Description
Book SynopsisCelebrating Toronto's built heritage of row houses, semis, and cottages and the people who lived in them.
Despite their value as urban property, Toronto's workers' cottages are often characterized as being small, cramped, poorly built, and in need of modernization or even demolition. But for the workers and their families who originally lived in them from the 1820s to the 1920s, these houses were far from modest. Many had been driven off their ancestral farms or had left the crowded conditions of tenements in their home cities abroad. Once in Toronto, many lived in unsanitary conditions in makeshift shantytowns or cramped shared houses in downtown neighbourhoods such as The Ward. To then move to a self-contained cottage or rowhouse was the result of an unimaginably strong hope for the future and a commitment to family life.
Through the stories of eight families who lived in these Modest Hopes, authors Don Loucks and Leslie Valpy bring an important
Table of Contents
Authors’ Note
Introduction: Home Is Where the Heart Is
1. Origins: The History and Antecedents of Workers' Housing Movements
2. The Architecture: Five Model Hope House Types
3. The Newcomers: Early Immigrants to Toronto Who Built and Lived in Modest Hopes
4. Toronto: 1820*#8211;1920
5. The Neighbourhoods: A Selection of Historic Toronto Areas Where Modest Hopes Were Concentrated
6. The Stories: Portraits fo the People and Their Modest Hope Homes
- Bridget Ann Tracey McTague
- Murray Buchman
- Sam Ching and Dennis Chow
- William Joseph O’Connor
- Thomas T. Ferguson
- Anne O’Rourke
- The Moore Family
- Albert Jackson
Conclusion: Why Are Modest Hopes Important Today?
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Image Credits
Index
