The Chinese in Early 20th Century Toronto: 202 St. Patrick Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

202 St. Patrick Street in Toronto, Ontario is currently a community centre for those of Chinese heritage.  The Toronto Chinese Catholic Centre is connected to a Chinese Roman Catholic Church entitled “Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church”.  However, 202 St. Patrick Street was not always a community centre.  Through the assistance of the City of Toronto Archives, I was able to conclude that the location was actually a Roman Catholic school in the early 1900s. In fact, the location was not even known as “202 St. Patrick Street”.  Pre-1900s to 1920’s, the street St Patrick was called Williams Street and the lot number was 208.  William Street intersected with Caer-Howell Street (now Elm Street) and Anderson Street (now Dundas St. West).  The name of the school is referenced in the maps as “St. Patrick’s School”, however, in other records, the name is disclosed.

 

Even in the early 1900s, the school (along with other prominent establishments, like the “Planning Mill”) was one of the few brick-built structures in the area.  Most houses near the school were wooden .  The school and church were able to build an additional cathedral beside “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” by the year 1913, the reason is unknown.  By 1913, the school was now considered as lot 202 but the street name was still Williams Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assessment Role Findings

202 St. Patrick Street was classified as “separate school” in the 1901 Assessment Roles.  This is important because it was not considered a public establishment, thus the taxation rate was paid differently.  The owner name is indicated by 1914.  “J. Hall” who lives at 28 Duke Street was considered the owner of the school at the time.  As the 1922 Assessment Role indicates, “J. G. Hall” seems to keep the building through the 1920’s as well.

 

The size of the lot was 79×126 meters.  This lot size remains unchanged from 1901 through 1922 showing a lack of additions made to school over the years.  Another indication that the building was not added to is the “Value of the Building”.  The “Value of the Building” remains at $4000 throughout the years 1901 through 1922.  However, the “Value of Land” began to increase substantially.  The land cost grew from $3160 in 1901 to $8690 in 1913.

 

The number of tenants is always listed as “X” indicating there is nobody who was living at 202 St. Patrick Street at any point of its establishment.  Another (rather obvious) side note is that the school is labelled “Exempt” when mentioning livestock or crop production.