Toronto's Historical Plaques
Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.
The Studio Building
Slowly being buried by the vegetation, a 1996 Toronto Historical Board plaque in front of this building at 25 Severn Street has this to say:
The construction of the Studio Building for Canadian art was commissioned by renowned Canadian artist Lawren Harris (1885-1970), an heir to the Massey-Harris farm machinery fortune, and arts patron Dr. James MacCallum. Designed by Toronto architect Eden Smith (1859-1949) and completed in 1914, it soon became an important centre for new developments in Canadian painting. Group of Seven members, Harris, J.E.H. Macdonald and A.Y. Jackson were among the original occupants. Tom Thomson and Frederick Varley worked at various times in the rear shack, which was moved in 1962 to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg. The studio building was sold by Harris to artist Gordon MacNamara in 1948.
Location Co-ordinates: 43.673354 -79.386097
Photo by Alan L Brown - August 2007
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Posted May 12, 2008
This building is of significant artistic and cultural importance, not only to the residence of Toronto, who were fortunate enough to have been hosts to some of the greatest Canadian artists in history but to all Canadians who have lived in this grand country of ours. The mere mention of the Group of Seven invokes visions of a romantically resourceful, rugged and purely Canadian temperament. Through their paintings, the Group of seven and (indirectly) their benefactors, in my humble opinion, unknowingly - managed helped to define "the Canadian identity" through our natural resources...yes, we have a Canadian identity.
Anyone who has ever camped or hiked or even drove through our northern wilderness can identify with any of the "Groups" works. With the first glimpse of a Group of Seven painting, a sense of warmth, comfort and familiarity fills the viewer's soul, heralding childhood or even more recent memories. Powerful experiences conjured up by daubs of paint on birch board and canvas - by a group of incredibly talented Canadians so many, many years ago. Their paintings transcend the concept of time by capturing - not just ordinary landscapes - but rather by capturing emotions and experiences most of us as Canadians can relate to at some pint in our lives. Their paintings represent what it means to be Canadian. Their paintings invoke a sense of patriotic pride, something worth defending, supporting and cultivating for future generations to come.
The Studio Building should be preserved and open up to all Canadians and visitors alike to showcase and recount the heady days of free thinking, energetic, forward thinking artists who's primary goal was to capture what Canada represented to them - to us. The Studio Building holds the essence of these great artists; impresarios of Canadian culture who helped guide the process of classifying us as a distinct, proud and beautiful nation.
I can only hope that the current owners of the Studio Building are as proud of their Canadian heritage as I am of mine. I am a first generation Canadian who dabbles in painting for purely recreational purposes. I am a first generation Canadian who cherishes our great northern wilderness. I am a first generation Canadian who is fortunate and healthy enough to be able to hike, canoe and camp in our national and provincial parks ... the Group of Seven were and through their works continue to be ambassadors of the beauty of Canada for those who might not be able to experience those activities for themselves.
Heritage and cultural identity are very important and powerful tools for the purpose of creating and strengthening a common bond for keeping the peoples of a vast multicultural nation together. Toronto has enough condos and store fronts and coffee shops ... this is a building with a legacy far greater then a grande half-fat latte ... it's legacy is as a shelter to help preserve our Canadian identity.
-G.R. Brzeski- Toronto
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