Beach Triangle Residents Association
Neighbourhood News and Information
The Beach Triangle Residents Association, Toronto, Ontario
118 Rainsford Road
By John Ellis
This article was originally published in the Winter 2005 edition of the Triangle Topics newsletter.
For the grand sum of $5,450 Lillian and Wesley Rowe bought 118 Rainsford Road in 1948 from her brother and his wife, George and Gladys Hanna, although they couldn't move in until 1950. Wes died in 1996, but Lil lives on there to the present day. The house was built in 1913, a year in which a good deal of development in the Triangle occurred.
Wes was born in Toronto and Lil came from Bushmills, Ireland, as a baby (some scotch drinkers may identify her birthplace). Wes worked for 36 years at the Post Office at Queen and Salter (near Pape) as an inside clerk. Before marriage, Lil worked at a cosmetics firm at King and Dufferin and then at the Bank of Commerce (now CIBC) at Broadview and Danforth. Married in 1946, they lived in a flat on Gerrard opposite the present location of Gerrard Square (then a paper box plant) until 1950.
Lil and Wes had three children. The first, a boy, was about six months old when they moved to 118 Rainsford, and their two girls were born while they lived there. All three have done well in their careers. Their son is now married with a family of his own and lives in Guelph. One daughter is a school principal, married with a family and lives in Etobicoke. Their other daughter, Secretary to the Chief of Staff at East General Hospital, lost her husband some years ago and was re-married at St. John's Norway Church in November 2005.
I had the pleasure of visiting Lil at home. If you walk around the Triangle, you will know 118 Rainsford Road instantly. It is the semi-detached house just at the bend below Kingston Road, on a pie-shaped lot, with a handsome brick garage attached (the only one in the block). The garage has an ornate gable end with brick pillars crowned with cement tops on either side.
The house is neat as a pin, the original oak trim and floor gleams, area rugs and several attractive pieces of antique furniture complete the picture. Having the unusual advantage of distance from the house next door, the bay window in the dining room casts rich light on the antique dining room suite. Part of the wall between the dining and living rooms was removed to open up the interior, and several pocket doors were sealed. The compact, but serviceable kitchen is at the back, with good afternoon sunlight. The original wood-burning fireplace in the living room (also in the upstairs front bedroom) was covered over but Lil missed it and so had a gas burner installed. She then was very pleased to find an oak mantel, almost identical to the original, at the Door Store.
It is a real treat to find a Triangle home so lovingly preserved.
Abstract of Title for 118 Rainsford RoadA very special event was when Lil Rowe let me copy the Abstract of Title for 118 Rainsford Road.
This document, issued in 1948 by N.S. Sorenzetti at a cost of all of $9.50, contains some fascinating information.
First of all, if you think flipping of properties is a recent phenomenon look at this (all dates are Date of Registration):
- December 5, 1904: Grant by John J. Dixon (Administrator of Joseph Duggan) to Annie Noble Dixon. The transaction fee was $1.00. Note: Annie Dixon inherited Woodbine Park racecourse and adjacent property from her father, Joseph Duggan, a prosperous farmer who bought the property south of Kingston Road from the Small brothers in 1870.
- April 4, 1911: Grant by Annie Dixon to John J. Gibson, for $1.00.
- April 11, 1911: Release by John J. Gibson and Annie Dixon to the City of Toronto.
- May 12, 1911: Grant by John J. Gibson and his wife to Title and Trust Company. Note: Title and Trust Company was the original owner of 52 Rainsford Road, built in 1910, and home of John and Beverley Ellis.
- February 20, 1912: Agreement between Title and Trust and Annie Dixon with the City of Toronto. Note: This entry includes a remark, “Extension of Rainsford Road and Columbine Avenue”, indicating that Rainsford from Queen (to Columbine?) was completed earlier and extended, with Columbine, to Kingston Road in 1912.
- February 21, 1912: Power of Attorney by Annie Dixon to National Trust Company.
- February 26, 1912: Plan grant by Title and Trust, owner, to Speight & Co., O.L.S.
- November 8, 1913: Grant by Title and Trust to Melville and Rupert Grimshaw. Note: Lil Rowe advises that the Grimshaws built the house at 118 Rainsford Road.
- August 6, 1914: Grant by the Grimshaws to Jeffery Skinner.
- July 12, 1919: Grant by Chartered Trust & Executor to Grimshaw Wool Co.
- November 29, 1919: Grant by Jeffery Skinner and his wife to Frank Blaylock (for $4,100). Note: This appears to be the first time the house is sold.
- April 30, 1920: Grant by Frank Blaylock and his wife to John Adams (for $5,000, an increase of 22% in only five months!).
- February 6, 1924: Grant by the Grimshaws to Charles McLeod, for $1.00 fee, and Grant by John Adams and his wife to Charles McLeod (for $6,500, an increase of 30% in just under four years).
- January 4, 1932: Charles McLeod and his wife mortgage the property with the Synod of the Diocese of Huron for $2,600, discharged on January 17, 1946.
- July 17, 1946: Grant by Charles McLeod and his wife to Margaret Goodwin (for $2.00 fee). Note: In the “The Triangle Neighbourhood in the Fifties” article, a Mr. Goodwin ran the butcher shop at Rainsford and Queen.
- April 1, 1948: Grant by Margaret Goodwin to George Hanna and his wife. Note: George Hanna was Lil Rowe's brother.
- April 1, 1948: Mortgage by George and Gladys Hanna with Margaret Goodwin (for $3,750).
- October 1, 1948: Assignment of Mortgage by Margaret Goodwin to Louis Middlestadt and his wife. This is the last entry on the Abstract. Note: Lil Rowe tells us that she and her husband bought 118 Rainsford Road later in 1948 for $5,450, a 16% decrease from the $6,500 purchase price 24 years earlier!
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