Jermyn Estate - DEMOLISHED

One of the largest estates on the Mimico waterfront, it was established in the mid 1890s by Mr. Thomas John Jermyn.  Mr. Jermyn was born in Ireland in 1846 and emigrated to Canada in 1864.  In 1870 he began as a cashier with Brock and Company, a Toronto drygoods wholesaler, and later rose to be Vice-President with headquarters at Bay and Wellington.  His city home was at 314 Sherbourne Street, across from Allan Gardens.  Jermyn died on April 12, 1904 days before the company's head office and warehouse burned to the ground in the Great Toronto Fire of April 19-20, 1904 which destroyed the city's business center.  The Jermyn family stayed on in Mimico Beach for some time and it was a favourite summertime haunt.  Percy Jermyn, Thomas' son, was often seen dashing about the waterfront in his sailing boat the "Nancy" practising for the annual regatta.

The Jermyn family later sold the property to Thomas H. Goldring.  Goldring was the son of Thomas Goldring and Flora McDonald, and was born in Toronto in 1877.  Goldring owned the estate for a short time beginning in 1919.  Thomas H. Goldring died in 1931 at which time the estate was acquired by the West family.

Louis J. West

courtesy of The Mimico Story

Louis J. West was born in London, England in 1872 and emigrated to Canada with his parents when he was a small child.  He was educated at Toronto and later founded the brokerage firm of Louis J. West and Company.  He moved to Mimico in 1905 where he took an active part in the incorporation of Mimico as a police village.  In 1919 he was elected Mayor of the town and held the post for two years.  He was one of the founders, and one time president of the Toronto Stock Exchange.  He retired from his brokerage firm in 1931 and died at his Mimico Beach home on October 3, 1936, leaving an estate valued at over $395,000.  The West family continued to live at the estate until it was sold to the Peckover family in 1945.  The Peckover family sold it to John Hamm and his wife Evelyn Pearl Bedford in 1947.  John was originally a journalist with the Mail and Empire but later appears to have turned his hand to the building of quality homes in some of Toronto's best neighbourhoods.  Hamm lived on the estate and also developed a small apartment along the Lake Shore Road frontage.  He sold the estate for apartment development in 1959.  Today the twin Shoreline Towers apartment blocks are built on the site of the estate.