Blog

May 31, 2016

Project Blog – School of Graduate Studies U of T

CFMS has recently been awarded the commissioning for  projects for work being done at the University of Toronto.  I’ve been the lucky person from our office to attend site visits related to these projects.  I consider myself lucky because I love the opportunity to go into old buildings, and while “Doors Open Toronto” is a good time to indulge my curiosities, going for the site visits provides unique opportunities.  One building really caught my interest after the site tour, so naturally I had to do some research to find out more about the School of Graduate Studies located at 63 St. George St.  It was clearly a residence at some point in it’s history, though it has been parceled into administrative offices and meeting spaces over time.  I wondered who had been lucky enough to call what I am sure was a beautiful building in it’s time (though it’s a bit tired now) home.  I was surprised to find out that it was actually home to Sir John A. MacDonald, and he lived there in the years when the National Policy was created.  There is indeed one of those historic landmark plaques outside, though I only saw it when I looked it up on the web.  I would have thought there would be more attention drawn to its history, but it’s also pretty neat that Toronto still has these little gems of history.  In my search, there was also an old ariel map showing the house.  At the time it was on the outskirts of town, a crazy contrast to it’s location now in the heart of U of T and downtown Toronto!  Toronto sure has grown over the years, and part of me wonders what Sir John A. MacDonald would think of his former abode and city of residence for a period of time, though web rumours also suggest he still haunts the house.  I am sure he’ll be glad to see the makeover the School of Graduate Studies is getting, but I am glad we won’t be commissioning late at night or alone!  It is one of the really interesting aspects of our work at CFMS, getting inside some pretty interesting buildings, and learning or revisiting history.

Why Commissioning