Spruce Court Apartments 1913 (with later additions)
Spruce Court is one of the earliest examples of publicly supported rental housing in Canada. It was the first project constructed for the Toronto Housing Company, an organization that included social reformers, business leaders, and City of Toronto representatives. Originally inspired by the Garden City movement and motivated by an affordable housing crisis, the company commissioned the architecture firm of Eden Smith and Sons to design this complex, as well as Riverdale Courts (later Bain Apartments Co-operative). The original 32 cottage flats - arranged around the grass courtyard - and six townhouses were designed in the English Cottage style with street level entrances and arched brick porches. In 1925, the architectural firm of Mathers and Haldenby designed an additional 40 flats on Sumach Street with steep shingled roofs and half-timbered gables. Changes in ownership and growing concerns about the condition of the complex led residents to form the Spruce Court Co-operative in 1978, and they acquired the property the following year.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.