Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Balfour Building 1930

Photo by Andrew Scanlon - Posted March, 2018

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted August, 2011

This 2017 Heritage Toronto plaque is attached to this building on the northeast corner of Spadina Avenue and Adelaide Street West. Here's what it says:

Coordinates: 43.646970 -79.395431

Click here for a larger map

Designed with Art Deco ornamentation by architect Benjamin Brown, this building was commissioned by Jewish entrepreneurs and occupied by a number of notable clothing businesses over the years, including the Schiffer-Hillman Clothing Co. Together with the Tower Building across Spadina Avenue (also designed by Brown), it formed a gateway to Toronto's garment district, which employed many of Toronto's Jewish residents. The building was named for British statesman Arthur J. Balfour, the author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration pledging British support for a future Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Related Toronto plaque
Benjamin Brown (1890-1974)

Other buildings designed by architect Benjamin Brown
Hermant Building 1929
Primrose Club Building (Faculty Club) 1920

More
Commercial buildings

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