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5&6. THE COURTHOUSE AND JAIL
Ontario House Hotel
The Court of the Quarter Sessions of the Home District served as the governing
body of York. It consisted of local merchants (largely Scottish) who were
appointed to the post of magistrate(1). The Court had been homeless since the destruction
of the Parliament Buildings in 1813 [site 42](2). With the petition of October 30,
1818 for a new Courthouse and Jail, the magistrates alerted the taxpayers of York to
their need(3). By doing so they also entered into the unspoken competition for Upper
Canada’s most prestigious Courthouse.

The price tag for the three year venture was over 6 000 pounds sterling(4).
The magistrates final plan combined the submissions of John Ewart [site 3] with those
of William Warren Baldwin [site 23]. Born 1788 in Tranent, East Lothian, Ewart was
trained in the Scottish Architectural Design tradition and mastered his craft in London
and New York. His talent, combined with Baldwin’s knowledge of the community, produced
a very flexible yet stylistic plan.

The two-storey, rather simple, identical red brick buildings were built parallel
to each other, the Jail to the left and the Courthouse to the right of the above picture.
They were connected by a tunnel and set back about sixty-six feet from King
Street(5). This design created an open space known as Courthouse Square which served
as a public area, and was ornamented with lawns and flowerbeds(6).

Inside, the prisoner’s box was placed on wheels so that it could be moved
into a corner out of the way when the large room was used for public affairs. In order
to save money in the soon over-budget venture, sacrifices were made in construction.
For example, walls were built slightly thinner than originally designed, which proved
to be the downfall of the jail as it made for easy escape routes(7).

Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland laid the cornerstones of both
buildings on April 24, 1824(8). In the tradition of time-capsules, a sovereign, a half
sovereign and current newspapers were placed inside the cornerstones(9).
Unfortunately, by the time of their construction the Courthouse and Jail were already
inadequate as they were designed to serve a smaller Home District population(10). In
York alone the population prior to incorporation had grown to approximately 9,252(11).
Notes
  1. Armstrong, A City in the Making, p.165.
  2. Firth, p.261
  3. Ibid., p.263.
  4. Martyn, Original Toronto, p.45.
  5. Martyn, The Face of Early Toronto, p.55.
  6. Ibid.
  7. Marion MacRae and Anthony Adamson, Conerstones of Order : Courthouses of Upper Canada, (Toronto: Clarke Irwin Inc., 1983), p.43.
  8. Martyn, The Face of Early Toronto, p.55.
  9. Robertson, I, p.85.
  10. Armstrong, A City in the Making, p.42.
  11. Firth, p.lxxxii.


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