Description:

703 Spadina Avenue is a 2.5 storey Bay and Gable house located at the northeast corner of Spadina Avenue and Washington Avenue in the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood of Toronto. 703 Spadina Avenue was constructed in 1887/1888. 

703 Spadina Avenue is of a brick construction and sits on a stone foundation. 703 Spadina Avenue contains design elements that are uncommon within the Bay and Gable style — namely stone quoinings and coursings present on its front (west) and side elevations.  

 

703 Spadina Avenue has undergone a few modifications over time. These alterations include: a rear addition on the east elevation (added between 1903 and 1913); changes to window openings (which could be reversed during restoration); and interior renovations during the mid-to-late 20th century to convert the building from residential to commercial and office use. Altered windows include the second floor window above the front door (which has been lowered) and the bricking in of ground floor windows on the south (Washington Avenue) elevation. The exterior has been painted white since at least the early 1970s.


Research is ongoing to identify the architect and/or builder of 703 Spadina Avenue.

First Occupant - R. Ramsay Wright: 

Between 1888 and 1899, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to R. (Robert) Ramsay Wright (1852-1933). Wright is a significant figure within Canadian history and the history of the University of Toronto.



The Seniors' College at the University of Toronto has provided the following biography of R. Ramsay Wright: 

"Robert Ramsay Wright began as Professor of Natural History at University College in 1874, succeeding Professor Henry Nicholson as Head of the department of Natural History. He also became Curator of the Museum of Natural History in 1876, and retained both these titles until 1887 when his designation changed from Professor of Natural History at University College to Professor of Biology at the University of Toronto.

He came to Toronto at the age of 22 years-old. He was a Scotsman with a strong Oxford influence, and had worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Edinburgh. He was also a member in the famous Challenger Deep Sea Expedition. During his 38 years of residence in Toronto, Ramsay Wright was recognized as a leader in many fields, and "the influence which this brilliant teacher and investigator exercised in his own Department of Biology in the University of Toronto and in the closely related Faculty of Medicine makes him one of the most memorable figures in the history of Canadian education" (Huntsman, 1934).

He was the first secretary of the School of Practical Science and in 1901 became the first dean of the Faculty of Arts. In 1902 he became the first vice-president of the University of Toronto.

The first publication published under his name was in 1876 in the Canadian Journal, and was entitled "Haeckel's Anthropogenie". Ramsay Wright published several reports of original research in biology. The topics of his publications varied within this realm and covered topics in anthropology, comparative vertebrate anatomy, parasitology, and protozoology. He made important contributions on the anatomy of fishes, including, but not limited to, the introduction of the term Neuromast. Through his publication a Preliminary Report on the Fish and Fisheries of Ontario, he urged for a systematic survey of Ontario waters. This publication later on had a large influence on the establishment of research stations on Georgian Bar and on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by the Federal Government and the Biological Board of Canada. Wright was also an active participant in the formation of a Bermuda Biological Station.

In his last publication in 1911, the Presidential Address to the Royal Society of Canada, he makes mention of "certain new science which have arisen within the biological domain and which owe their special development to this recent period." The new sciences developed in the biology department during his period as Head were bacteriology, immunology, protozoology, ultra-microscopy, marine biology, cytology, physiology, botany, heredity and eugenics.

As a lecturer, Ramsay Wright was very formal, always bowing upon entering and leaving the lecture hall while adorning a lecture gown, a custom that was universal at the period. He was also known to be ambidextrous, and often displayed his abilities by simultaneously creating two different drawings on the blackboard during lectures. Wright, along with Louis Agassiz at Harvard, was the first in North America to introduce to his classes laboratory work with the use of microscopes." 




Please note that Ramsay Wright was a supporter of eugenics and lauded the theories of both Sir Francis Galton and Karl Pearson. In his 1911 Presidential Speech to the Royal Society of Canada, Ramsay Wright openly expressed concerns around the influx of immigrants to Canada from regions other than the British Isles and opposed interracial relationships (described as miscegenation within his speech). He also specifically advocated for the State to be involved in marriages via having State physicians assess whether a couple would be deemed fit for marriage and mandating acts of State intervention to prevent children from being born to those deemed unfit. Per Ramsay Wright's speech, those deemed unfit included the poor, those living with addiction, disabilities, or disease, and interracial relationships. 


The Ramsay Wright Graduate Scholarship was established by Wright's estate and provides funding to a graduate student undertaking research in zoology.  


For more information on R. Ramsay Wright, please consult: 

"Robert Ramsay Wright" (2015) by John P. M. Court in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wright_robert_ramsay_16E.html


and 


"A History of the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto Up To 1962" by E. Horne Craigie

 

Later Occupants and Uses: 

Please note that this list aims to provide a general overview and is not exhaustive of all past occupants and uses. Dates are also approximate.  

Circa 1899/1900:

In circa 1899/1900, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to Joseph Cozens. Cozens was a civil engineer.


Circa 1909/1910:

In circa 1909/1910, 703 Spadina Avenue housed the Phi Sigma Fau fraternity or sorority house.


Circa 1919/1920:

In circa 1919/1920, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to Annie Cotton. Annie Cotton was the widow of James Cotton. Dr. Cotton was a physician who operated his practice from the property / residence during the 1910s. During this era, the Bloor-Spadina area was a medical district with many private medical practices.

Circa 1929/1930s:

In circa 1929/1930, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to George C. Parkinson. Parkinson was a local grocer with a shop located across the street at 696 Spadina Avenue.  By the mid-1930s, the Parkinson family had opened Parkinson's Beauty Salon at 703 Spadina Avenue. '

Circa 1939/1940:

In circa 1939/1940, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to Verna Adams.


Circa 1949/1950:

In circa 1949/1950, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to Mabel Thompson. 


Circa 1954/1955:

In circa 1954/1955, 703 Spadina Avenue housed the offices of the United Steel Workers of America (District 6), Ellis Home Sales (household goods), Dr. Isaac Shleser (physician), and Dr. Joseph Florence (physician). The caretaker of the property was Alec Straitton. 


Circa 1960/1961:

In circa 1960/1961, 703 Spadina Avenue was home to the Domestic Services Employment Bureau.


Circa 1964/1965:

In circa 1964/1965, 703 Spadina Avenue housed: Houseproud Services Ltd. — a janitorial services company; as well as the medical practices of Dr. Isaac Shleser (physician), Dr. Joseph Florence (physician), and Dr. Steven Somborac (dental surgeon). 


Circa 1968/1969:

In circa 1969/1969, 703 Spadina Avenue was vacant.  

The property was acquired by the University of Toronto during the late 1960s or early 1970s.


Present Day:


703 Spadina Avenue is presently home to Cupe 3261 and UNIFOR union offices, as well as the Internal Audit Department of the University of Toronto. 


Redevelopment:

703 Spadina Avenue has been the site of several contemplated redevelopments. During the 1960s, the property was slated for demolition as part of the (cancelled) Spadina Expressway Project. In the St. George Campus Master Plan (2011), the site is reference as a potential location for a 31-to-93 meter tall institutional and/or residential building. In the Huron-Sussex Neighbourhood Study (2014), the site is referenced as a potential site for midrise intensification.  More recently, this site is part of the The Gateway: Site 1 (2023) project. 

None of the above-mentioned plans have included heritage retention of the R. Ramsay Wright House.


(Research by Adam Wynne)