Residence and coach house.

Details of Site Location: 1132 Broadview Avenue.

Boundary History: West side of Broadview, north of Pottery Road and south of Pape, close to Hillside Drive; property covered 2 acres.

Current Use of Property: Broadview Village, a Salvation Army seniors residence.

Historical Description: This Victorian house of two and a half storeys and the coach house were built on 2.05 acres of land in 1880. No precise description exists of the number of rooms or other interior detail or architectural features. However, a photograph shows a very large brick house with a sweeping wood verandah across half of the front and one entire side. Over the front entrance is what appears to be a sunroom with graceful arched windows on three sides. The top storey has gabled windows and several large chimneys. Chester Park was built for Thomas Taylor, the middle son of John Taylor Senior (Lost Sites #249), for his mother, Henrietta, and his brothers and sisters. In 1888, Mrs. Taylor sold the property to her niece’s husband, Robert Davies, for $34,000 when she moved to Jarvis Street across from the Masseys. Davies used it as his summer home. Members of the Davies family continued to life at Chester Park for some years. In 1940, it was sold to the Salvation Army. They used the house as an orphanage until 1967, when they demolished it and replaced it with brick cottages. The coach house, however, remains, renovated inside as living space, but with exterior features largely untouched, such as the arched voussoirs over the windows and the slate-tiled roof.

Relative Importance: The site is important because of the contribution of the Taylor and Davies families to the development of Toronto.

Planning Implications: The coach house should be designated and should bear a plaque indicating the contribution of these families.

Reference Sources: Ann Guthrie, Don Valley Legacy, A Pioneer History.

Acknowledgements: Maps Project.