Business.

Details of Site Location: 54 Front Street West.

Boundary History: Lot size of 44 x 126 feet in 1885 assessment roll.

Current Use of Property: Royal Bank Plaza (Bay and Front)

Historical Description: The company developed from the firm of Adam Miller, located at King Street East 1861-71, and at Wellington Street West 1871-84. This firm manufactured and sold books and stationery. William James Gage joined the business in 1874 and purchased full ownership in 1880. The firm’s name was changed that year to W.J. Gage. The business was located at Front Street West 1881-1904. This was listed in the 1885 assessment as a stone and brick four-storey building with a value of $15,000. An illustration during the Gage regime shows a five-storey building with “W.J. Gage & Co. Limited, Publishers and Booksellers, Wholesale & Mfg Stationers” in large lettering across the upper levels of the façade. In 1904 the company was forced to find temporary quarters because of the fire that year. The firm moved to Spadina Avenue from 1906 to 1958, and then to Scarborough. In the 1948 assessment, the Front Street property is listed as 54-58 Front Street West and has a variety of occupants, including Gordon Mackay & Company Ltd., Wholesale Dry Goods. The building was probably demolished in 1957. From 1958 to 1974 the property is listed in the city directories as a parking lot.

Relative Importance: This was a large, imposing building for one of Toronto’s major companies, a company that still continues and that became one of the country’s largest publishers of textbooks. Sir William James Gage was also an important figure in Toronto’s history for his philanthropy as well as him business. He was knighted in 1913 as one of Canada’s greatest philanthropists because of his work in founding institutions to combat tuberculosis. Several of these evolved into major Toronto institutions, such as Toronto Western Hospital and the Gage Institute.

Planning Implications: The open space at the Royal Bank Plaza would be an ideal location for a statue and plaque to William J. Gage, perhaps funded by the Gage Company.

Reference Sources: W.J. Gage Limited Moves into the Future (the company, 1858); Donald Jones, “Gage Fought TB and Won a Knighthood,” Toronto Star (26 June 1975); City Directories (1884, 1957, 1958); assessment rolls (1885, 1890, 1948); aerial photograph of Toronto, 1957.

Acknowledgements: Shirley E. Hartt, Enoch Turner Schoolhouse.