Magdalen Asylum

Details of Site Location: Five locations: beginning on Richmond Street (not considered here), then progressing along the south side of Belmont Street to the final location and newer function of 55 Belmont Street (also not considered here).

Boundary History: The boundaries of the Magdalen Asylum’s land kept changing and growing larger; boundary streets of sites considered here are Yonge, Belmont, and Davenport Road.

Current Use of Property: Commercial buildings on Yonge, houses along Belmont with some commercial uses, and the Belmont House Retirement Home.

Historical Description: One of Toronto’s most elegant and prestigious retirement homes is Belmont House, and it is extremely doubtful that any other similar facility – however prestigious – has as interesting a history. In the beginning of the 1850s, a group of women met at Holy Trinity Church to see what could be done for “unfortunate” women: women of the streets. The group rented a little house on Richmond Street, then visited the local jail in the hope of convincing prisoners to relocate, at the end of their terms, to the house for religious and trade training and rehabilitation. They were successful. In 1858, the legislature passed an Act incorporating the “Toronto Magdalen Asylum and Industrial House of Refuge.” The directors of this institution were among the most socially prominent women of their time, with names like Baldwin, Badgley, Dick, and Blake. By the end of the decade, the institution was overcrowded. A property had been donated by Dr. Burnside in his Will, and a new home was built on Yonge Street just south of Belmont at a cost of $14,000. Because many elderly women were arriving, the problem arose about mixing their different needs with those of the young. This 1873 building fell under new legislation, an amendment of the Act under the Statutes of Ontario. Part of the facility was named “The Home for Aged and Indigent Women,” but a Goad’s Atlas map for 1884 has the facility still labelled as the Magdalen Asylum, By this date, a new building was in place, much larger, and located at the southwest corner of Belmont and McMurrich. The building lots to the west were still vacant, but the lots at the extreme west end of the block were being filled in with houses. Still in 1884, through an Order-in-Council, the name was changed again to “The Toronto Industrial Refuge and Aged Woman’s Home.” In 1890, there was a small wing added to the 1883/34 building, and a second large building had been built to the west of it. The second building reached north nearly to the street, while its older companion was set back from both streets at the corner. As Mrs. Thomas Ewart was the first president of the board from 1891 to 1895 and had been involved with the growth of the institution from 1863, her name was given to the older building; the name appears again later. The second building became the home for women, and men were admitted to the wing of the older building. By the turn of the century, such women as Mrs. Edmund Gunther and Mrs. Mortimer Clark, wife of the Lieutenant-Governor, were putting years of volunteer work into the institution with the board. They were keeping the flow of bequests and donations active. It became evident that the facilities were being stretched to the limit, and plans were laid for another building further west. When it was opened in 1908, it was named Belmont House.

Tweedsmuir House was the name given the middle building in 1940. In 1939, the government had transferred girls committed to care to training schools, leaving the buildings on Belmont Street for the care of older people. An Order-in-Council changed the name again, and all three buildings became known as “The Toronto Aged Men’s and Women’s Homes.” Another piece of legislation in 1966 ended the history of the Magdalen Asylum as such and opened the history of Belmont House as a facility substantially different from its predecessors. It is worth noting that it was a woman doctor who first served the Magdalen Asylum, Dr. Elizabeth Badgley, and many other woman doctors followed in her footsteps. Pictures of the women who served on boards and raised funds for the Magdalen Asylum are kept in a special hallway of Belmont House, which has also a collection of artefacts and memorabilia on display not far from the main entrance. The history of the transmutation of the Magdalen Asylum has also been the subject of an M.A. thesis.

Relative Importance: In his 1898 treatise on the state of morality and crime in Toronto, C.S. Clark describes life on the streets and the censorious attitudes of society. Other records reveal the appalling conditions of prisons and the near hopelessness of being poor. There were facilities to look after children, widows, and families, and another for the insane. There were societies to assist new immigrants in getting settled; but until the Magdalen Asylum was begun, there was nothing to assist women who ran afoul of the law. The institution represents a level of true charity and social service, and opened a path toward the development of training schools and other services with goals of rehabilitation rather than incarceration. In its service as an almshouse, it provided a shelter for the elderly destitute, in stark contrast with the modern Belmont House.

Planning Implications: The present Belmont House has a Toronto Historical Board plaque near the main entrance, which refers to the evolution described above, but it is seen only by those entering the grounds. It is recommended that another plaque be mounted at the southwest cornet of Belmont and McMurrich on the fence where it can be seen by all without trespassing on the privacy of Belmont House itself. It is also recommended that Belmont Street be closed to arterial traffic because of the seniors’ complex and the public school around the corner, and that traffic off the Don Valley Parkway be diverted onto either Park Road or Yonge Street.

Reference Sources: Goad’s Atlas (1884, 1890, 1910); C.S. Clark, Of Toronto the Good (1898); Statutes of Ontario 1858 to 1966.

Acknowledgements: Community History Project; Muriel Israel, President of Belmont House Tenants’ Association.

Note: Belmont House has asked to be included in the Heritage Conservation District proposed for Belmont and Hillsboro Streets. As the “Sheppard Heritage Conservation District,” the proposal was given approval by the former Toronto Historical Board, but has been stalled at other city levels.