Built
on the converging point of Palace (now Front) and Market (now
Wellington) Streets was the unique building attributed to architect
John Ewart (1788-1867)(1).
This simple, circa 1830s, yellow-painted (or possibly stucco) brick
structure reminded local people of an early coffin because of its
tapered shape(2). Affectionately dubbed the “coffin block”, its distinctive shape made it the local landmark of the day.
The coffin
block housed a series of different commercial establishments. It was
divided into three units, the smallest of which was located right at
the intersection(3). This space was best known as the booking office of William Weller’s stagecoach lines from 1830-1835(4).
Weller offered stages to areas east and west of York, and later
Toronto, the principal route running between York and Hamilton(5). Generally, due to poor road conditions, it was only considered safe to travel in the winter(6). Weller’s Toronto-Montreal trip of 35 hours and 40 minutes remained a record until the prominence of rail travel(7).
At the
time of the 1837 Rebellion, Isaac Buchanan and Company’s
Wholesale Warehouse occupied the main part of the building(8).
Officers’ quarters were located on the upper floors, the
confectioner James Scott was on the main floor and Bannerman’s
restaurant was in the basement(9). All of which flourished under the patronage of the militia.
Located
close to the wharfs, and the centre of stagecoach travel, the coffin
block figured as a natural point of reference for many early travellers
to Toronto. This was further confirmed in the 1840s when the Wellington
Hotel converted the two upper floors of the coffin block into an annex(10). Ewart’s coffin block was demolished in 1891 so that Gooderham and Worts [site 44] could construct the “flatiron” building which stands in its place today(11). |
Notes
- Martyn, The Face of Early Toronto, p.37.
- Ibid.
- William Dendy, Lost Toronto, (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1978), p.53.
- Robertson, I, p.380.
- Ibid., p.223.
- Edward C. Guillet, Pioneer Inns and Taverns, Vol. I (published by the author, 1954), pp.31-2.
- Ibid.
- Robertson, I, p.380.
- Ibid., pp.380-4.
- Dendy, Lost Toronto, p.53.
- Ibid.
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