Draper Street

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted September, 2006

If you find yourself at King and Spadina and walk south a block then head west on Wellington Street you'll find yourself in the industrial area. But then after one block you'll be at the north end of the block long Draper Street, a 19th century residential street that somehow escaped the industrialization of the surrounding area. Here's a 2001 City of Toronto Culture Division plaque on the east side of the street with the details:

Plaque coordinates: 43.642450 -79.39781

Draper Street's Empire-style cottages were built in 1881 and 1882, while its larger homes were constructed between 1886 and 1889. The street - a designated Heritage Conservation District - is unusual because its residential character survived the overall industrialization of the King-Spadina neighbourhood in the twentieth Century. Draper Street has been a haven for people of many backgrounds, such as Lincoln Alexander, who was born here in 1922 to West Indian parents, and who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991. The name of the street honours William Henry Draper (1801-1877), a pre-Confederation lawyer and Conservative politician, who was the virtual 'Prime Minister' of the United Province of Canada from 1844-1847. He subsequently became a judge, eventually being appointed Chief Justice of post-Confederation Ontario in 1869.

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Residential buildings

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