Update - The old Fairgrieve building, Toronto, ON

When I moved to the 'hood in 2001, Fairgrieve building was being used as a garage and some artists had studios.

The Fairgrieve in Fairgrieve & Son was Archibald Fairgrieve. He emigrated to Toronto from Edinburgh by himself as a teenager in about 1880. The "Son" was Frederick who was born in 1885 (the start date for Fairgrieve & Son). Fred's three sons (Bruce, Donald and Douglas) all worked for the family company. Donald died in 1990 and Bruce and Douglas died in early 2010 at the ages of 92 and 87.

Fairgrieve & Son started as a metal stamping company but they made it big as manufacturers of wringer washing machines. The old Eaton's Viking wringer washers were made there. The family company was taken over in 1971 but the factory was in use until 1979.

Here it was on Christmas Eve 2010. We thought it was a cool old building and had wished they had renovated it into loft-style condos.


Alas, they demolished it in January 2011 and by February 2011, it was gone.

Here it was on January 5, 2012 ...

Here it was on February 20, 2012.

Here is it today (almost a year later) ...

Looks like the condos are ready ... we saw an upper one lit and looking lived-in a couple weeks ago.

Because of all the condos in the area now, the corner of Dovercourt and Sudbury has recently become a three-way stop.

It should be interesting to see what retail goes in on the ground floor.