The Thornton-Smith Building was designed by Irish-born architect John M. Lyle, a leader in the Toronto architecture profession and a champion of the neoclassical Beaux-Arts style. After growing up in Hamilton, Ontario, Lyle went on to study architecture at Yale University and then the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Upon graduation in 1896, he worked for architectural firms Howard & Cauldwell and Carrère & Hastings in New York City. In 1905, Lyle returned to Toronto to launch his own firm starting with designing the Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street.

Lyle helped disseminate Beaux-Arts Classicism through his designs and while the style peaked in North America prior to the First World War, many younger Canadian architects championed the use of Beaux-Arts well into the 1920s. Over time his style grew to incorporate floral and faunal motifs inspired by the Post-Impressionist style of Canadian painters, the Group of Seven.

In 1926, the Ontario Association of Architects held an exhibition of members’ post-war works, at which Lyle exhibited his drawings for the Thornton-Smith Building. Deemed “the finest work on view at the present convention,” Lyle won first place in the commercial category and the OAA’s first gold medal award for his commission of The Thornton-Smith Building.

The building became a featured portfolio accomplishment for Lyle, who later designed the Commemorative Arch at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, part of Union Station in Toronto, Ontario, and the Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge in Hamilton, Ontario, amongst many other notable works.

The Thornton-Smith Company

The opening of The Thornton-Smith Company was led by painter and decorator Mabel Cawthra Adamson (1871–1943), a member of the prominent Cawthra family of Toronto. Adamson studied at the Guild of Handicrafts under Charles Robert Ashbee (1863–1942) while living in England from 1902–03, a centre of the British-led Arts and Crafts design movement. Upon her return to Canada in 1903, she co-founded and was elected the first president of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Canada.

In 1903, Adamson established the first Canadian branch of The Thornton-Smith Company to capitalize on the popularity of Arts and Crafts furnishings within Toronto’s consumer market. The Thornton-Smith Company sold fabrics, drapery, carpets, windows, mosaics, custom-designed furniture, period reproduction furniture, and interior design services for architecture and their clients.

Through connections made by Adamson’s husband, Agar Adamson (1865–1929), the company was hired to furnish the Senate Chamber in Ottawa in 1904. This much-publicized renovation was followed by a commission in 1906–07 to decorate the new Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto under architect John M. Lyle. In 1921, Mabel Adamson’s brother, William Herbert (“Bertie”) Cawthra, hired Lyle’s firm, Atelier Lyle, to design and build a new location for The Thornton-Smith Company at 340 Yonge Street.

Other Notable Tenants

When The Thornton-Smith Company opened in 1922, the northerly entrance of the building was leased to Laura Secord Chocolates. The confectionery company, founded by Frank P. O’Connor in 1913, had opened its first retail location just a few doors north at 350 Yonge Street but relocated to 340 Yonge Street, as can be seen in a photo taken in the 1920s.

During the 1950s, The Thornton-Smith Building housed Allen Stores Limited, which also occupied both 346 Yonge Street. The department store sold clothing and home furnishings and was considered a discount alternative to Eaton’s.

In 1966, brothers Jack and Ken Rutherford moved their growing photography store, The Toronto Camera Exchange, from Church Street to the new location at 340 Yonge Street. Started by their father George Rutherford in 1946, the company quickly became a major photographic supplier with stores and a mail-order business reaching photographers across the country. Toronto Camera occupied all four floors of The Thornton-Smith Building and was Canada’s largest photographic store at the time.

Today, The Thornton-Smith Building remains a key part of Yonge Street’s past, present and future. The main floor is occupied by OHYO SPREE, a family arcade, and the second floor by Salad King, a Toronto “landmark” serving Thai food in the neighbourhood for over 35 years. The Aperture Room, an exclusive heritage event venue, occupies the third floor and remains a hidden gem in the heart of Toronto.

Since the mid-1990s, a number of other prominent businesses have occupied The Thornton-Smith Building, including international retailers Foot Locker and Champs Sports along with Reilly’s Restaurant & Bar, a well-known pub in the neighbourhood that occupied the second floor.

Preserving Toronto’s History

The Thornton-Smith Building was added to the City of Toronto Inventory of Heritage properties in 1974 and is one of the few surviving early 20th-century buildings on Yonge Street between Dundas Street and Gerrard Street, that has remained true to its original architecture. Most of the remaining buildings on Yonge Street from the early 20th-century have been replaced by new developments or concealed by false facades or large format signs.