter of the late Dr. Henry T. Ridley, a well-known physician of that city, born in 1827, son of Dr. Ridley, of Belleville; he married Catharine Mary, daughter of Hon. Edmund Murney, of Belleville. Dr. Ridley read medicine at McGill, and for many years practised his profession at Hamilton, and he died in 1896. Dr. Ridley's children were Louisa M. de R., Mrs E. W. Boyd, Mrs R. H. Labatt, Mrs. Baldwin, and Sophia E. D. To Dr. and Mrs. Baldwin were born the following children: Ridley Warren (deceased); Katherine Mary Warren, and Robert Henry Warren.

Dr. Baldwin was a member of the Church of England. In politics, he was a Reformer." (page 45-46)


Dr. Beverley Zey Milner and Family (1896-1899):

From 1896 to 1899, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to Dr. Beverley Zey Milner (1865-1934) and his family. Dr. Milner was a physician and surgeon who served as the Associate Head Surgeon of the Hospital for Sick Children and later as the Surgeon in Chief of the Outpatients Department of Toronto General Hospital. He was also an expert on the treatment of diphtheria in children. 

Later Occupants and Uses:   

Residential Property:

From 1900 to 1920/1921, 699 Spadina Avenue was used as a wholly residential property. Residents included: 

c. 1905: Mary Cochrane — the widow of Alexander Cochrane. 

c. 1910 & 1915: Thomas Williamson — the live stock editor for the World newspaper.


Blue Bird Tea Rooms (1920/1921 - 1929/1930):

From 1920/1921 to 1929/1930, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to the Blue Bird Tea Rooms. The Blue Bird Tea Rooms (also spelled Bluebird Tea Rooms) was a small café, restaurant, and banquet hall. It largely tailored towards students at the University of Toronto. Advertisements from the early 1920s (see attached) noted the Blue Bird Tea Rooms offered breakfast, luncheons, afternoon tea, and dinner. The banquet hall could be rented for private functions, including class parties and dances. 

The proprietor of the Blue Bird Tea Rooms was Ethel St. Clair. Ms. St. Clair also resided on site and simultaneously operated a boarding house from the property. Additional tea rooms and a boarding house was operated by Elizabeth Gould at neighbouring 695-697 Spadina Avenue.  


Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity House (1930-1932):

From 1930-1932, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to the Toronto chapter of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Pi Lambda Phi was founded at Yale University in 1895. The fraternity — as of 2022 — is still active and now has over 145 chapters around the world. 


Mutual Club (1932-1936):

From 1932-1936, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to the Mutual Club. The manager of the club — who resided on site — was Philip Scher. Research on the Mutual Club is ongoing.


Hebrew Liberal Club (1937-1965):

From 1937 to 1965, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to the Hebrew Liberal Club.

The Hebrew Liberal Club was founded in the 1920s. It offered membership to Jewish residents and sought to promote Liberalism and other worthy causes. The club had an auxiliary for women to be members.

By 1937, the Hebrew Liberal Club had over 100 members. Samuel Factor — the first Jewish Member of the Parliament of Canada from Ontario  — was a prominent member while in office for the riding (1930-1945). The organization may have also had a connection to the McCaul Street Synagogue as its rabbi (Rabbi Slonim) oversaw the Chanukah celebrations in 1937 — its first year at 699 Spadina Avenue.

In 1940, the Hebrew Liberal Club held a fundraiser for the Hebrew Weston Sanitarium. In December 1941, it hosted a candidate meeting debates. The candidate meeting debates were moderated by Minerva Reid, Lewis Duncan, and Robert Saunders. 

Research is ongoing into the later activities of the Hebrew Liberal club (post-1941).

The Primrose Club — a prominent Jewish business and social club founded in 1907 as The Cosmopolitan Club — was based a few blocks south on Willcocks Street. The nearby Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre - at the southwest corner of Bloor Street West and Spadina Avenue - opened in 1953. 

Eta Chapter of the Beta Sigma Rho Fraternity (Early 1970s):

During the 1970s, 699 Spadina Avenue was home to the Eta Chapter of the Beta Sigma Rho fraternity. The Ontario Jewish Archives has provided the following history of this fraternity chapter: 


"The Eta Chapter was opened at the University of Toronto in 1930. Little is known about the early years of the chapter, except that its first pledge was Jerry Goulding. The year 1937 ushered in what members called a “golden age” for the chapter when its members began to take a more active role in university activities, such as athletic activities, drama productions and dinner-dances. This is also the period when Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster became members. They regularly wrote articles for the undergraduate newspaper, "The Varsity", and performed in campus dramas. In 1939 the fraternity began presenting an annual campus musical, the Fraternity Review, which was put on entirely by fraternity members.

During World War Two, the Eta Chapter pledged the Canadian government to care for a group of young Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria who were interned in England. At least one such refugee came to Toronto in the Eta Chapter’s care.

Eta’s fraternity house changed location multiple times. In the late 1940s it moved from 15 Admiral Rd. to 18 Willcocks St. After the University of Toronto purchased this property, the fraternity moved to a new house at 84 Lowther Ave., and then it was relocated again a few years later to 699 Spadina Ave."

Bill Banting (c. mid-1970s):

During the mid-1970s, Bill Banting resided at 699 Spadina Avenue and nearby 2 Washington Avenue. Bill Banting (1929-1998) was the only child of Sir Frederick Banting (1891-1941) — a co-discoverer of insulin. Bill Banting became a film producer and worked for the CBC on several documentaries, including Wild Africa: The Way It Was; a documentary about the discovery of insulin (profiling Sir Frederick Banting and Dr. Charles Best); and a documentary about Dr. Norman Bethune and his work in China. During the production of the Bethune documentary in the early-to-mid 1970s, Banting acquired a large Buddha statue — approximately 10 to 12 feet tall — which was relocated to the backyard of 699 Spadina Avenue. The statue was reported to have filled almost the entire yard. 

1990s to Present Day (2022):

Research is ongoing regarding uses of the property during this period in time.


(Research by Adam Wynne)

• Builder - Rogers Bros.