A couple of weeks ago I was at the AGO with some friends. As we looked out over Dundas Street, one of them asked me if I knew anything about the building that we could see at the northwest corner of Beverley St. and Dundas. I had to admit that I knew nothing about except that I thought it was the Italian Consulate (it does have an Italian flag flying in the front after all).
Then I thought nothing about it. Flash forward about a week. I was at the St. Lawrence Market, sitting in the lower level eating my lunch when I happened to notice some posters on the wall. The posters were about the history of the area, especially the architecture. Right beside me was a picture of the house at 136 Beverley St., the Italian Consulate. Apparently it was called ‘Chudleigh’ and it was built in 1872.
So back I went to take some pictures.
Apparently the house is a fine example of the Second Empire style of architecture, a style that was popular between 1865 and 1880. Features of this style found in ‘Chudleigh’ are the steep mansard roof, the ‘tower’ portion of the house, and the asymmetry of the design.
This 35 room house was built by George Beardmore, a tanner from Chudleigh Devon England. It remained in the family until 1934. In 1937 it became the Italian Consulate. During World War 2 the Canadian government confiscated the property and used it as local headquarters for the RCMP. In 1961 it was returned to the Italians who used it as a center for Italian immigrants before renovating it and turning it back into the Italian Consulate in 1978.
Chudleigh in 1952
When George Lissant Beardmore first came to Canada in 1844, he set up a tannery in Hamilton Ontario. A few years later, this tannery was destroyed in a fire. Rather than rebuild in Hamilton, Beardmore built a warehouse in Toronto and bought a tannery in Guelph to supply the leather from which he made shoes. The Toronto warehouse, the Beardmore Building, was at 35 – 39 Front Street East and the building is still there today. A Winners store occupies part of the building.
In 1967 Beardmore & Co. are the largest tanners of leather in Canada. Their buildings and properties cover an area of over 500 acres, including a tannery in Acton that Beardmore purchased in 1865. They employed about 600 people.