Description: 

230 Sherbourne Street is a 2.5 storey house located on the west side of Sherbourne Street approximately 30 meters south of Dundas Street East in the Garden District neighbourhood of Toronto. 230 Sherbourne Street was initially constructed as a semi-detached house - known as 228-230 Sherbourne Street - in 1871 and subsequently combined into a single-family dwelling in 1895. 

230 Sherbourne Street was listed on the City of Toronto Heritage Register in 1976 and designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 2012. 


As of early 2022, 230 Sherbourne Street has been vacant for over a decade. 


Early Occupants: 


John Odell:

Between 1872 and 1879, 228 Sherbourne Street was home to John Odell. John Odell was associated with the firm Odell and Trout. Odell and Trout were the proprietors of the British American Commercial College, which was based at 4 Toronto Street. By the late 1870s, Odell was serving as the principal of the College. 


Colonel Walter O'Hara: 

Between c. 1872 and his death in January 1874, 230 Sherbourne Street was home to Colonel Walter O'Hara (c. 1789-1874). Colonel Walter O'Hara is a significant figure in the history of Toronto. In 1831, Colonel O'Hara constructed the West Lodge estate in what is now Parkdale. When he moved into 230 Sherbourne Street, Colonel O'Hara was 82 or 83 years of age. Notably, during this point in time, the West Lodge estate was still isolated from Toronto with only the nearby village of Brockton and a few settler homesteads as neighbours. It is probable that his advanced age contributed to the decision to move into Toronto. Following his death in January 1874, the West Lodge estate was sold and divided for residential development, which laid the foundation for much of the present-day Parkdale and Roncesvalles neighbourhoods. 


Colonel Walter O'Hara was married to Marian Murray (1801-1882). Walter and Marian O'Hara had 11 children — 6 daughters and 5 sons — born between 1822 and 1850.

 
George Mainer has provided the following biography of Colonel Walter O'Hara in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography:


"Walter O'Hara — soldier; born about 1789 in Dublin, son of Robert O’Hara and Fanny Taylor; died 13 January 1874 in Toronto, Ontario.

Walter O’Hara’s family was from County Galway, Ireland. He graduated in 1806 from Trinity College, Dublin, and took up a military career, serving in the 91st and 47th Foot of the British army and in the 7th Caçadores and 1st Line Regiment of Foot of the Portuguese service. He was twice wounded in the Peninsular War and was perhaps captured after the battle of the Nive. He had “a respectable fortune to expend” in 1826 when he moved to Upper Canada with his wife Marian Murray and settled near York on a farm in what is now the Parkdale district of Toronto. They had a large family.


On 14 June 1827 Peregrine Maitland* appointed O’Hara assistant adjutant general of the Upper Canada militia with the rank of colonel after O’Hara had accepted Nathaniel Coffin*’s invitation to succeed James FitzGibbon*. The post that O’Hara held for 19 years had been created in 1816 when Coffin asked FitzGibbon to work as a clerk in the adjutant general’s office. By the time O’Hara was appointed there had been a history of interest in this office and in the composition of the staff by the colonial politicians. When Coffin resigned the post of adjutant general in 1837 O’Hara expected to succeed him. FitzGibbon, however, followed Coffin as acting adjutant general, and in December Richard Bullock Jr received the post. FitzGibbon and Bullock had wider contacts in the colony outside the militia than O’Hara, who was dismayed at the “anomalous peculiarities of Canadian patronage,” by which persons professionally not as well qualified, he felt, but better assimilated into colonial life, were entrusted with the post. He conducted a lengthy correspondence with the imperial authorities in an unsuccessful attempt to redress his grievance. In early December 1837, when William Lyon Mackenzie*’s force gathered north of Toronto, O’Hara led part of FitzGibbon’s force that headed north to meet the rebels. Two years later, he asked for a seat in the Legislative Council, but was rebuffed.


In 1846 an act established the province’s militia and the post of assistant adjutant general was abolished. O’Hara was not seriously suggested for the new post of deputy adjutant general and appears to have gone into retirement. In 1861, however, when Duncan Macdougall acted as deputy adjutant general for Canada West, he made use of O’Hara’s undoubted talents as a staff officer for a brief time.


O’Hara died in 1874 in Toronto, where he had lived from his arrival in Canada except for the years 1841–46 when he lived in Kingston. He was considered as a “chivalrous, high-spirited, warm-hearted gentleman,” but he had felt himself victimized in the colony for not receiving the adjutant generalcy in 1837 and for not being regularly employed after 1846. He severely criticized the “exclusiveness of Canadian politics” which, in his opinion, had not allowed him to use his full talents."



Colonel O'Hara's legacy in the West End of Toronto is also discussed in Adam Mayers' 2007 Toronto Star article Soldier's Story Forever Etched in City's Streets:  https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2007/08/21/soldiers_story_forever_etched_in_city_streets.html




William Dineen and Family:

230 Sherbourne Street was home to William Dineen (1843-1925) and his family between 1874/1875 and 1910/1911. When the house was a semi-detached building, the Dineen family lived in 230 Sherbourne Street. However, in 1895 William Dineen commissioned the architectural firm Langley and Langley to undertake renovations to combine 228 and 230 Sherbourne Street into a single house. 

While the Dineen family were not the first occupants of the house, they are the eponym of the name William Dineen House. 


William Dineen was a prominent Toronto-based clothing, fur, and fine goods merchant. 

The following biography of William Dineen and the W. & D. Dineen Company was provided in Alexander Fraser's A History of Ontario: Its Resources and Development - Volume 1 (1907): 

"The W. & D. Dineen Company, Limited — Recognized by all as the leading establishment of its character in the Province of Ontario, the above-mentioned institution occupies a foremost place in the commercial annals of the province. Standing for all that the word progress implies for nearly half a century, it is certainly appropriate that the business receive mention in this volume as one of the foremost factors in the field of merchandising in Toronto. The founding of the house dates back to 1864, when D. Dineen opened business as a hatter. After remaining alone for a few years, he admitted his brother, William Dineen, to a partnership and as the years grew additional lines were added, including furs, millinery, ladies' cloth garments, and cloth coats. The early principle of the house to carry nothing but high-grade goods has been strictly adhered to and the wisdom of this position has been demonstrated in the phenomenal success of the establishment. Others have come and gone, but the house of Dineen was built for permanency.  It is the oldest house of its character in Toronto, and in addition to the enormous patronage received in the city, a steadily growing outside trade is transacted in fine goods only. A discriminating public readily recognizes the fact that the house of Dineen can satisfy any want in the line of furs and the business today is the largest retail fur manufacturing interest in Canada. The company has no competitor in its hat department, either in the character of goods manufactured or in the volume of business carried on.  

William Dineen, president of the company, was born in Ireland and was brought to Canada by his parents when only a year old. After putting aside his text-books, he entered the clothing business with the firm of Hughes Brothers and gradually worked his way upward until he became a partner. Subsequently disposing of his interests in this concern, he joined his brother in the conduct of the previously established hat business, and the growth of the enterprise to its present mammoth proportion is a figure of the commercial history of Toronto. In addition to his interests in that line, William Dineen is vice-president of the Sovereign Life Assurance Company, a director in the Sterling Bank and other financial institutions. He is a prominent member of the Board of Trade and the Retail Merchants' Association, and in all affairs pertaining to the welfare of the city takes an active and leading part. His public-spirited devotion to the general goods stands as an unquestioned fact in his career and his co-operation is given to all those interests which are a matter of civic virtue and of civic pride. Moreover, he has taken a keen interest in yachting and boating, and is a staunch encourager of all manly and healthy sports and pastimes. 

Mr. Dineen was married in 1878 to Miss Fannie Buchanan, a daughter of Dr C. W. Buchanan of Toronto, and they are now parents of five sons: William F., who is identified with his father in business; Frank B., now in business in Toronto; Clifford McC., who is also identified with the firm; Charles, with the Western Assurance Company; and Gordon. The family home is in a handsome residence at No. 230 Sherbourne Street, Toronto."  (pages 624-625).


The Dineen family were Roman Catholics. William Dineen represented Roman Catholic citizens on the Board of Education for a number of years. 

William Dineen died in October 1925 at the age of 87 from pneumonia. William Dineen's 1925 obituary in The Globe notes that his store was one of the first in Toronto to install electric lights and telephones. His obituary also notes that he was the "longest continuous advertiser with Toronto's daily newspapers [and] much of the advertising was written by himself." 


In 1897, the W. & D. Dineen Company commissioned architect Frederick H. Herbert to design the Dineen Building at 140 Yonge Street (the northwest corner of Yonge Street and Temperance Street). The Dineen Building was one of the first buildings in Toronto to have an automatic elevator. The Dineen Coffee Company — based in the ground floor of the Dineen Building — derived its name from both the building and the family.



Other Former Occupants and Uses: 

228 Sherbourne Street (pre-1895):

Prior to the consolidation of 228 and 230 Sherbourne Street by Langley and Langley in 1895, occupants of 228 Sherbourne Street included:  Albert M. Marshall — a salesman at Mason & Risch (c. 1884/1885);  Dr. George Shepherd — a dentist (c. 1889/1890); and George Southcombe — a tailor at James Bell & Company (c. 1893/1894). 



Use as an Apartment House and/or Rooming House:

By 1911/1912, 230 Sherbourne Street had been converted to an apartment house and/or rooming house. This is representative of a known trend of large 19th century and early 20th century houses in Toronto being converted to apartment houses and/or rooming houses as neighbourhood dynamics changed. 


As of the early-to-mid 1910s, the property manager of 230 Sherbourne Street was James Shearer — an accountant at the Roman Stone Company. Subsequently, as of the late 1910s through early 1920s, the property manager of 230 Sherbourne Street was Frank Ireland. 


During World War I, at least 4 tenants of 230 Sherbourne Street were young, single men who enlisted to fight for Canada. Another tenant of the house — as of September 1914 — was a "fiery" German reservist who was arrested and detained at the Stanley Barracks for attempting to leave Canada to fight for Germany. 


During the late 1910s, a cartage business, a building contractor, and stables were also based at the rear of 230 Sherbourne Street.  By 1929/1930, the stables had been converted to use as an automotive mechanics' garage. 


Tragedy later struck in October 1925 when two tenants — 51-year-old Mary Cunningham and her 20-year-old daughter Catherine Cunningham — were asphyxiated due to a gas leak in their apartment at 230 Sherbourne Street.  One of the above-mentioned tenants of 230 Sherbourne Street who enlisted in World War I and was injured in battle was "Private  Cunningham" — a son of Mary Cunningham. 


230 Sherbourne Street remained in use as an apartment house and/or rooming house for much of the 20th century. 



Drina Joubert:

On 17 December 1985, Drina Joubert — a woman who was homeless and experiencing both mental and physical health challenges — froze to death in an abandoned truck at the rear of 230 Sherbourne Street. The Coroner's Jury noted that Ms. Joubert "sought help from practically every available social agency and hospital service in the City of Toronto" [...] that the bureaucracy designed to help the most disadvantaged among us has become unresponsive to the need of people it was created to serve [...] it is fragmented and inefficient." Drina Joubert's death subsequently triggered a push for affordable and subsidized adult housing in the area, including turning 230 Sherbourne Street into supportive housing to be known as "Drina's House."  However, this proposal was never implemented. 


Taking it Back and Expropriate 214-230 (Ontario Coalition Against Poverty):


On 22 September 2013, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty launched the Taking it Back campaign. The Taking It Back campaign focuses on the east side of Downtown Toronto and "demands the city expropriate buildings left empty by landlords, make the necessary repairs and turn it into viable social housing for the neighbourhood."  A sub-project of the Taking It Back campaign is Expropriate 214-230 Sherbourne, which advocates for the City of Toronto to expropriate 230 Sherbourne Street for use as affordable housing.  Expropriate 214-230 Sherbourne includes an online petition, available here: https://www.change.org/p/toronto-city-council-expropriate-214-230-sherbourne-housing-now-5cc35ff6-07de-4e2d-8c23-6be4ed8ec348

(Research by Adam Wynne)

• Architect - Langley & Langley  <-- More buildings by this architect.