The Alexander MacArthur House

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Woodsworth College’s first home was 119 St. George Street, also known as Alexander MacArthur House. Built in 1891-2, the stately Victorian family house had once belonged to wealthy lumber entrepreneur Alexander MacArthur (Hallsworth, “McArthur, Alexander (1839-95),” Dictionary of Canadian Biography; Richardson, The New Woodsworth College, 4-7).   The house was designed by two Toronto architects: David Brash Dick (1846-1925), responsible for the design of the main house in 1891-2; and Francis S. Baker (1867-1926), responsible for a “one-storey bay addition to the south” (Toronto and East York Community Council Item TE18.8, as adopted by City of Toronto Council on September 30, October 1 and 2, 2020).

The Alexander MacArthur house is a three-storey family home, built of reddish sandstone and tawny brick, in the majestic Richardsonian Romanesque style (Richardson, The New Woodsworth College, 4-7). The majestic main entrance is recessed and flanked by heavy pillars with foliate capitals; a Romanesque arch spans its second-floor balcony; gabled dormers rise from its roof.

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University of Toronto, St. George Campus Map, 1979, detail: Woodsworth College at Number 38a

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University of Toronto, St. George Campus Map, 1979:  Legend

In 2020, the house was designated by the City of Toronto as “as being of cultural heritage value or interest” (Toronto and East York Community Council Item TE18.8, as adopted by City of Toronto Council on September 30, October 1 and 2, 2020).

Yet despite the beauty of the historical family home, the MacArthur house did not have enough space for Woodsworth College. Indeed, a 1979 map of the University of Toronto campus depicts Woodsworth College sharing not only space but even a map building number with the Drill Hall; the cramped space on the map reflects Woodsworth College’s tight quarters in the Alexander MacArthur House.

As a result, by 1985, fundraising began for an additional building that would expand the college premises.

The Alexander MacArthur House