@debest ,... you want history,....
This 1878 map shows this section from belonging to "J.Stewarts" (under #14):
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This 1915 map show "C.Gordon" now owns 20acres of land here - from Yonge to Stuart Greenbelt, where his farm house is on valley ridge - which is expanded and becomes Convenent then demolished for current St.Edwards Catholic School.
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Notice:
- the Allee of Blue Spruce Trees to C.Gordon Farmhouse is NOT on this map, but an established allee appears later in the 1940 aerial photo in the my first post
- only the northern Mausoleum building built in 1911 is shown
- this 1915 map shows existing road with solid lines and proposed roads in short-dashed lines - including new subdivision southwest of Yonge and Sheppard and also northeast of Bathurst and Wilson Ave
- From the intersection of Yonge St and Shepherd Ave / Humberstone Ave (Now Sheppard Ave West and East),.. there's a proposed super wide diagonal "Broadway Boulevard" to Bayview and near Old Colony Road,... this would have acted as a By-Pass Road for Toronto City-Slickers trying to by-pass busy Yonge Street on their way out of the City,... this Broadway Boulevard bypass was never built,...
--- instead the Province paid $1m to build Yonge Boulevard Bridge in 1929 which created an alternative ByPass up Avenue Road to Wilson Ave with Yonge Boulevard Bridge over narrowest part of West Don Valley here to connect to Yonge St (Highway 11) just south of the Mausoleum - this is why Avenue Road is called Highway 11A ("A" for Alternative) - which we can see in this 1947 map
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--- This 1929 "Yonge Boulevard Bridge" hosted Westbound traffic of MacDonald Cartier Freeway in 1952 when it was joined by another Double Truss bridge directly south to host Eastbound Traffic,.... in the mid-1960's these bridges host the Westbound and Eastbound Express Lanes of Highway 401 (about 10 years ago, they were refurbished to share a common deck) as new Girdle Bridges were added for Westbound and Eastbound Collector lanes of Highway 401 Hoggs Hollow Bridge.
- This 1950 aerial photo still shows the lone Farmhouse on the ridge of Stuart Greenbelt - notice the apple orchard starting to take shape
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- This 1953 aerial photo shows the Farmhouse joined by new building structures to the north
- This 1956 aerial photo shows the Farmhouse and new building to the north joined by yet another new building further north and another one to the east under construction
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Thus, let's assume during this early-mid-1950s period was when the Farmhouse was converted to Convenent
Shortly thereafter,.... this 1957 aerial photo shows a fence splitting off the eastern half towards Yonge St - this eastern half now appears dryer compared to the western half - it's likely been sold off and awaiting redevelopment!
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Also notice:
- Mausoleum land has cemetery behind the Mausoleum - as per their original plan of two mausoleum buildings on Yonge with large gate in between to large cemetery extending all the way to valley to the west (like York Cemetery further up Yonge which used to front Yonge St!) - after 1915 subdivision, they still kept small parcel of land which became cemetery
- the Mausoleum buildings front the old Yonge Street perfectly,... but with MacDonald-Cartier Freeway completed in 1952, Yonge St shifted eastward at this interchange to allow for Four-Leaf-Clover Interchange design,... with the two western jug-handle loops being extra small (likely below highway design standards) as they're contrained by nearby Don Valley West.
1960 aerial photo shows new Linelle St behind Mausoleum with semi-detached bungalows under construction along with large bungalow at 57 Linelle under construction. Coincidence???
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This 1961 aerial photo shows large bungalow at 57 Linelle and semi-detached bungalows along new Linelle St completed
The couple at 57 Linelle had a German last name starting with "W" or "D",... when they passed away around 1990, I'm told they gifted their land to the Mausoleum,... local resident say one of the conditions was that part of the land be used as Park for neighbourhood kids (who used it as a park anyways) - but there was no documentation to back this up - we couldn't find any when this townhouse proposal first came up about 10 years ago.
In 1992, the Mausoleum re-zoned it for Mausoleum/Cemetery usage,... but never proceeded. Later explored Condo towers, but City objected so they settled for townhouses,... Since the Mausoleum got the large bungalow at 57 Linelle, they've been using it as Office Space until they sold the land and project to Menkes a few years ago,... these images show the 57 Linelle in October 2020 - when Menkes got demolition permit approved,... windows boarded up,.. and when I saw front door open, I thought that's weird,.. it's time to go!
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