Riverdale Branch, Toronto Public Library Heritage Property Plaque, 2006
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Resource ID
4846
Access
Open
Address
370 Boradview Avenue
Credit Line
Heritage Toronto
Date of Creation
2006
Historical Themes
Keywords
Program Category
Rights
Heritage Toronto
Time Period
Caption
Riverdale Branch, Toronto Public Library Heritage Property Plaque, 2006
Description
1910 Designed in Georgian Revival style by city architect Robert McCallum Riverdale Branch was one of ten public libraries built with Carnegie grants in what is now Toronto. The wedge-shaped building was erected on part of the Don Jail Governor's garden. Constructed of red brick with Ohio-sandstone finishing the library features a distinctive upper balustrade a retaining wall in matching materials and rare for a Carnegie library a corner entrance. Riverdale was one of the first branches to provide children's services and a Boys and Girls Library wing was added in 1927. By the 1960s declining use threatened to close the branch. That fate was avoided by strong community support and by avid use from the neighbourhood's growing Chinese population for whom the Toronto Public Library established a Chinese-language collection here in 1973. Surviving a fire in 1969 and further enlarged twice since then Riverdale Branch remains an important community landmark.
Marker lat / long: 43.665599, -79.352926 (WGS84)