page_title: Architecture of Toronto
section_title: Nineteenth century
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Toronto / Residential architecture / Nineteenth century
caption_attribution_description: Campbell House, Queen Street West, Toronto.
context_page_description: The architecture of Toronto is an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from 19th century Georgian architecture, to 21st century postmodern architecture and beyond. Initially, the city was on the periphery of the architectural world, embracing styles and ideas developed in Europe and the United States with only limited local variation. However, a few unique styles of architecture have emerged from Toronto, such as the bay and gable style house and the Annex style house.
  Toronto's older buildings are influenced by the city's history and culture. Most of the city's older buildings adopted designs found in other areas of the British Empire, such as Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, and various revival-styled designs that were popular during the 19th and early 20th century. In the years following World War II, the city experienced massive growth and adopted a number of modernist and postmodernist architectural styles, including the International Style and the towers in the park concept. With adoption of the Greenbelt throughout the Greater Toronto Area in 2005, the region has experienced a large condo boom with many designs adopting neo-futurism and neomodern styles.
context_section_description: Few structures survive from the earliest period of Toronto's history. The oldest home, and structure still standing, in Toronto is Scadding Cabin. Completed in 1794, Scadding Cabin is presently used as a heritage museum after it was relocated to Exhibition Place next to the Fort Rouillé site. Finished in 1807, John Cox Cottage is the oldest known house in the city still used as a residence. 
  Two of Toronto's oldest surviving brick houses are Campbell House and The Grange. Both are brick structures built in the Georgian style during the first half of the 19th century, reflecting the tastes of Toronto's elite in that era. Although the Georgian style had long been out of favour in the United States, it remained popular in Toronto, with residents hesitant to adopt early American architectural styles. In Loyalist-dominated Upper Canada, the style was embraced with fervour in part because of its British connections. Incongruously, it had also fallen out of fashion in Britain by this time, where it was considered outmoded, but in Toronto, it remained popular until the 1850s. When the Colonial revival was embraced in the United States in the 1890s, Georgian architecture also returned to Toronto. Structures continue to be built in the style today. It has been especially popular with the city's elite and many Georgian manors can be found in wealthy neighbourhoods such as Rosedale and the Bridle Path.
  The late nineteenth century Torontonians embraced Victorian architecture and all of its diverse revival styles. Victorian-style housing dominates a number of the city's older neighbourhoods, most notably Cabbagetown, Trinity-Bellwoods, Parkdale, Rosedale, and The Annex. These neighbourhoods hold some of the largest collections of Victorian houses in North America. During this period Toronto also developed some unique styles of housing. The bay-and-gable house was a simple and cost effective design that also aped the elegance of Victorian mansions. Built of the abundant red brick, the design was also well suited to the narrow lots of Toronto. Mostly built in lower and middle class areas the style could be used both for town houses, semi-detached, and stand alone buildings. Hundreds of examples still survive in neighbourhoods such as Cabbagetown and Parkdale. A residential architectural style unique to Toronto is the Annex style house. Built by the city's wealthy and mostly found in the neighbourhood they are named after, these houses contain diverse and eclectic elements borrowed from dozens of different styles. These houses are built of a mix of brick and sandstone, turrets, domes, and other ornamentation abound.
caption: Completed in 1822, Campbell House is an example of Georgian architecture popular with Toronto's elite during the time.
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