Looking northeast towards the corner of Adelaide St W and Simcoe St in the Entertainment District of Toronto.
Built around 1833, the corner building known as Bishop’s Block was constructed for John Bishop, a butcher and landlord. Initially, it was part of a group of five brick townhouses referred to as Bishop’s Buildings in newspaper articles from 1833 and on a city map from 1858. The building served as a boarding house and, from the 1880s until the mid-1960s, it housed several hotels, including the Senate House, the J.J. O’Connor Hotel, the Harry Clark Hotel, and, for many decades, Hotel Adelaide.
From 1965 until the 1980s, the Georgian-style structure operated as the Pretzel Bell Tavern. The site underwent redevelopment from 2009 to 2011, during which the building was dismantled and restored to its appearance prior to a 1910 renovation. Today, the heritage-designated building is home to Soho House Toronto.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Heritage Toronto: Bishop’s Block plaque
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- The Patriot and Farmer’s Monitor: Dec 3, 1833, pg 4
- The Globe and Mail Newspaper Archives: Aug 4, 1965, pg 30
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: Toronto Public Library
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory, courtesy of Toronto Public Library
