Victoria Hospital for Sick Children

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Victoria Hospital for Sick Children
Victoria-Hospital-for-Sick-Children-2025-04-13.jpg
Canadian Blood Services headquarters in 2025
Victoria Hospital for Sick Children
General information
TypeInstitutional
Architectural style Romanesque Revival
Location67 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Completed1890
Renovated1993
Owner Canadian Blood Services
Technical details
Floor countFour storeys
Design and construction
Architects
  • Darling and Curry
  • Parkin Architects (renovation)
Official nameVictoria Hospital for Sick Children
DesignatedNovember 26, 1975

Victoria Hospital for Sick Children is a building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building housed the The Hospital for Sick Children until 1951. It currently serves as the Toronto regional headquarters of Canadian Blood Services. The building has received a Commendation of Adaptive Re-use from the Toronto Historical Board. It is a heritage-designated building. It is located at the corner of College and Elizabeth Streets, near the Toronto General Hospital.

Contents

History

The hospital was completed in 1890 [1] by the architectural firm of Darling and Curry. Opening in 1892, it served as the hospital that is now called Hospital for Sick Children (or "Sick Kids") until 1951. The construction of the five-storey building was a very important step in the history of the hospital, since it had been previously located in a small downtown house with only six cots. The house had been rented for sixteen years by Elizabeth McMaster, the founder of the hospital, with support from a group of Toronto women. [2] The new building had modern conveniences such as electric lighting, telephones and elevators, and was one of the first to be constructed specifically for the treatment of children. [2] The invention of pablum, the introduction of incorporated X-rays in 1896, and the origins of the battle for compulsory milk pasteurization in 1908 occurred in this building. [3]

In 1993, it was renovated at a cost of CA$23 million to become the home to the Canadian Red Cross Regional Blood Centre. [4] The agency is now called Canadian Blood Services.

Architecture

The building, which is made of sandstone, is rendered in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, then a trend in the design of buildings. Thick masonry walls are used as structure, with heavily rusticated stone used at the base. There is a cavernous door opening and windows are set deeply in reveals. The roof is steeply pitched, proving ventilation to the building. [3]

Awards

The building was awarded with Commendation of Adaptive Reuse by the Toronto Historical Board after it was reconstructed in 1993 by Parkin Architects. [4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "67 College Street". City of Toronto's Heritage Property Registry. City of Toronto. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Toronto Archives. "1892, Opening of the Hospital for Sick Children". City of Toronto. Archived from the original on November 2, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Adams 2008, p. 206.
  4. 1 2 "Canadian Blood Services Renovation". parkin.ca. Parkin Architects. October 16, 2010. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013.

Sources

  • Adams, Annmarie (2008). Medicine by Design: the Architect and the Modern Hospital, 1893-1943. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
  • Crossman, Kelly (1987). Architecture in Transition: from Art to Practice, 1885-1906. Kingston Ont.: McGill-Queens UP.

43°39′37″N79°23′13″W / 43.660308°N 79.386912°W / 43.660308; -79.386912

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