Hebert P. Ritchie House - 10 Miles Road
© Michael Harrison 2012
© Michael Harrison 2012
This fine home was built circa 1910 for Herbert P. Ritchie and his wife Mary Hay. It was originally at the end of a long 77 foot wide lot which extended down from the Lake Shore Road.
Herbert P. Ritchie was born in Ontario in 1881. His father John Ritchie Jr. was born in Scotland in 1849, immigrated to Canada, and was a real estate agent in Toronto. He was married to Lilliam Dunn. Both parents died young. Lillian died in 1890 of tuberculosis. John died in 1891 of pneumonia. This left their five children as orphans. The eldest John was 15 years old in 1891. Herbert was only 10 years of age and Edith, the youngest, was 8.
In the 1901 census Herbert and his sisters Irene and Edith are boarding in a house owned by Mary Lowery.
On November 17, 1909 Herbert married Mary Elizabeth Hay, daughter of Robert Hay, grain buyer, in Toronto.
According to the 1914 Toronto City directory, Ritchie owned H.P. Ritchie and Company, a lace importing and manufacturing company at 38-42 Clifford Street (now part of Richmond Street West). His city home was nearby at 185 Crawford Street. Later he moved to a more substantial home at 56 Health Street West.
The Ritchies continued to own their Mimico Beach estate until 1926 when they sold it to Arthur W. Miles for $6000 who then incorporated into Miles Park.
In 1952 the property was acquired by Peter Del Greco who built apartments on the majority of the lot. The portion of the lot containing the house was severed from the main lot and access was provided from Miles Road. The address then became 10 Miles Road.
The house is listed under the Ontario Heritage Act, and remains one of the few remaining original homes in this portion of the Mimico Beach estates.
In the 1901 census Herbert and his sisters Irene and Edith are boarding in a house owned by Mary Lowery.
On November 17, 1909 Herbert married Mary Elizabeth Hay, daughter of Robert Hay, grain buyer, in Toronto.
According to the 1914 Toronto City directory, Ritchie owned H.P. Ritchie and Company, a lace importing and manufacturing company at 38-42 Clifford Street (now part of Richmond Street West). His city home was nearby at 185 Crawford Street. Later he moved to a more substantial home at 56 Health Street West.
The Ritchies continued to own their Mimico Beach estate until 1926 when they sold it to Arthur W. Miles for $6000 who then incorporated into Miles Park.
In 1952 the property was acquired by Peter Del Greco who built apartments on the majority of the lot. The portion of the lot containing the house was severed from the main lot and access was provided from Miles Road. The address then became 10 Miles Road.
The house is listed under the Ontario Heritage Act, and remains one of the few remaining original homes in this portion of the Mimico Beach estates.
I was wondering if you knew what was behind this building in the past. I used to live in the apartments buildings in the lot behind this house and it always looked like there used to be a structure of some kind because of the cement blocks in the grass and a what looks like an old water pipe.
ReplyDeleteThere were two estate buildings there accessed, like the Ritchie House by a long driveway from the Lake Shore Road. They remained after the Del Greco Apartments were built. One remained there until the 1990s when I took a picture of it though by then it looked like it had been abandoned for some time.
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