Residence.

Details of Site Location: The northeast corner of King and Ontario, set well back and facing Ontario Street.

Boundary History: D.W. Smith had been granted a huge amount of land including a 100-acre Park Lot stretching from Queen to Bloor and the acreage to the south of it amounting to 16 acres. The house was built in the additional acreage south of the Park Lot.

Current Use of Property: North of King, a number of factories have been built along the east side of Ontario Street.

Historical Description: Sir David William Smith was born in Salisbury, England, in 1764. He was the son of a military career officer, and received his education from military tutors. Commissioned as an ensign at 15 years, he joined his father’s Fifth Regiment of Foot, an infantry unit. Smith married Ann Reilly in 1790, then was posted to Detroit under his father’s command. He was transferred to York in 1792 and was appointed Surveyor General of Upper Canada in an acting capacity. His appointment was confirmed in 1800, by which time his name appeared on many early maps and surveys. He was elected a member of the House of Assembly in1792, 1796, and 1800, and was Speaker in 1797 and 1801. In 1798 he was appointed Lieutenant of the County of York. Smith and his family accumulated more than 20,000 acres in 21 townships. He built the house “Maryvale Lodge” in the mid-1790s. It was a large wooden Georgian-style house painted bright yellow. Across the front, facing Ontario Street, was a large office, a spacious front hall, and a drawing room with a bay window on the end. Behind the office was a large parlour, a study, and bedchambers, with a separate wing to the back for the kitchen. There were four more bedrooms and a house­keeper’s room upstairs. The house was surrounded by an elaborate formal garden and many outbuildings. The original drawings of the house and grounds are in the Toronto Public Library. In 1797, records show that four males and three females lived in this house. Smith’s wife, Ann, died in 1798 when she was 28 years old. They had eight children. Smith wrote A Short Topographical Description of His Majesty’s Province of Upper Canada in North America, to which is annexed a Provincial Gazetteer. This work was published both in 1799 and 1813, and is valuable because it gives the original Indian, French, and English names of many places now known by different names. In 1802, Smith left Upper Canada because of recurring bouts of fever. He remarried in England to Mary Tyler and decided to stay in England. The king knighted him. He sold off his Canadian properties and bought a handsome property near Alnwick. Maryville Lodge was next occupied by Thomas Stoyell, then the “Yellow House” became a small private school. The house was demolished in 1854. Smith died at his Alnwick home in 1837.

Relative Importance: D.W. Smith was the man who began the plan for counties and townships and for the Town of York and influenced the way in which the province developed. Detailed documentary of houses this early is extremely rare.

Planning Implications: A plaque on Ontario Street should show the plan of the house and grounds, and give information about Smith and his work here.

Reference Sources: City of Toronto Archives; Toronto Reference Library; Edith G. Firth, The Town of York 1793-1815 (1962).

Acknowledgements: Maps Project.