Shaftesbury Hall | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Shaftesbury Hall

Article by Ruth Pincoe

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Shaftesbury Hall. The auditorium in Toronto's first YMCA, built at Queen and James streets in 1872 to designs by the architects Smith and Gemmel. The hall was on the ground floor with a direct entrance from the street, a double gallery, and a seating capacity of about 1700.

Shaftesbury Hall

Shaftesbury Hall. The auditorium in Toronto's first YMCA, built at Queen and James streets in 1872 to designs by the architects Smith and Gemmel. The hall was on the ground floor with a direct entrance from the street, a double gallery, and a seating capacity of about 1700. The Toronto Philharmonic Society performed there until 1879, and occasional tenants included the Theodore Thomas Orchestra (1873), the Mendelssohn Quartette Club (1877), the Queen's Own Rifles Band (1878), and the Toronto String Quartette (1886-7) along with educational and temperance groups. The building was sold to the Sons of England in 1886, and later the name was changed to Bijou Hall, housing the New Bijou Theatre. The hall was demolished in 1901, the building in 1905.

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