Toronto Architectural Chronicles

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Toronto Architectural Chronicles

About Victorian Bay and Gable

Tuesday, February,22, 2022

 

Historic Buildings are everywhere through Toronto, but many of us may not know the meaning and history they hold.  With this little blogpost I would like to invite you to look through the windows of the history and discover the meaning and ties to other countries and artistic movements of significant buildings of Toronto. 

 

Toronto is the city that welcomed me on my immigration journey, and I will never forget my first feeling of excitement when I saw such a cohabitation of old architecture with new and since, it is a one of the great joys of walking around the city and discovering new areas, new streets and architectural diversity.  While some buildings are definite examples of international styles, others are unique to Toronto. And indeed, it puzzled me how did these styles came about? 

 

Please join me in this wonderful journey through the history of Toronto architecture and hope you will discover something interesting for you.  

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Victorian Bay & Gable

 

Many of us have come to know that most quintessential of Toronto architectural styles: the Victorian Bay & Gable. It is instantly recognizable with its soaring peaked gable, protruding angled bay, gingerbread trim, and red and buff brick. It has come to symbolize old, historic Toronto. The bay-and-gable style was most popular in Toronto in the 1870s and is unique to the city.  The gables were a nod to the Gothic Revival style popular in the Victorian era. 

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay-and-gable#/media/File:Bay-and-gable.JPG





The earliest known example of the bay-and-gable design is the Blaikie and Alexander houses at 404 Jarvis Street, designed by architectural firm Gundry and Langley and built in 1863.* Constructed by Smith and Burke.  

This building is the earliest remaining Semi-detached example of the Bay- and -Gable in Toronto. 

Image courtesy of : Betty Oliphant Theatre * 

(for more information on Gundry and Langley please visit this link:http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/757)

 

Victorian houses have bays. They can be either bay windows that open up one part or side of a house, or they can be full one- or two-story bays that extend the house past the entrance. The entrance is never on the bay.

 

For infill housing, houses that are in a tightly packed urban neighborhood, the 'gable and bay' allows the house the necessary wood trim and brick detailing while allowing for a limited property size.

However, there exists another, less recognized style, but one just as prevalent in our city: the Bay & Gable’s offspring, about which you will read more in my next post. Thank you and until Next week…

 

T.K

 

 

P.S: If you have photos, capturing architectural styles of Toronto or cohabitation of old with new architecture of Toronto, that you would like to be featured in this blogpost please send me a note and I would be glad to include you in my next post of "Architectural Chronicles of Toronto."

 

 

 

 

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