Signs 2 - Yorkville's Historic Plaques

  Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Travel Tuesday

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My Corner of the World

Toronto ON

A Russian-born ballet teacher and choreographer, Volkoff was instrumental in developing an audience for ballet in Toronto and Canada beginning in the 1930s. Volkoff sought to cultivate and educate the public’s appreciation for the fine arts. He did this through both the works he choreographed for his Volkoff Canadian Ballet and the ice ballets he did for the Toronto Skating Club. He brought his group of dancers to perform at the cultural festival at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and was one of the co-founders of the Canadian Ballet Festivals in 1948. A year before his death in 1974, Volkoff was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for his pioneer work in the field.

In August of 1913, four immigrant women from Toronto’s Jewish community started knocking on neighbourhood doors to raise money for a hospital. The Jewish immigrant population in Toronto was burgeoning; most of the new immigrants didn’t speak English and were afraid of large institutions. And, sadly, not a hospital in the city would give Jewish doctors a place to practice.

It took them nine years, but by 1922, the Mrs. Cohn, Miller, Spiegel and Adler had raised $12,000, enough to buy a building at 100 Yorkville. In 1923, The Hebrew Maternity and Convalescent Hospital opened its doors. Much has changed about that hospital since it opened. The name became Mount Sinai Hospital and it moved locations several times.

It grew from 30 beds to 472 and it became, in very short order, one of North America’s pre-eminent medical, teaching and research institutions. It also developed a world-wide reputation for excellence in genetic research, women’s and infants’ health, surgical oncology, gastrointestinal diseases, diabetes, general psychiatry, critical care and cardiology. And it became so culturally inclusive that there are now interpreters for Mount Sinai patients in over 45 languages.

Only its facade remains as the iconic French luxury brand Chanel opened its Canadian flagship where the hospital stood. The two-level space spans about 8,550 square feet over three floors.

Doormen and valet parking staff greet shoppers at the store.