Toronto Athletic Club

The Toronto Athletic Club, also known as the Stewart Building, is a historic building located at 149 College Street in Toronto, Ontario. It was designed by E. J. Lennox and built in 1894 to support the activities of the club; it included the first indoor pool in Toronto.[1] A similarly-named but unaffiliated Toronto Athletic Club now exists in the Toronto-Dominion Centre.

The Stewart Building
The building in 2009

Building

The building was designed in a Richardsonian Romanesque style favoured by Lennox. Its exterior is sandstone, a material that Lennox used in other buildings in Toronto, such as the Old City Hall and the Legislative Building at Queen's Park nearby.[1] An indoor pool was built in the basement.

The building is approximately 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) in size.[2] Including the land, the building cost $128,873 to construct, and a further $15,000 was spent on equipment.[3]

History

The building was built as a result of the efforts of John Beverley Robinson, an amateur boxer, mayor of Toronto and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Robinson was the president of the Toronto Athletic Club organization when it built the building, and he served as its president until 1895. The building is on the site of a former home of Robinson.

The building served as the Toronto Athletic Club until 1931, then as Toronto Police Headquarters from 1931 to 1957, as a second campus of the Ontario College of Art and Design from 1979 to 1997, and as the home of the Collège des Grands-Lacs from 1999 to 2001. Since 2008, it has been used by the University of Toronto, including some programs of the Rotman School of Management.[4]

References
  1. "A Retrospective on a Fine Old Heritage Building". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  2. "The Transitional 'ROTMAN CAMPUS'". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  3. "The Athletic Club". Toronto Daily Mail and Empire. July 11, 1896. p. 21.
  4. Stewart Building

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