The Chinese in Early 20th Century Toronto: 396 Church Street – Sui Wah’s Laundry

 

 

Sui Wah resided at 396 Church Street starting from 1895, when, at that time, the establishment, a laundry, was named after him. In 1904 the laundry changed names to the “Chong Hong, laundry.” A neighbouring building in the 1930’s eventually became the W. York laundromat, but was most likely not Chinese owned. Other spellings in various directories include “Wah-Sui”, “Sul Wah” and “Sin Wah”. At the time religion was also recorded in the tax assessment, and as opposed to Roman Catholic or Church of England designations, his faith was labelled as “Chinese”.

Sui Wah lived alone under landlord Petros Constantinide. During his tenancy the value of the property decreased significantly by several hundred dollars, which may be caused by decreasing the size of the lot artificially.

 

Works Cited

City of Toronto. Tax Assessment Rolls. Ward 3 Division 2 (1894). Reel 103, Location 264736:73.

City of Toronto. Tax Assessment Rolls. Ward 3 Division 2 (1901). Reel 147, Location 264736:39. Microfilm. Pg. 27.

City of Toronto. Directories (1894). Reel 39.

City of Toronto. Directories (1895). Reel 40.

City of Toronto. Directories (1899). Reel 44. Microfilm. Pg. 119.

City of Toronto. Directories (1900). Reel 46. Microfilm. Pg. 116.

City of Toronto. Directories (1901). Reel 47. Microfilm. Pg. 114.

City of Toronto. Directories (1904). Reel 50. Microfilm. Pg. 125.

1938. Dept. of Public Works Photographs, Toronto. 390-396 Church Street. Fonds 200, Ser. 372, Subser. 33, Item 367. City of Toronto Archives. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

“390 Church Street, Toronto, ON.” Google Maps. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.