Ardwold Gate

Today we did a quick drive-by along Ardwold Gate, which is in the Spadina-Casa Loma neighbourhood of Toronto (south of St. Clair, north of Davenport, east of Spadina). The name Ardwold, meaning “high green hill” in Gaelic, is a legacy from the early part of the 20th century when Sir John Craig Eaton and Lady Eaton built their substantial home on this site.

The Eaton’s bought the 11-acre property in 1908 and tore down the existing home on the site in 1909. Ravenswood had been the home of Anne Austin Arthurs and the property, which was often used for charity bazaars and garden parties, was described as a beautiful spot. Apparently Mrs. Eaton would have been quite happy to move into Ravenswood, but John Craig wanted to build a place of his own. Anne was the daughter of James Austin and had built her home in 1867 just a few metres from her father’s home Spadina (originally the home of William Warren Baldwin) and just next to the lot line of Russell Hill (the home of Augustus Warren Baldwin).

The Eaton’s hired architect A. Frank Wilson to design their 50-room Georgian style estate, which was completed in 1911. The red brick home with light-brown stone detailing had a music room, billiards room, 14 bathrooms, an elevator, a nursery suite with its own kitchen, a private hospital area where three successful operations took place, and an underground tunnel that led to the half-acre indoor swimming pool and glassed-in conservatory. The great hall at the entrance included a mechanical pipe organ that was often played by John Craig himself. The grandeur of the home came close to that of nearby Casa Loma that was being built by Sir Henry Pellatt. It could be argued that Ardwold was actually once the grandest home in Toronto since despite Casa Loma being larger, it was never finished with Pellatt going bankrupt by 1923.

The entrance to Ardwold was from Spadina Avenue, close to where Ardwold Gate meets Spadina Avenue today. There were formal gardens and a fountain pool on the property that had a panoramic view of Toronto from the Davenport escarpment. There was a third-floor glass cupola where the Eatons had a clear view of Casa Loma rising to the southwest. The family entertained here continuously, both for pleasure and for charity fundraising. After the war, returned soldiers were invited to Ardwold for evenings of music.

In August of 1922 Sir John Craig Eaton, having been knighted in 1915 for his contributions to the war effort, died age 46 of pneumonia as a complication of influenza. Lady Eaton abandoned Ardwold, heartbroken, and spent most of her time in Europe. She auctioned off the contents of Ardwold, keeping only a few pieces, and had Ardwold demolished just 25 years after it had been built. The walls were so thick that the home had to be destroyed with dynamite.

In 1939 Lady Eaton moved to her newly constructed Norman Revival chateau known as Eaton Hall, now part of Seneca College, which she had built on property in King Township that she and her husband had acquired in the early 1920s on the recommendation of their friend and Toronto neighbour Sir Henry Pellatt, owner of the nearby Mary Lake property.

The property that had been Ardwold was subdivided by real-estate agent A.E. LePage, along the new road Ardwold Gate that ran east and curved south away from Spadina Avenue just south of the gatehouse and original path into Ardwold. The plan was to develop the whole 11-acres with homes of Georgian design and the area became, and still is, an exclusive enclave. In 1938 the average cost of the new homes was $30,000. One such home was that built for Dr. Albert Ernest McCulloch, at a cost of $38,000, located not far from the gatehouse entrance right to Ardwold. In 1940, Dr. McCulloch and his wife are still listed as living at 60 Warren Road, just south of St, Clair, and continue to live there as of the 1949 Voter’s List, along with their son Dr. Ernest McCulloch (who later became rather famous for this work with stem-cells), so it appears that the McCullochs may never have moved into the new home on Ardwold Gate.

In 2016 a Henry Young and his daughter Linda Young McMurchy lived in the home at 74 Ardwold Gate. Mr. Young stated at the time that he had lived there for 20 years or so, and his parents had lived there prior to that for 30 years or so, which means the Youngs occupied the home from the mid-1960s on. Henry Young also stated he hoped his daughter would continue to live there for another generation. In January of this year (2024) the home was listed on an estate sale website and now the property is undergoing these renovations so the property may have changed hands recently.

Today that house caught my eye, not only because it is under renovation, but also because of several features that are similar to Ardwold. Google photos from 2009 show that there were three Georgian style homes in a row here, with the most easterly one being demolished before 2011 for the construction of a Neo-Modernist home that was completed in 2014. The second Georgian home that was originally to the left of Dr. McCulloch’s and shown in a 1938 newspaper picture (see pictures), is now also gone. It disappeared sometime between 2014 and 2018 based on Google Street View images. So, while the old home that was supposed to have been Dr. McCulloch’s is having work done, it appears as if some of the structure will continue to stand as a visual reminder of the once grand and expansive Eaton mansion that was once near this site and gave rise to the name of the street. I hope! I will have to return in a few weeks or even a year and see if there is anything left.