436 Rocesvalles Avenue. Turner & Porter Roncesvalles Chapel closed.

[W. K. Lis]

According to The Grid, at this link, the Turner & Porter Roncesvalles chapel, at 436 Roncesvalles Avenue, closed December 1st. They still have four other chapels.

It looks like a new development may replace it, of which it is only one piece.

From The Grid:

Started up in 1874 at 9 and 11 Queen St. W., Turner & Porter began as an undertaking and cabinet-making operation. (Many undertaking businesses also dealt in furniture back then.) It eventually moved further west to 200 Queen St. W., and then to 700 Queen St. W. before settling on Roncesvalles.

Douglas Porter, the fifth-generation to be involved in the family business and its current pesident, lived at the Roncesvalles branch until he was roughly six years old. The upstairs part of building had full living quarters back then and, though they’ve been cut down in size, apprentices and other employees still lived on-site up until the recent closure.

“When you live upstairs, one thing is your friends from school never want to visit you,” Douglas says with a laugh.

Growing up, Douglas went to Howard Park School, the same school his father Ray attended before him. His mother also grew up in the neighbourhood, across from the former Brighton Theatre, while his grandparents lived on Parkside Drive.

His family moved out to Etobicoke in the mid-1950s. And in 1957, the company bought a chapel, previously run by the Yorke brothers, at Bloor and Windermere, marking another westward shift that’s characterized much of the firm’s history. By then, the head office shifted from Roncesvalles to the new Bloor West Village chapel.

Recent demographic changes around Roncesvalles affected the business as well.

“A number of years ago, we served 700 families a year,” says Douglas Porter. “But, back then, there were a lot of older families who were here for a long time. People stayed in the house until the end.”

Interesting that its original chapel at 9 Queen Street West was eventually redeveloped into the current Bay store, at Yonge & Queen. Somehow, I don't think something similar will have at Roncesvalles & Howard Park.

 

[drum118]

According to The Grid, at this link, the Turner & Porter Roncesvalles chapel, at 436 Roncesvalles Avenue, closed December 1st. They still have four other chapels.

It looks like a new development may replace it, of which it is only one piece.
From The Grid:
Interesting that its original chapel at 9 Queen Street West was eventually redeveloped into the current Bay store, at Yonge & Queen. Somehow, I don't think something similar will have at Roncesvalles & Howard Park.

The thread for it is in projects & Construction is here http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/19277-422-430-Roncesvalles-(Porthold-Mattamy-10s-TACT)