Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Victoria Hospital for Sick Children

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted September, 2006

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted August, 2014

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted September, 2006

This 1993 Toronto Historical Board plaque on this site answers all the questions you've always had (admit it now!) about this red building on the southeast corner of College Street and Elizabeth Street. Here are the plaque facts:

Coordinates: 43.660491 -79.386917

Click here for a larger map

Designed by the architectural firm of Darling And Curry and built of red sandstone, the Victoria Hospital For Sick Children opened in May 1892. It was the first hospital in Canada designed exclusively for paediatrics. Through the generosity of its benefactor, John Ross Robertson, the hospital incorporated the most innovative techniques available, such as X-rays in 1896 and a milk pasteurization plant in 1909. The Hospital For Sick Children vacated the building in 1951. It was used as office space and, on occasion, as a location for film projects. For a decade it stood empty. In 1991, through funds from the Province of Ontario, work was begun to retain and restore historical elements of the building and to adapt it for use as the Canadian Red Cross regional blood centre for Toronto and central Ontario. This state-of-the-art facility for research, testing and distribution of blood and blood products officially opened 23 November 1993.

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John Ross Robertson

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