Mutual Street Arena

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Mutual Street Arena, also called Arena Gardens and initially just the Arena, was a hockey arena in Toronto.

It was constructed for a reported cost of $500,000 and opened in 1912. At the time, it was billed as the largest indoor arena in Canada and seated about 7,500 for hockey. The rink was owned by the Toronto Arena Company, organized September 19, 1911 with Sir Henry Pellatt as president, Lol Solman as managing director, and directors Aemilius Jarvis, Joseph Kilgour, T.W. Horn, R.A. Smith, and Col. Carlson. There were two other directors from Montreal. Arena Gardens was initially home to two new teams in the National Hockey Association: the Toronto Hockey Club and the Tecumseh Hockey Club. Delays in construction meant that the teams could not play in the 1911-12 season, as was originally scheduled.

The Stanley Cup finals were played at Arena Gardens three times, with the Toronto team winning each time. The Cup was won by the Toronto Blueshirts in 1914, by the Toronto Arenas in 1918 (the first National Hockey League team to win the Cup), and by the Toronto St. Pats in 1922. Arena Gardens also hosted the Memorial Cup finals nine times from 1919 to 1931. It was from Arena Gardens that radio pioneer Foster Hewitt broadcast his first hockey game on February 16, 1923. The Toronto Maple Leafs played at Arena Gardens until the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931.

On June 10, 1925, this building was used as the venue to consumate the union of three Protestant denominations: Most of the Presbyterians, the Methodist Church of Canada, and the Congregational Union of Canada, into the United Church of Canada.

In 1938, the Arena was leased to William Dickson who turned it into a recreation facility offering ice skating in winter and roller skating in summer. Dickson bought the building in 1945 and it remained in the family for the next 43 years. Eighteen curling sheets were added in a 1962 renovation, and the building was renamed The Terrace, a name it kept until it was sold in 1988 to become the site of a condominium complex. It closed its doors on April 30, 1989 and was demolished a few months later.

Arena Gardens was home to: