Oldest known Toronto Photos

The oldest known photos of Toronto come from the Toronto firm Armstrong, Beere and Hime that took a set of 25 photos of the city in 1856 or 1857 for Queen Victoria. She was deciding on the permanent home of the Parliament for the new United Province of Canada. It had alternated between Toronto and Quebec City, with Kingston, Montreal, and Ottawa (the eventual winner) also being considered. The photos were lost until 1979 when an archivist rediscovered them.

For more information, see the City of Toronto article as well as further descriptions of some of the photos from The Torontoist article. Michael Redhill was inspired, in part, by these photographs to write his 2006 book 'Consolation: A novel.'

Castlefield Estate There is one other Toronto photo from around 1856 - a family portrait, complete with a 4 year old on a rocking horse, on the 'Castlefield' estate just west of Yonge street, south of Castlefield Ave. It was built around 1835 for James Hervey Price, the city's first Clerk with a long a varied political career. The house was sold to Franklin Jackes in 1844, then eventually torn down in 1918. A church still stands on the property today - renamed a number of times from the Castlefield Baptist Church, Zion Baptist Church, etc...  
 

List of all subjects. You can also see all the historic photos for a given neighbourhood. We also have a list of all the photos arranged by date.

Historic photos of Oldest known Toronto photos

1856		Osgoode Hall : Queen Street West, north-side, before the central section was reconstructed by Cumberland and Storm 170 years ago - City Hall - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Parliament Buildings : Front Street West 170 years ago - Downtown - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Trinity College : Queen Street West, north-side 170 years ago - Trinity Bellwoods - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Looking north up York Street to Osgoode Hall - Toronto from the top of the Rossin House Hotel 170 years ago - Financial District - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Normal School building : central facade still stands - Gould Street, north-side east of Yonge 170 years ago - Ryerson - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Second United Presbyterian Church under construction at Queen St and Mutual 170 years ago - Old Town - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Rossin House Hotel : south-east corner of King and York streets 170 years ago - Financial District - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)
1856		Castlefield estate at Yonge St, - one of oldest known Toronto Photos 170 years ago - North Toronto - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the Toronto Public Library)
1856		Bank of British North America - designed by John Howard (Wellington and Yonge streets) 170 years ago - St. Lawrence - 1856 Link to archive record - Map location (From the City of Toronto Archives)