Summerhill

Summerhill takes its name from "Summer Hill," an estate house built in 1842 by transportation entrepreneur Charles Thompson, much of which was later subdivided into the neighbourhood. A rail station on Yonge Street in the area dates to the 1880s, but the landmark building known today was rebuilt in 1916 in the Beaux-Arts style, with a 43-metre clock tower modelled on the Campanile di San Marco in Venice.

From CPR terminal to LCBO

In the 1920s the Canadian Pacific Railway made the station its principal Toronto passenger terminal, but it lost that role once Union Station opened as the city's unified terminus around 1930. The building sat largely dormant for decades until the neighbourhood got a lift from Summerhill subway station opening on the original Yonge line on March 30, 1954. The historic terminal itself was eventually converted into a Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlet — frequently cited as one of the chain's largest stores — and restored between 2001 and 2003, a project that returned the original clock faces to the tower. A time capsule placed in the building in 1915 was opened in 2015 and replaced with a new one. Freight trains still run on the tracks behind the building.

Sources

• Toronto Railway Historical Association — North Toronto Station
• Jamie Bradburn — 10 Scrivener Square (North Toronto Station, Summerhill LCBO)