Recreational and entertainment facility.
Details of Site Location: Located on the west side of Mutual Street south of Dundas.
Boundary History: A large site, formerly a skating rink, the Arena occupied probably 4 acres.
Current Use of Property: The site is currently in use by co-op housing.
Historical Description: In 1912, the Mutual Street Arena opened on the site of the old Mutual Street Rink. Designed by Macfarlane, Ross and Herbert, the building was the largest auditorium in Canada and provided unrestricted sight lines from each seat in the auditorium. The building was also designed to accommodate musical events, pageants, balls, banquets, conventions, and sorting events. A group of Montreal and Toronto businessmen Headed by Edward Sheppard, were financiers of the $500,000 building, The Managing Director was Lawrence Solman who was affiliated with the Maple Leaf Baseball Team, the Royal Alexandra Theatre and later, Sunnyside Amusement Park. At the opening event 7 October 1912, were operatic commedienne Marie Dressler, violinists Arturo Tibaldi and Albert Spalding, and vocalists Alice Neilson from the Metropolitan Opera Company and Luigi Ravecchia, basso-buffo. A sixty-two man orchestra played that evening and every evening for six days. Two months later, the first artificially-produced ice in the province, and the Toronto Arenas hockey team were horn. The arena could hold 6,700 spectators when hockey was played. The St. Pat’s team began playing there and, in 1927, changed their name to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This arena was not good enough for the owner of the Leafs who was quoted as saying that it was more like a barn with box seats made of planks and the players’ Benches made of tongue-in-groove. In 1931, the Leafs moved to Maple Leaf Gardens on Carlton. At Mutual Street, the ice plant could produce sixty tons every 24 hours. As a profitable sideline, the Arena Ice Department sold domestic ice ” made from condensed steam free from organic and vegetable matter”. A supply of ten pounds per day sold for $2 per month, and thirty pounds per day sold for $3 per month. One of the nonsport highlights was in 1921 when 12,000 people attended a prohibition rally at the arena; bands from the Salvation Army and the Royal Grenadiers played. At the Arena, many well known musical artists and bands performed, including Woody Berman, there on New Year’s Eve in 1941. Following major remodelling in 1962, the building re-opened as The Terrace. In the 1990s, this was torn down to be replaced by the co-op housing apartment called Terrace Apartments.
Relative Importance: For over fifty years, this building was of great importance to young Torontonians as it gave them opportunities to learn to skate or rollerskate to music. Because of its hockey and entertainment history, the building is also important.
Planning Implications: Before the Arena is forgotten and all connected with it have died, it would be important for a plaque to be mounted at the Terrace Apartments, and a book of its history to be written including interviews with those involved in its history. The same may be said for Maple Leaf Gardens.
Reference Sources: City of Toronto Archives; Stan Obodiac, The Leafs, 1976.