Palmerston Boulevard

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Palmerston Boulevard is a residential street located in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Boulevard's well co-ordinated nature lends it its charm. Bounded by stone and iron gates both at Bloor Street and College Street, lined by symmetrically placed cast-iron lamps and canopied by mature silver maple trees, Palmerston is one of Toronto's finest residential streets, located two blocks west of Bathurst Street, and near Koreatown and The Annex.

Formerly called Muter Street, the street's name was changed to Palmerston at the turn of the 20th century, as it was developed. It was named after Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, perhaps to promote Victorian ideals to future Torontonians.

An architectural analysis of the Boulevard was published in 1982. Palmerston Boulevard: An Evaluation of a Unique Residential Street written by landscape architects Brown+Storey covers the evolution of the street, its landscape, built form, critical evaluation of renovations, and key landscape items such as trees, porches, street lights and the gates. It also contains a comparison of Toronto streets built around the same time with Palmerston compared to Indian Road, St. George Street and High Park Boulevard. Brown and Storey place great emphasis on Palmerston's trees and lamps - "The trees and street lamps define the space of the Boulevard as a passage."

The largest house on the street is #469, the George Weston Mansion, built on 1.5 lots. Weston's bread factory was nearby and his children attended Harbord Collegiate Institute.

The Palmerston Lamps

c1905 Hydro Study of the illumination of the Boulevard

There has recently been controversy regarding Palmerston Boulevard's historic cast iron street lamps. In November 2003, city officials proposed replacing the original lamps with aluminum replicas. Residents of the area were outraged and sought to keep the original lights. By December 2005, the city had refurbished and repainted most of the original lights. However, the Palmerston Area Residents Association noted that the refurbished lights have polycarbonate globes rather than the original glass globes; they also have metal-halide lights rather than the original 100 watt incandescent bulbs. A blow by blow account of the Palmerston Lights issue is available at JohnnyLucas.com

The lamps, know as 'single pole-top lamps' or 'light pillars' were common in North America by the 1920s. Palmerston is one of the few streets in Toronto that has kept its original lamps. Identical lamps on Chestnut Park in Rosedale were replaced in 2002. This style of lighting was designed to light a path for pedestrians, as automobiles had not come into common use. The current luminance of the street is several times higher than the original and a light refractor around the bulbs reflects light downward, causing the top of the globes to appear darkened at night. The City of Toronto is working on installing a historic plaque about the lamps.

The Church at Palmerston and College Street, c1910

The College/Palmerston Church

The church at College/Palmerston predates the development of the boulevard by about fifteen years. Originally the College Street Baptist Church, built in 1889, replacing a smaller structure constructed in 1872, it is now used by a Portuguese-speaking Seventh-Day Adventist congregation which is currently looking to sell the property. A potential buyer of the property has met a local residents group but no action has been taken. The residents have an interest in the matter as the new owner of the property is unlikely to use it for religious services.

[edit] References

Myrvold, B. 1993. Historical Walking Tour of Kensington Market & College Street. Toronto Public Library Board. ISBN 0-920601-20-0
Robertson, John Ross, 1904. Landmarks of Toronto, Volume 4, pp 451-454. College Street Baptist Church.
Storey, E.K., Brown, J.K. 1982. Palmerston Boulevard: an evaluation of a unique residential street. Brown+Storey Architects.