Month: February 2013

Opened in 1922, the Standard was the first Yiddish Theatre in Toronto and was one of the centres of the Toronto Jewish Community.

Read more about the Standard Theatre Here.

Started by Sonya Lunansky in the early 1930s, Augusta Fruit Market is the kind of shop the market has come to be defined by. Originally opened as a few boxes of fruit sold curb-side, Augusta Fruit Market eventually found a full-time home at 65 Nassau St. Sonya lived in the market for her whole life and was an active, vibrant member of the community. Sonya’s Park, a block north, was named in her honour.

Frances Borg’s father, Salvatore Sanci opened a banana store in 1928. Known as Sanci’s Tropical Foods at 66 Kensington Avenue, Sanci’s was the first non-Jewish merchant in the market – he moved to Toronto from Sicily in 1914.[iv] As his family’s business moved into the wholesale market, and small businesses became obsolete, it was proposed to Borg and his family that they branch out from bananas and start receiving mangoes shipped in from Jamaica. He accepted this change, and spurred on by a growing Jamaican presence in the market and Toronto in general, his family stopped selling wholesale bananas altogether in 1962.[v] This shift in both consumer and product is an important part of this moment in Kensington Market’s history, as the Market would continuously experience these shifts and changes throughout the 20^th century, and into the 21^st.

Built in 1927 and serving as the epicenter of Kensington’s Jewish community, Kiever Synagogue was the first synagogue in the Kensington Market area with a congregation dating back to 1912.

Before the Kiever Synagogue was built, this plot was the location of Bellevue, the Denison family home, built by George Taylor Denison I in 1815 and demolished in 1889.

 

 

 

 

 

Currently the location of Precision Vacuum Products, the building at 90 Bellevue was built by Bell Canada and served as their Telephone School for Operators from 1907 until 1932.

In 1890 87 Bellevue was home to Dr. J. Algernon Temple’s private hospital, Bellevue House hospital. In 1906 the Sisters of St. John the Divine converted it into Church Home for the Aged, an active senior’s residence which expanded into the property at 78 Oxford St.

 

Built in 1878, No. 8 Fire Station became, in 1911, the first in all Toronto to acquire a motorized fire engine.

 

 

The Nathanael Institute

Early in the 1900s the Nathanael Institute moved into 91 Bellevue Ave and remained there until 1962. An Anglican mission, the institute attempted to convert Jewish residents of the market to Christianity. Despite their mission statement, the institute became more of a community centre for the market’s youth, providing classes and services to market residents.

St Stephen’s Community House

St Stephen’s Community House moved into 91 Bellevue Ave in 1962 as a Christian-based settlement house providing services primarily to youths. In 1974, St Stephen’s became an independant, incorporated not-for-profit charitable organization, which now provides services to more than 30,000 people a year in Kensington Market and surrounding neighborhoods.

For more information visit the St Stephen’s Community House Website.